Yggdrasil overlord

Chapter 01: Surprise Visit

"Azerlisia Mountains: inhospitable and unpleasant place, almost everything wants you for dinner. Even so, a race of small humanoids developed in their caves, for centuries they formed a thriving society, but recently it has almost come to the brink of extinction.

Threatened with being devoured by ice dragons or decimated by the Quagoa people, these people who lived there barely had any hope of holding on for a few more years before disappearing for good. Their age-old arts and techniques had almost disappeared and the end seemed inevitable.

Now less than two years later, those memories seem as distant as decades. Their society is growing rapidly, their work with Runecraft has become famous again, not only in weaponry, but in everyday household items, their highly sought-after beers are taken by merchants eager for fortune and adventure, their population has never had so many births in such a short period of time.

Apparently, all it takes to recover a kingdom on the verge of collapse is just hope… and lots, lots of beer.

Those who live there are called dwarf people and were saved by something that should be described as divine intervention, for a being that could only be called supreme appeared in their hour of greatest need, dominating the great Frost Dragons and shattering the armies of the Quagoas. This is the Lord of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, the Sorcerer King, the Supreme Being Ainz Ooal Gown, and today is a feast day as their savior has come to pay them a visit.

Ainz didn't like to announce his visits, as it usually caused almost all services to come to a halt and an ordinary day turned into an impromptu holiday, with tedious ceremonies and long banquets. This happened even among the dwarven people, who were quite practical, but they never missed an opportunity for a break and a few beers, so Gondo Firebeard nearly had a heart attack when the whirling portal appeared in the middle of his office and from there emerged his savior.

"Hello Gondo, how's business going?" said Ainz, nonchalantly.

"AAHH!" screamed the dwarf.

These visits helped to ease the mind and escape all the bureaucracy of running various realms, so Ainz always tried to sound informal and wanted to be treated that way too, clearly without much success.

" Your Majesty, it is an honor to welcome you to the Dwarf Kingdom, if we had known of your coming we would have prepared a proper reception."

"Tcs! These beings should always be prepared with all the pomp that Ainz-sama deserves-arinsu!" snapped the goth vampire who now showed up beside her sire.

"Stop it Shalltear, if I wanted such a thing, I would have sent an advance notice myself! I'm sorry Gondo for coming in like this, this is just a visit to see in person how my good friend's kingdom is doing,"- 'without having to go through all that reporting hassle' – thought Ainz.

"I-I'm extremely happy for all the consideration Your Majesty bestows on this humble servant." babbled Gondo.

"I would like to take a look at the advancements in Runecraft art, your reports are quite optimistic."

"You flatter me with such words! Would you like to visit one of our newest factories?" – said the proud dwarf.

"That's exactly what I had in mind, Gondo. Shalltear, you are excused for the time being, you can go to the airmail bases and assess how the logistics are, I expect a report soon." Ainz said firmly, but inside he grunted at the prospect of reading more papers.

"I hear and obey, Ainz-Sama-arinsu."

Inside the newly built large factory, hundreds of dwarves worked in their sectors, there were even separate and sturdy rooms for those things that, without proper care, would simply go BOOM!

"As Lord Ainz may know, our realm has increased the production of Runecrafts exponentially. What limits us is still the specialized manpower, masters are difficult to prepare, it takes time and experience to put more than two runes on a weapon or armor, so the smaller items have become the biggest interest of the younger blacksmiths. Do you know what are the most sought after items today?"

" No, I don't think I'm aware of it."

"It's these things here" – said Gondo holding up two metal rings with slightly different colors – "Rings of light and heat for interiors are the ones that sell the most! Because they are Runecraft, they are cheaper and more durable than enchanted items, and as each one only carries one rune, newer ones can manufacture quickly."

"I see that making people's daily lives easier is a good deal. After all, being able to buy an item to keep your home warm and lit on long winter days is what most people want. I think they will soon create one that will cool down the ambient for the summer" – Ainz said humorously as he walked away.

''COOL DOWN THE HOUSE!' - Internally shouted the young dwarf who was working at the table where the hoops were taken from. Being very young, he had only a span of beard and looked as if he had been hit with a metaphorical hammer.

"This can be done? Of course it can!"– he argued with himself – "Just change the heat rune for the cold rune we use in beer vats, maybe you need more than one, or change it a little to increase the effect and range, it will take months of experiments, it would be a risky investment of time, but the possibilities outweigh the risk."

"Imagine hoops to cool rooms, entire houses, shops, even buildings! People who can't take the heat like us dwarves will buy these things as if their lives depended on it! Small coolers in every room or large ones for salons and factories, chic or just practical, fortunes would come to those who can make it work."

Anyone who saw the scene could imagine that the young dwarf would start throwing punches at any moment, such was his commotion.

"How has no one thought of this before? Wait, someone thought, His Majesty thought, NOW, after hearing only once, only a being of unparalleled intelligence to think of such a thing and comment on it so casually. NO, this was not accidental, it was on purpose, he knew they would listen to him, I need to speak to King Gondo, ask for authorizations, resources, time and I will need to pay up the SKIR – and then he ran after his king."

Fun fact about the SKIR (Sorcerer Kingdom Innovation Rate): it was not the first time that the Sorcerer King brought technological and conceptual innovations. From the first few months of contact between the Dwarf Kingdom and the Sorcerer Kingdom, ideas flowed continuously, from how to make wagon wheels or axles more durable, to some more efficient way to do something. There was so much new information that the Dwarf Kingdom was embarrassed to use it without returning something to the Sorcerer King, so the SKIR was created, a fee paid in the form of a single share or percentage of profits for using an idea, such as Royalties.

Some of these ideas were very simple, while others were extremely complicated, so the risk factor came to those who wanted to try to produce something, since the investment of time and money was considerable, but so far all these novelties have yielded profits for those involved.

Meanwhile, Ainz and Gondo arrived at the armaments sector.

"The entire factory follows the model of production line that Your Majesty suggested. We receive from the forges the products ready for the placement of the runes, so here we use the smaller ones just to sufficiently heat the metal and carve."

Runecraft is an almost lost art, those who know it don't even know half of what it can do. Unlike an enchanted item that needs rituals, spell writing and mana to make, runic items in comparison only need a little more time and a lot of willpower. Literally it consists of infusing a magical intention into an object at the base of the hammer.

"See Your Majesty..."

"I've said it before, Gondo, just call me Ainz."

"Impossible Your Majesty, that would be a total lack of respect! But moving on, the Lord sees that here we received the steel swords, they are the weakest in the factory and therefore only hold two runes: sharpen and harden. Swords of Orichalcum and Adamantite hold four and even five runes, but thanks to the advice the Lord gave us, we stopped using the harden rune, which was used in armor, and now use a variation called resistance, which increases hardness and flexibility of the blade, so we manage to place a third rune, lightness and make tests with a fourth. The metal still warps and decays when the fourth rune is added, but we're close to producing cheap, high-quality blades."

"I'm sure you do, Gondo, for I own steel blades with six runes myself, here, look" – said Ainz as he pulled out a small, richly carved dagger out of nowhere.

'Actually these are junk items you get when you do the first quests in Yggdrasil, I've only been keeping them because I hate to get rid of things' – he thought.

"Six runes! Incredible! On such a small blade! What precise carvings and that combination of runes, I would never have thought of that, it's beautiful! Again, I think that without Your Majesty's help we could never have resumed the art of Runecraft."

" Don't overdo it Gondo, I know you will soon produce something worthy of Nazarick."

"Nazarick?!"

" My home, Gondo, where I live."

" EEH!?" shouted a young dwarf who came running towards him.

"Yes? May I help you?" – said the Supreme Being.

"I-I think I betrayed you, Your Majesty" – stammered Rumble before passing out.