Overlord (book 1)

In Yggdrasil, guilds in possession of a base equivalent to a castle or greater were given several

special benefits.

One of these benefits were NPCs that guarded the base.

The undead monsters in the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick fell under this category.

These so called 'spawn NPCs' had a level cap of 30 and respawned automatically at no cost

after a fixed period of time, but since it wasn't possible to change their appearances and AI

programming, they did not pose much of a threat against other intruding players.

On the other hand, another special benefit was the power to create an original NPC. When a

guild takes over a base with a castle-level rank, they could create NPCs with a collective

maximum level of 700. Since the highest level was 100, you could create a maximum of five Lvl.

100 and four Lvl. 50 NPCs as an example.

When creating an original NPC, in addition to their appearance and AI, it was even possible to

change their armours and weapons. This allowed a guild to create far stronger NPCs and

assign them to guard key locations.

There was no need to create these NPCs with combat in mind. Another guild who occupied a

castle, the Great Cat Kingdom, turned all their NPCs into cats or other feline creatures. It could

be said a guild was given the exclusive right to create the image and atmosphere of their castle.

"Hmm."

Looking at the butler and the maids bowed down before him, he brought his hand to his chin

while. Since he had always used teleport to move from room to room, Momonga didn't come

here very often, which caused him to look at them somewhat nostalgically.

Momonga's hand operated the console, opened a page that was only accessible to guild

members and activated one of the options. As he did, the names of the servants appeared

above their heads.

"Ah, so that's his name."

Momonga had forgotten this name. He made a bitter yet nostalgic smile as he recalled the

disputes he had with his companions over deciding the name for this NPC.

Sebastian, the butler, also served as the house steward.

The six maids next to Sebastian were under his direct command; the combat maid unit called

the 'Pleiades'. In addition to them, Sebastian had several manservants and assistant butlers

under his supervision.

The text log had a more detailed setting, but Momonga wasn't in the mood to take a closer look.

There was little time left until the server's shutdown, and he wanted to sit down somewhere else.

All NPCs (including the maids) contained intricate details since there had been plenty of guild

members who were fond of elaborate settings. Thanks to the fact that there were many

illustrators, graphic designers and programmers in Ainz Ooal Gown, they were able to obsess

over the visuals and go all out.

Originally, Sebastian and the maids were the last line of defense against intruders. However,

because they were unlikely able to stand against enemy players who managed to come this far,

their only real purpose was to buy some time. But since no invaders were ever able to reach this

point, they had never received orders and had been just waiting endlessly in this place.

Gripping his staff, Momonga felt pity towards these NPCs, even though that kind of thought was

foolish. NPCs were simply data and the only reason to believe they had emotions was due to

their excellently designed AI.

However—

"As the guild master, it's about time I started ordering NPCs around."

While ridiculing himself for his arrogant comment, Momonga issued an order:

"Follow me."

Sebastian and the maids respectfully bowed, showing they have accepted the command.

The act of moving them from this location meant disregarding what the guild members had in

mind at the start. Ainz Ooal Gown was a guild that emphasized on majority vote. It was

forbidden for one person to mess around with what everyone had created together out of

stubbornness.

But today was the day everything would end. Momonga believed that everyone would forgive

him if it was on such a day.

Pondering these kinds of things, Momonga led the sound of several footsteps following him.

Eventually they arrived at a massive, dome-shaped hall. A large four-colored crystal embedded

in the ceiling was emitting rays of white light. There were seventy-two alcoves in the wall, most

of them filled with statues.

Every statue imitated the appearance of a devil, and there were sixty-seven of them.

This room was called the 'Lesser Key of Solomon', also known as the Lemegeton. It was taken

from the title of a famous grimoire.

The statues, modeled after the Seventy-Two Demons of Solomon, were actually golems made

from rare magical metals. The reason why there were only sixty-seven golems instead of the

original seventy-two was because the creator got sick and tired of the project partway.

The four coloured crystal set into the ceiling was in fact a monster. If an enemy invaded this

place, it would summon high-tier elementals of earth, water, fire and wind, and launch a

bombardment of offensive wide-area magics.