The sky remained pitch black.
Nai Yuan sat quietly by the window, gazing into the distance.
Today was the day the game known as YGGDRASILL would shut down its servers.
His gaze moved from the window back into the room, scanning every detail of the interior.
He wanted to carve the image of this place, where he had lived for decades, deep into his memory.
“Goodbye, world.
And hello, world.”
He whispered a final farewell, then unhesitatingly picked up the helmet on his bed.
Putting on the helmet and connecting to his neural link, Nai Yuan took one last look at the familiar ceiling and slowly closed his eyes.
…
“You’re here, Nai Yuan.
A bit later than I expected.
Did something happen?”
As soon as his vision cleared, a concerned voice reached his ears.
Though the speaker was a skeleton, Nai Yuan could still feel the warmth in his heart.
“Nothing much.
You’re quite early, though.
Momonga, have you been in this room ever since you got off work?”
“Well, I did send out invitations to everyone.
I was worried they might arrive early and find no one here, so I came to wait in advance.”
“And as the Guild Master, isn’t it only right to be the first one here?
Hehe.”
In a meeting room featuring a massive round table, Momonga sat in one of the seats, sending a smiley-face emote to the newly logged-in Nai Yuan.
This room was called the Round Table Room.
It was set so that any guild member wearing a guild ring would automatically teleport here upon logging in, barring certain exceptional scenarios.
This was where the guild members used to hold their meetings.
Forty-two chairs were arranged around the table, but now, they were almost entirely empty.
“Has no one else come yet?”
Looking at the empty seats, Nai Yuan let out a sigh.
He had also sent out final invitations to their comrades, but it seemed it hadn’t done much good.
“Has everyone just given up?”
“Let’s wait a bit longer.
Maybe they’re just tied up with something.”
Momonga tried to comfort the despondent Nai Yuan, but his words felt hollow and weak.
Even he didn’t hold much hope.
Compared to Nai Yuan, Suzuki Satoru placed even more importance on today.
While he played a skeletal Archmage in the game, he was a very sensitive person at heart.
In the words of their former comrade, Tabula Smaragdina, it was “gap moe.” An evil, terrifying appearance paired with a gentle heart.
This obsession with contrast was why Tabula had always been so enthusiastic toward Momonga.
One could see how deep that obsession went just by looking at the settings of the three Albedo sisters.
In the heavy silence, a notification sound interrupted their gloom.
[Ding!]
The login alert made Momonga and Nai Yuan snap their heads up instantly to look at the figure.
In one of the empty spots on the right side of the table, a mass of black liquid appeared.
Upon seeing this, Momonga’s sorrow vanished instantly.
He let out a joyful cry as he looked at the newcomer.
“Herohero!
It’s been a long time!
(Smiley Face)”
“Hello, Hero-kun!
(Mischievous Grin)”
Momonga and Nai Yuan both offered their greetings to the long-absent friend.
“Ah, it’s been a long time, you two.
Sorry, I only just managed to log in because of work.
You’ve been waiting long, haven’t you?”
“Momonga, you’re still the same as ever.
And Nai Yuan…
it’s so nostalgic.
It’s been ages since I heard you use that nickname.”
Herohero spoke with a sense of nostalgia.
His voice carried deep exhaustion, yet he couldn’t hide his happiness.
“There’s no need to apologize, Herohero.
If anything, I should be the one apologizing for sending you a message when I knew how tired you must be from work.
Please forgive my selfishness.”
Momonga flailed his hands in a bit of a panic, speaking to Herohero with sincere regret.
“Alright, Momonga, Herohero isn’t going to hold a grudge over that.
In fact, he’s probably very happy right now since we haven’t seen each other in so long.
Don’t start apologizing for everything the moment we meet!”
Nai Yuan looked at Momonga helplessly and spoke to both of them.
“Nai Yuan, you’re the same as ever too.
It feels like everything was just yesterday.
Those were truly nostalgic times.”
“But lately, I’ve been getting more and more tired.
It’s messed up my sense of time.
I feel like my body is reaching its limit…”
Herohero’s voice trailed off, but the exhaustion in it made the other two frown.
He sounded like someone who could collapse at any second.
“How are you?
Are you alright?”
“If you can’t push through, you should go to sleep.
Just seeing you come back at the end has made Momonga and me very happy.”
Momonga and Nai Yuan expressed their concern.
Although they wanted to spend these final moments together, their comrade’s health was more important.
“Well, if my boss were to disappear tomorrow, or if the company went bankrupt, or if it were the end of the world…
maybe I’d actually find some salvation…”
*Wow, that sounds serious.* Momonga and Nai Yuan exchanged a glance.
Herohero’s situation was even worse than they had imagined.
“It’s fine.
Let me stay with you both to see this through to the end.
Since my friends have put their hearts into the request, how could I bear to refuse?”
Herohero sent a smiley-face icon and spoke with a chuckle.
If it had just been Momonga here today, he might have chosen to log off early.
But seeing Nai Yuan there as well, he dismissed that thought.
He could have brought himself to turn down one person.
But both of them were his best friends, and he couldn’t ignore the longing in their voices.
He didn’t want to let them down.
Even though his body was screaming at him to log off and rest, he chose to stay.
“Hehe, then let the three of us welcome the final moment together.”
Nai Yuan was the first to react, speaking with a smile.
Internally, however, he was quite surprised.
He had expected Herohero to log off early, given that his body seemed to be at its limit.
He hadn’t expected the man to deviate from the original “plot” and stay to wait with them until the very end.
“…I see!
Arigatou, Herohero-san.
Hontoni…
arigatou.”
Momonga was filled with immense joy at Herohero’s decision to stay.
He had originally wanted to ask him to stay until the end, but after seeing his condition, he had intended to give up.
Knowing that his friend chose to accompany them anyway brought a lump to his throat.
“Hey, hey, didn’t we just say to stop with all the thanking?”
“Alright, Nai Yuan, Momonga is just excited.
Besides, the two of us are basically in the same boat.”
“Shut up, Hero-kun.”
“I’m already a black slime; I can’t get any ‘blacker,’ so call me what you want!”
…
Momonga watched the two of them bicker in silence.
As the noise filled his ears, he wondered how long it had been since he had seen a scene like this.
Of all their former comrades, only Herohero had chosen to return, but that was enough to satisfy him.
His greatest fear was that everyone had forgotten this place—forgotten the Great Tomb of Nazarick that they had built together.
But looking at the two in front of him, he felt that his years of guarding this place had all been worth it.
“What are you spacing out for, Momonga?
Quick, help me take down Herohero!”
“Don’t be so stingy, Nai Yuan.
You’ll never find a girlfriend like that.”
“I can’t hear you, I can’t hear you!
System error, access denied!!”
As if remembering something, Nai Yuan suddenly covered his ears and began muttering to himself.
“Herohero is as mischievous as ever, isn’t he?”
“And you’re the same as ever too, Guild Master.”
“Being the same is good.
Just like before.
No one has changed.”
(Translator’s Note: In the original work, Herohero had a family but died suddenly after logging off.
In this version, Herohero has no family and will transmigrate along with them.)