Overlord - Prologue

Although it was a PK tactic he had used to great success, on the other hand, he was probably making that suggestion because he knew how potent it could be.

However—

“—Don’t you think you’re being a bit too paranoid? Nobody else knows about this dungeon, right?”

Punitto Moe defeated Momonga’s reply with a “Naive”.

“We won’t know about the situation until we’re there. For all we know, it might be a trap or some sort of hunting ground.”

“Well, that said… can’t we use the icon that shows up when we’re near it to tell if the dungeon has been explored before? There’s no way to disguise that, so it should be okay, right?”

“That’s naive too, Momonga-san. Unexplored and undiscovered are similar, but different. If it was me, I’d stay about one step before the dungeon is flagged as discovered, so any other people who discovered it — this is just a hypothesis, of course — jump in with their guards lowered.”

“…Punitto-san, you’re a very scary person. You’re the number one scariest person in this clan, no, in this guild. But you’re right, it’s good to be cautious about this.”

“Number one scariest, huh. Then, I’m not so much cautious as cowardly.”

“But I don’t think you’re cowardly. After all, that time—”

“Oh! Momonga-san, please don’t mention that. Well, let’s leave that aside for now. I’m fully aware of the dangers of splitting up our fighting power, but this is our guild’s first group activity, after all. We wouldn’t want to fail because of a silly little mistake, no?”

“Well, that’s true…”

“During this enterprise, the worst case scenario is that we get PKed. Momonga, I understand how you want everyone to delve into the dungeon together. However, leaving someone at the entrance is an important part in our plan. After all, you don’t want to be wiped out, but you want to completely clear the dungeon, right?”

“Of course.”

“Then you should understand.” Momonga had nothing to say in the face of Punitto Moe’s words.

Though he was still trying to accept this proposal, on an intellectual level, he had already concluded that it was the right answer.

He would burden the group if he allowed himself to be ruled by his emotions. The comrade before him knew that the Guildmaster should have reined himself in, yet chose to help and contribute his wisdom to this endeavour. Momonga deeply regretted how he had troubled everyone with the difficult task of clearing an unknown dungeon.

A Guildmaster should act rationally. He had no idea what he had been doing in the throes of his excitement.

He recalled the loneliness he felt when one of his comrades left, and then he nodded to Punitto Moe.

“I understand. I’ll bring it up with everyone afterwards.”

“I’m counting on you.”

Momonga already had several candidates in mind for the rear guard. As expected, this sort of thing was best left to members of building classes.

“Ah, please say that I suggested it.”

He had no idea what that was about, but he agreed anyway.

“Eh? Ah, alright. I understand. However, this is just like Punitto Moe-san. I didn’t think of PKs or whatnot.”

“Well, PKing is pretty popular in this game. Most games wouldn’t let PKing get this far, or promote PKing at all.”

“Is that so? I’ve never played other games, so I’m not sure about that.”

“Ah, then why don’t we try a different game together? There’s one that I’d really like to try.”

“Mm, while that’s not a bad idea, shouldn’t we master Yggdrasil first?”

“Can you really master this game? No, you might be able to do it, after several years.”

One thing that the developers of Yggdrasil forgot was to make the game user-friendly. The very fact that the joke existed highlighted how little information there was in the game. In addition, there was a mountain of things which could not be verified about the game despite the players’ best efforts. Even after several years, it was not strange that there were still a lot of unknown things about the game.

What kind of lunatic would master this game, Punitto Moe laughed.

“Then, I’ll need to impart the PK tactics I came up with to you, Momonga-san. I’m also thinking of writing a book called ‘PKing For Dummies’ as well.”

“On the outside?”

The outside — in other words, the real world.

“No, no, how could I? I meant inside, in this world.”

In Yggdrasil, one could store a manuscript in book form and read it like a book in the real world.

There were people in the game who put works whose copyright had expired into books, and sold them cheaply.

“I see. Then, can you let me see that manual of yours when you’re done? Lessons on how to attack are useful for defense as well.”

“Naturally. When the time comes, please, by all means.”

“I’m looking forward to it! Fufufu. I’ll make sure I copy it and pass it down.”

“Momonga-san, what are you saying?!”

After his embarrassed outburst, Punitto Moe sank into deep thought, and spoke quietly to Momonga.