For many, the eerie quiet in the dimly lit library would be a source of unease, but for Ainz, it had become a nightly sanctuary of late. With Albedo sleeping eight to ten hours a day, he was left in his own company again without any need or desire for sleep. The overlord librarians didn't bother him, so he wandered around without any particular goal. It was peaceful, it was noiseless, and it was calming.
His outward appearance was as calm as ever, but his mind was in turmoil, and worst of all, he felt like he had no one to share his worries with. His friends expected a decisive leader who would make all the right decisions to avoid repeating the fiasco that was Shalltear's brainwashing by their enemy. He still had no idea where the true enemy was and what exactly Regoz wanted, only that they were being played. And then there was his unborn daughter. His and Albedo's child would be born as an entity of unknown power.
His own growing godhood was stressful enough. Recently, Ainz had become aware that mortals could interact with his divine self, and he wouldn't even know such a thing had happened. According to reports, Iona, a priest from Neia's team, had talked with him, but Ainz hadn't done anything. At least, he thought he hadn't, as all he had was a vague feeling of his true self expanding in the astral realm. Supposedly, Antilene had interacted with Buku similarly, but details were missing as the half-elven girl wasn't the most talkative person. Buku had chalked the whole thing to Antilene dreaming the whole thing up.
Another thing he feared was the increasing separation of him from the rest of the world. Ainz was well aware that, save for a few tours, he had little idea how people lived in this world. Part of him still wanted to go on an adventure, but he had an expecting wife now, and the last thing he wanted was to stress out Albedo by harkening off to a foreign land. At the same time, he wanted to know the struggles of regular people like he once was. He needed to know the worries and ambitions of those he was supposed to rule over, and that didn't just include his inner circle or the great tomb, which functioned on fundamentally different rules than the outside world. He needed to know what the common person wanted and felt, not just the elite, or he would forget his roots.
'I should find something. I have all this time and all this library. Perhaps in Tabula's section, there is something that could aid me.' The brain eater was an avid collector of books about the occult, religions, and mythologies. In fact, his section was the largest, with about twenty thousand books, befitting the God of Knowledge. The problem was that Ainz didn't know where to start.
His knowledge of these topics was limited as all he knew came from games and movies, which often took liberties with the source material, not that the source material wasn't iffy as well. Ainz knew the most popular ruler gods like Odin, Zeus, Ra, and the Christian God, who had no specific name to his knowledge. Unfortunately, he knew next to nothing about them as they didn't have many followers in Japan. Perhaps he could start with their stories for inspiration.
Tabula had confirmed that they all existed in some shape or form and technically could be contacted, though he preferred to avoid this option for now. The interaction with Lilith showed that they had independent agendas, and inviting more outside interests was the last thing he wanted to do for now, even if he was well aware of how beneficial a mentor would be at this stage. As Ainz contemplated his options, he became aware of an inner feeling that urged him towards a certain book on a nearby shelf.
'Hmm, this feels different from what I felt when we were manipulated into slowly dismantling the Slane Theocracy over instant destruction.' Instead, this feeling came from deep within, like his divine self was guiding him. Perhaps that was the case. He already learned he was more than his mind was aware of. Gods, by their very nature, were different from mortals, and he had been a god for a very short time, still clinging to self-imposed mortal limitations. It was time to progress.
Like most in the library, this book was encased in leather bindings and written in a somewhat archaic font. The title was just two words: All-Father Odin. It couldn't be a coincidence that he had been drawn to a book about a god who was the head of a pantheon. Ainz flipped through pages, absorbing their contents. Most were the stories involving this god, like him, building his army from the bravest of warriors or making a pact with the fire giant Loki, but there was also some practical information.
What he found most intriguing was that Odin had walked the world of Midgard as a simple wanderer to learn all he could and sacrificed his eye to always see beyond. There were also speculations by the book's author on what purpose the sacrifice of the eye served. There was even a detailed description of how to perform similar rituals and metaphorically give part of oneself to the higher realm, especially about more ancient rituals that had long since been lost to time and public demonization of anything that didn't fit the mainstream religions, except in the most niche of history books that had somehow escaped with their lives.
'This seems easy enough.' Ainz tapped his finger over the picture of an intricate magical circle while he held the book open. He wouldn't lose his body parts per se. More like some of his attention would lie in the immaterial realms, letting him connect more with his divine self and become more aware when mortals interacted with his divinity.
Ainz silently cast the spell, with the flame in his right eye fading for a moment and then reigniting white while the one on the left grew darker, almost black. At first, he saw no difference, but then he noticed something particular in the passing librarian. Over its skeletal frame was the bare form of a human, specifically the Roman emperor the overlord was named after. But that wasn't all. Ainz could see what he could give or take from his servant, all of its desires and fears.
Aelius feared losing his position, which was expected of a Nazarick NPC, but that wasn't the interesting part. His deepest desire was to leave a mark in the library that was uniquely his, and Ainz knew just how to achieve that goal.
"Aelius. I wish to entrust you with a task." Ainz spoke up. The overlord wiseman stopped in his tracks and bowed, awaiting more instructions.
"I need you to gather information about all the rulers of gods and write it down in a tome." He paused, realizing if only one of the overlords had a task given to him, the rest of the library staff could take it badly; thus, he decided that his friends and wife could benefit from similar compilations. "You can inform the rest of the librarians and Titus that my friends need tomes made about the gods similar to them. And don't worry about the deadline; the more you can find, the better."
"As you wish. I will start immediately, Lord Ainz," Aelius replied.
"Oh, and each of you shouldn't forget to mark yourselves as authors of these tomes," Ainz added. And this line is what sold it in spades. Aelius shook in excitement for half a second before emotional suppression crushed the overlord's potent emotions, sending the skeleton half-flying for the shelves.
With an event set in motion, he could now utilize this ability more and look at what he could do next. And the answer was obvious: walking the world just like Odin. Of course, he couldn't just run off. But while most of the tomb slept, there was no one to talk him out of short excursions to the outside world.
The main goal at the moment still was to understand the needs and motivations of common people, and the group that interested him the most were adventurers. His new vision gave him a target: a group of young adventurers sitting around the campfire eating pieces of rabbit, surrounded by worn tents just outside the walls of E-Pespel in the kingdom of Re-Estize.
With his goal clear, Ainz teleported to the treasury and picked up a bag of local currency. Then, with the help of the doppelganger ring, he took the form of an old white-bearded human man, put on a worn plate set with a grey-hooded robe on top of the armor, and teleported off.
Ainz emerged into the makeshift camp from the darkness of the night, looking like a veteran of a thousand battles. The four adventurers, who looked no older than fifteen, froze up upon seeing him. He couldn't blame them; these boys, more children than men, were still copper plates. Their equipment was worn down and ill-sized. One wore leather armor with a rusted plate sewn onto it and a chipped sword on his back, threatening to break at any moment. Another had a bow with a handful of iron-tipped arrows and chainmail with numerous holes. Another wore crudely stitched rigid leather sheets that loosely hung on his thin frame, with a worn spear by his side. The last only had a shirt and pants with a wooden stick, likely a caster.
Ainz sat down with them without saying a word. The closest boy timidly offered a water pouch as the rest resumed nibbling on the bones of a rabbit. The rest of the animal was consumed before Ainz arrived. He accepted the pouch and drank the stale water out of courtesy.
"What do you want, stranger?" One of the boys, no doubt the bravest of the group, asked.
"My name is Momon. I want to hear your stories." Ainz replied and pulled a loaf of white bread out of his inventory, which he had filled with various foods to test the preservation properties of his personal storage. The bread was as fresh as it was the moment it was put in there, still slightly warm and giving off a pleasant, earthy aroma. He handed the loaf to the boy who gave him the water.
The four tore the bread apart in five pieces and devoured their portions with ravenous hunger, shoveling it down their throats. It was easy to see they were borderline starving, and the rabbit likely was a lucky catch. Ainz ate his piece without a hurry; his sense of hunger was a distant memory, and eating was more of a social activity he performed with his peers and wife.
"Our stories? Sir, Momon, we are nobodies. Copper plates." The bravest boy replied.
"Everyone has their story. I am a collector of sorts, you see. The lives of different people fascinate me."
The boys looked at each other, confused, but none seemed to know if they could even refuse this request. The old stranger was an imposing figure who likely could kill them with ease, and they had no reason to deny his request.
"I am the son of a farmer, the fifth one. My family could not afford me and one of my brothers. I got this spear for two weeks of work in the brickyard. Being an adventurer is better than nothing." The bravest one spoke first.
"Mother works in a tavern. Kicked me out the first chance she got. Cared more about getting men in her bed than her son. Don't know which of these men fathered me. Stole this bow from a drunkard mother sleeps with on my way out." The one with the bow was next to speak.
"Dad was an adventurer. Silver plate. Retired with not much to show for it. I picked up his sword and armor to at least have my belly full. Still working on that one," The third spoke.
"My parents worked in fields for some bad people, but it paid well. Even got into a school and learned magic. At least I did. One day those criminal scum just burned the field, and suddenly Mum and Dad are on their own. Just an empty field, nothing to grow and no money. All I have is a book of basic spells and a shirt on my back," the last one was shared.
"Adventurers, out of necessity, no desire for the trade." Ainz took a roasted chicken from his inventory on a plate and handed it to the hungry adventurers.
"Thank you, sir." The bravest one bowed his head and tore off a leg, eagerly biting into the perfectly cooked and seasoned meat and sharing it with his friends.
'Trusting, desperate. A child should live safely and in an environment made for learning.' Ainz recalled his own life and how fast he needed to enter the workforce. His goal was to make a safe and prosperous Empire where everyone had a chance to find a path enjoyable and fulfilling — a utopia he would have wanted to live in as a human.
"Would you keep being adventurers if another option to earn a living existed?" Ainz asked them.
"Yes." "I guess so." "I don't know anything else." "I have friends now, so I'll stay with them."
"This life is dangerous, but I understand the call of adventure. Life may have initially given you a bad hand, but it is up to you to decide where it ends. Let me give you some parting gifts." Ainz pulled some basic armor sets and weapons from his inventory, merely on par with what was given to trainees in Buku's armies, handing them out one by one. Compared to worn-down items the four boys had, they were rare treasures, things they could probably not afford after years of saving.
They received a shiny new steel sword, a bow of elastic wood, and a sharp and sturdy spear. Ainz even gave one of Yggdrasil's beginner grimoires that had up to third-tier spells written down in it alongside sets of chainmail, reinforced leather, and caster's robes. He then put a single Yggdrasil coin on top of the pile of gear and walked off into the darkness.
As the boys put on the armor, the caster spoke. "I don't think that man was a human."
"Then what was it?" One of the boys asked.
"I think we just met god. There was something… I don't know. There was this feeling that I was in the presence of something greater, and this coin... look at the symbol. That has to mean something."
"Hey, if god decided to help us, I ain't complaining, and the food was tasty." The archer commented nonchalantly.
"I don't know about that. We probably got these gifts for a reason."
What exactly was the old warrior named Momon? None of them could tell, but he wasn't just a curious retired adventurer. Not that it mattered; they had new equipment to wear and try out.
Editing by aidan_lo and Nich L.
Proofreading by Omnax, Sluethen, fvvck, mfkz_rocker, aidan_lo, IAMTHEPLOKOKIOPO, Ivan Chechnya.
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