NPCs didn't understand any commands outside of their original programming. You had to use a specific words in order for them to accept the command. Having forgotten about it, Momonga realized that he haven't ordered NPCs around in a long time.
After his guild members left, Momonga hunted alone and gathered funds to maintain Nazarick. He didn't build any friendships with other players, even going as far as to avoid them. He also avoided the dangerous areas his guild members used to frequent.
Day after day, he was constantly earning money and putting it into the treasury until he logged out. There was almost no contact with the NPCs.
"─── Standby."
The footsteps stopped.
After Momonga gave the correct command, he climbed the final steps in front of him to the throne.
Momonga gazed unreservedly at Albedo who standing next to him. He rarely visited this room in the past, so he never paid any special attention to her before.
"I wonder what kind of setting she has."
The only thing Momonga remembered about Albedo was her role as the Overseer of the Floor Guardians and that she was the highest ranking NPC in the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick.
Struck by curiosity, Momonga operated his console and perused Albedo's detailed setting.
A dense array of text flooded his vision. Its length was equivalent of an epic poem. It seemed like reading it all slowly would take him past the server shutdown.
With the feeling of having stepped on a landmine, Momonga's unmoving face started to tremble.
Deep in his heart he wanted to scold himself for forgetting that the member who designed Albedo was an extremely meticulous person.
But since he already started reading, he decided to see it through to the end. Paying no attention to the actual content, he skimmed the walls of text in a flash.
After skipping past all the lengthy texts, Momonga finally reached the last part of her setting. But after reading what was written down, his train of thought came to a sudden stop.
[She is also a nympho.]
He was at a loss for words.
"… Huh? What the hell is this?!"
Momonga could not help but to shout. Holding on to his doubts, he read it several times but it was still the same sentence. Even after several moments of pondering the matter, he couldn't think of any other interpretation.
"A nympho… Meaning she has excessive sexual desire?"
Each of the forty-one guild members had been in charge of the settings for at least one NPC.
Was it possible that one of them had decided on such a setting for their own character? Momonga was bewildered. Perhaps he would be able to find a different meaning behind it after carefully reading the entire text.
But among his guild members, there were indeed people who would come up with such a distinctive and strange setting. One of those people was 'Tabula Smaragdina', the creator of Albedo.
"Ah, he was crazy about character dissonance, wasn't he? But even so……"
— But even so, isn't this going overboard?
Every NPC made by a member was part of the guild's legacy. Momonga felt disheartened about Albedo, who was ranked first among the NPCs, having such a setting.
"Hmm…"
Was is okay for him to modify a NPC that a guild member had created dearly? After giving it some thought, Momonga came to a conclusion.
"Let's change it."
Now that he had the guild weapon in his possession, he was truly the guild master. It should be okay for him exercise his prerogative. Momonga's hesitation vanished with his unreasonable logic that he should fix the errors of his guild members.
Momonga stretched out the hand he was holding the staff with. Normally he would have to use the editing tool to change a setting, but because right now he was using his guild master privileges, he was able to access it directly. Operating his console, he erased the sentence immediately.
"That's good for now."
While looking at the empty space in Albedo's setting, Momonga thought for a moment.
— Maybe I should put something in…
"No, that's just silly."
Laughing at the idea that popped up in his mind, he typed on the console's keypad. It was a single sentence:
[She is also in love with Momonga.]
"Wow, that's cringeworthy."
Hiding his face behind his hands, Momonga felt extremely embarrassed about his action. It was like programming his ideal girlfriend complete with a love plot. Although he wanted to rewrite it at first, he decided to go with it. Today the game will end and the feeling of embarrassment will soon fade away. In the end, the part he deleted and added were about the same length. If there were some blank parts left over, Momonga would've felt bad about it.
Sitting on the throne, embarrassed and somewhat satisfied, Momonga looked around the room and noticed that Sebastian and the maids were standing motionless. Even though they were together in the same place, it still felt a little desolate.
— I think there was a command like this.
Momonga remembered a command he never used in the past. He held out his hand and slowly moved it down.
"Kneel."
Albedo, Sebastian and the Pleiades genuflected simultaneously.
Everything is set.
Momonga raised his left hand to look at the holographic clock.
23:55:48
Just in time for the last moments.
Probably a GM had already begun broadcasting and shooting fireworks outside. But sitting inside here reminiscing, completely isolated from the outside world, Momonga had no way of knowing.
Momonga leaned back on the throne and slowly looked up at the ceiling.
Considering how this was the legendary base that had destroyed the great expedition force in the past, Momonga thought that maybe there were some players who might try to invade Nazarick on the final day.
He was waiting. To accept the last challenge as the guild master.
Although he had sent emails to his old companions, almost none of them showed up.
He was waiting. To welcome his companions one last time as the guild master.
Now we are a relic of the past…
Momonga thought inside his heart.
The guild was now an empty shell, but he still had a great time in the long run.
His eyes looked at the huge banners hanging from the ceiling. Their total was forty-one. One banner for every guild member, each with its own design. Momonga lifted his fleshless finger and pointed at one of the banners.
"Me."
Then he moved his finger towards the banner next to it. That one belonged to one of Ainz Ooal Gown's — no, to one of Yggdrasil's strongest players. The guild's founder and the one who once brought together the "First Nine".