In the year 2138 AD there was a term: DMMO-RPG.
That word was an acronym for "Dive Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game."
These games were played by connecting a dedicated console to the brain via a neuronal nano-interface — an intracerebral nanocomputer network, created from the fusion of cyber- and nanotechnology.
These were games that allowed one to enter a virtual world and experience it as though it were real life.
And among the myriad DMMO-RPGs that thronged the market, one of them stood head and shoulders above the others:
Yggdrasil.
This game had been painstakingly developed and released twelve years ago, in 2126.
Compared to other DMMO-RPGs of the time, Yggdrasil's selling point was "player freedom."
It had over two thousand basic and advanced job classes.
Every class had a maximum of fifteen levels, and so in order to reach the overall level cap of one hundred, one would need to take at least seven different classes. However, Players could take as many classes as they wanted as long as they met each class's prerequisites. A Player could even take a hundred classes at level one each, although that was very inefficient. As such, in this system, it was virtually impossible to make identical characters unless one was deliberately trying to do so.
In addition, one could use various creator tools (sold separately) to fully customize one's armor, weaponry, flavor text, appearance, and other cosmetic settings.
A vast playing field awaited its players. There were nine worlds in total: Asgard, Alfheim, Vanaheim, Nidavellir, Midgard, Jotunheim, Niflheim, Helheim, and Muspelheim.
It boasted a massive world, numerous classes, and freely customizable appearances.
These features ignited the creative spirits of its Japanese players, and sparked what would later be known as a stylistic revolution. So popular was it that whenever the word "DMMO-RPG" was mentioned in Japan, listeners would immediately think of Yggdrasil.
—Still, all these were things of the past now.
A gigantic table carved of gleaming black stone sat in the center of the room, surrounded by forty-one luxurious chairs.
However, most of those seats were empty.
Once, every single place had been filled, but now only two were occupied.
One of the seated people was clothed in a magnificent black academic robe, edged in violet and gold. The collar seemed excessively gaudy, but somehow it fit the overall design.
However, the exposed head was a bare skull. Points of dark red light glowed in its large eye sockets, and behind that skull glowed a halo of black radiance.
The being in the other seat was not human either, merely a mass of a black, sticky substance. Its tar-like surface roiled and writhed continuously, never staying in the same shape for more than a second.
The former was an Overlord — the highest-ranked of those magic casters who had become undead in order to learn the most potent spells. The latter was an Elder Black Ooze, which boasted the most powerful corrosive ability of the slime families.
One might encounter these monsters in the most difficult dungeons. Overlords could use powerful spells of the highest tiers of magic, while Elder Black Oozes were dreaded for their ability to degrade weapons and armor.
However, they were not game monsters, but Players.
In Yggdrasil, Players could choose their character races from three broad groups: humanoid, demi-human and heteromorphic.
Humanoids were the basic Player type and comprised humans, Dwarves, Wood Elves, and the like. Demi-humans tended to be ugly, but possessed superior attributes to humanoids. Examples of demi-humans were Goblins, Beastmen, Ogres, and so on. Finally, heteromorphic races had monstrous abilities, but despite their stats being generally higher than those of other races, they also possessed various drawbacks. There were around seven hundred playable races in total, including the advanced versions of these races.
Naturally, the Overlord and Elder Black Ooze were among the high-tier heteromorphic races that were playable.
The Overlord — who was speaking at the moment — did not move his mouth. That was because even the most advanced DMMO-RPGs of the time still could not overcome the technological hurdle of properly modeling the changes on a character's face in response to emotions and speech.
"It's really been a while, Herohero-san. Although this is the last day of Yggdrasil, I didn't expect you to show up."
"Indeed it has, Momonga-san."
The two of them spoke with the voices of grown men, but compared to the voice of the former, the latter's words lacked force, or perhaps it could be said that they lacked energy.
"You stopped coming online after you changed your job IRL, so how long has it been… about two years?"
"Ah — seems about right — wah, it's been so long… this is bad. I've been doing so much overtime recently that my sense of time is starting to go weird."
"That's really bad, right? Are you okay?"
"My body? Well, it's a mess. I haven't had to see a doctor yet, but I'm almost there, it's really bad. A lot of times, I feel like I want to run away from it all, but then I think about how I need money to live and then I go back to work like a whipped slave."
"Uwah—"
The Overlord — Momonga — lowered his head in an "I can't take it" gesture.
"That's terrible."
As though following up on Momonga's comment, Herohero delivered a grim monologue, his words laced with an unimaginable reality.
The two of them griped loudly about the foolishness they encountered in their working lives.
Subordinates who did not know how to report, communicate, and discuss things, spreadsheets that changed by the day, scoldings by their superiors for not meeting various KPIs, working late every day until they could not go home, gaining weight because of their irregular lifestyles, and the increasing amounts of medicine they had to take every day.
Herohero's grievances burst forth like a broken dam, and Momonga lent his ear to him.
A lot of people were averse to discussing reality in a virtual world. It was fairly normal for people to not want to talk about their offline lives in a game.
However, this was not so for the two of them.
The guild they belonged to — a group that was founded and managed by Players. Ainz Ooal Gown — had two conditions that each of its members had to fulfill. The first was that everyone had to be a working member of society. The other was that they had to play heteromorphic characters.
Because of these rules, the topics they discussed often revolved around their jobs in the real world. Any member of the guild would field these questions and, as such, the conversation between the two could be considered standard fare for the guild.
After about ten minutes, the torrent of words that flowed from Herohero dwindled to a trickle.
"…I'm sorry for making you listen to my whining. I can't complain much IRL."
The place corresponding to Herohero's head seemed to sway, as though he were bowing in apology. Thus, Momonga replied:
"Don't worry about it, Herohero-san. I made you come online despite you being busy, so listening to your complaints is only expected. I'll hear you out, no matter how many you have."
Herohero seemed to have recovered some of his old energy, and with a somewhat more energetic laugh, he replied:
"Ah, I'm grateful for that, Momonga-san. I'm glad I could meet a friend after signing on."
"I'm very happy to hear you say that too."
"…Although it's about time for me to log off."
Herohero's tentacle waggled in mid-air, as though he were operating something. Indeed, he was operating a menu.
"You're right, it is getting pretty late…"
"I'm sorry about this, Momonga-san."
Momonga sighed gently, as though he didn't want Herohero to sense the regret in his heart.
"Well, if it's like that, then it's a shame… time flies so fast when you're having fun."
"I really did want to stay with you to the end, but I'm about to fall asleep."
"Ah — well, you do sound pretty tired. Then, you should log out soon and have a good rest."
"I'm really sorry… Momonga-san. Although, how long do you plan to stay, Guild Leader?"
"I intended to stay on until I was automatically logged out once the servers shut down. Since it's still a ways off, maybe someone might come by in the meantime."
"Is that so… still, I really didn't expect this place to be so well preserved."
At this moment, Momonga was grateful that he had no way to show his expressions. If he did, Herohero would probably have seen his face twist up in joy. Even then, his voice would betray how he truly felt, so Momonga kept quiet, in order to suppress the feelings surging up within him.
He had worked hard to maintain the guild precisely because he had been waiting for this moment.
"Momonga-san, you must have kept the guild going as its leader so we could come back to it at any time. Thank you very much."
"…It was a guild built by everyone, so it's my job as guildmaster to keep things going so that the members can come back at any time."
"Yes. We had fun with the game because you were our guildmaster, Momonga-san… I hope that when we meet again, it'll be in Yggdrasil II."
"I haven't heard anything about a second game… but like you said, I'd be glad if we could meet like that."
"I'll look forward to it! I'm having trouble staying awake… I think I'll log off first. I'm glad I could meet you in the end. Goodnight."
"..."
Momonga wanted to say something, but he hesitated for a moment, and then he spoke:
"I was very happy to meet you too. Goodnight."
A smiley appeared near Herohero's head. Since characters in Yggdrasil could not express emotions through their facial expressions, they used emoticons instead.
Momonga worked his control interface, and produced a similar smiley.
Herohero's last words were, "Let's meet up again somewhere."
—And so, the last of the three guild members to come online tonight vanished.
After all the trouble he went through to get this far. It was finally over.
A new world was waiting for 'Momonga'.