1 Prolouge

As Momonga entered the throne room, the air changed.

Although the atmosphere from earlier was filled with quiet solemnity, the scene before his eyes now exceeded that by far. The air became a pressure that weighed heavily on the entire body.

Numerous flags emblazoned with different symbols hung from flagpoles sunk into the walls. A total of forty-one of these flags swayed gently in the wind, from the ceiling to the floor.

In the center of this room which was tinted gold and silver, there was a flight of stairs about ten steps high. Atop these stairs was a gigantic throne, carved out of a single piece of crystal, whose back was high enough to touch the ceiling above it. A huge red banner hung down behind it, proudly displaying the symbol of the guild.

This place was located in the deepest reaches of the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick.

As Momonga advanced through the room that seemed to absorb the sounds of his footsteps, his eye fell on the female NPC that stood by the side of the throne.

She was a beautiful woman who wore a pure white dress, and the faint smile on her face was that of a goddess. In stark contrast to her dress, her hair was a flowing, lustrous jet-black that reached down to her waist.

Although her golden irises and vertically-slitted pupils were somewhat odd, apart from those she could easily be considered a world-class beauty. However, a pair of curled horns sprouted from the sides of her head. In addition, a pair of black-feathered wings emerged from her waist. She was the Overseer of the Floor Guardians of the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick, Albedo.

"This is a good place."

Momonga's words were directed to Sebas and the Pleiades as they reached the base of the stairs leading to the throne.

After that, he began climbing the stairs, and then sat on the throne. He stared openly at Albedo, who stood by its side. Though he had entered this room before, he did not recall her eyes tracking him in his memories.

"What kind of backstory was she designed with?" Driven by curiosity, Momonga opened up a console and began scrolling through the details of Albedo's flavor text.

A flood of densely-packed characters filled his vision. It was like reading an ancient epic poem. If he took his time to read it in detail, he would probably still be reading until the game ended.

Momonga felt like he had stepped on a landmine. If he could move, he would have been trembling now.

He wanted to scold himself for having forgotten that Albedo's creator was obsessed with this sort of thing. After skipping past vast expanses of text, Momonga's mind settled on the last line and froze.

"She is also a slut."

He could not help but stare.

"...Eh? What does this mean?"

A cry of disbelief escaped Momonga's nonexistent lips.

"Ah, is this what they call gap moe? Tabula-san… even so…"

Isn't a backstory like this far too much?

Would it be fine to change an NPC's backstory based on a personal decision? After thinking about it for some time, Momonga came to a conclusion.

"Should I change it?"

"Hmmm....no...I will not change it, Tabula created her that way, and I will respect that."

After closing the menu on Albedo's backstory, Momonga scans his surroundings with eyes filled with satisfaction and a little embarrassment. He noticed that Sebas and the maids were still standing by in a dormant state. It seemed a little lonely, and a little odd, to have them standing motionless like that.

I think there was a command for that.

Momonga recalled the words he had heard before and extended a hand before lightly bringing it down.

"Kneel."

As one, Albedo, Sebas, and the six maids fell to one knee in obedience.

Good.

Momonga raised his left hand to check the time.

Momonga sighed.

[23:59:35, 36, 37]

Momonga set his watch to count out the seconds.

[23:59:48, 49, 50]

Momonga closed his eyes.

[23:59:58, 59—]