The Overlord Goes to the Ivory Tower
Did you know?
If someone spits out a web novel halfway through reading it, they might get reincarnated into that world.
And not just anywhere — into a complete shithole of a neutral zone where conflicts never stop.
I just spit it out. I only looked up the settings and plot on the wiki. I didn't even leave hate comments on the novel.
And yet one day, I got hit by the classic reincarnation truck and woke up in this world — as a parentless orphan from the neutral zone, no less.
First, let me explain this world. It's a world where necromancers rule half the continent.
It all started with a place called the Talhern Empire. The Emperor of Talhern, seeking to free himself from the necromancers' influence, sent an army of fifty thousand against Kizen — their stronghold and the educational institution that trained the next generation of necromancers. Kizen dispatched only ten necromancers in response.
And that was when the historic event known as the Rose Retreat took place. The fifty-thousand-strong army marching on Kizen returned to the imperial capital in full — as undead, every last one of them.
The capital of Talhern was reduced to ruins, and the Emperor surrendered to Kizen. Afterward, the throne of Talhern was occupied by a rotting corpse that had "once been emperor."
A fragment of history that demonstrated the power and terror of the necromancers.
In the wake of that incident, necromancers rose to become the mainstream of the era, gradually expanding their influence until they now held sway over half the continent. The other half was occupied by the Priests who sought to reject them.
The two powers clashed fiercely. A war known as the Hundred Years' War broke out, and decades had passed since the ceasefire. The continent was enjoying a somewhat precarious peace, and in the neutral zone where I lived, small-scale forces of necromancers and priests were still colliding.
That was the background knowledge I'd picked up from dipping into this novel, The Summoning Genius of the Necromancer Academy.
How did an orphan like me survive to age ten in a shithole neutral zone like this? How could I, only ten years old in this life, recall my previous life's memories in such detail?
I'll explain those later.
I finished off another monster that had tried to make a meal of me. While wandering around as usual, I had a fateful encounter that would change my life forever.
"Hey there, kid."
At the unfamiliar man's voice, I turned around. The owner of that voice was a man who looked to be in his mid-thirties, with blue hair and blue eyes.
"What do you want?"
When I turned my glowing red eyes on him and let my killing intent show, the man flinched — but he kept talking.
"…There's no need to be so wary. My name is Daniela Bilene. I was just passing through the area on business."
Daniela, was it. No wonder he looked a bit like Meyrin, one of the major characters.
"I have a child about your age, you see. So I couldn't just walk past you."
Daniela asked if I had nowhere to go, and whether I'd come with him.
"It's all right. I'm a necromancer of the Ivory Tower. I hold a fairly high position there, so I can take someone like you in."
That's right. This man, Daniela Bilene, belonged to the Ivory Tower — a faction in the Dark Coalition, the necromancers' domain, second only to Kizen in power.
I nodded. From what I'd learned through wiki-diving, Daniela Bilene was a decent person. I was lucky it was him I'd run into.
If it had been Vermood Aindark of the same Ivory Tower — that bastard — I would have had no choice but to kill him.
Did I misspeak when I said "no choice but to die"? How could a ten-year-old brat kill the Lord of the Ivory Tower? And before that — how did I deal with the monsters that came at me? Why did someone of Daniela's caliber flinch at my killing intent?
By now you should have figured it out. Among people who end up like me, pure overpowered monsters are the norm rather than the exception.
The Japanese dark fantasy novel Overlord. A novel whose protagonist is the officially strongest character, as declared by the author…
I reincarnated with every ability of its protagonist, Ainz Ooal Gown. All the knowledge he possessed is in my head. Every personal item Ainz Ooal Gown owned, and all the various items from his base — the Nazarick Underground Great Tomb — fill my inventory to the brim.
And Ainz Ooal Gown sits at the absolute pinnacle of the necromancer class. Vermood Aindark? He's nothing. If I'd only transferred with the abilities, I could still win, though I'd have to go all out. But with Ainz Ooal Gown's PVP knowledge and every other scrap of knowledge, plus all those items, I can toy with him completely.
Anyway, since the person in front of me wasn't Vermood, I pushed those thoughts to a corner of my mind and followed Daniela.
On the way to the Ivory Tower, we talked about this and that. When Daniela asked my name, I — an orphan who had none — casually gave him "Ainz."
And Daniela said that if I had no parents, he would become my adoptive father.
That's right. From now on, my name is Ainz Bilene.
How old is Meyrin right now? Should I call her big sister? Or will Meyrin end up calling me big brother? Has Serne already been adopted by Vermood?
With thoughts like these, we rode for several days and finally arrived at the Ivory Tower.
Upon arrival, various people looked at me with disapproving eyes.
"It's barely been any time since the Tower Lord brought in a child… and now even Sir Daniela…"
"What on earth are those two thinking…"
Ah, so Serne has already been adopted.
Daniela — Father — explained that he'd run into me by chance in the neutral zone, that I had no parents and he couldn't turn me away. I also made it clear I had no interest in the internal power struggles of the Ivory Tower, so people eventually accepted me as a member.
A short while later, Father introduced me to his daughter, Meyrin.
"This is my daughter Meyrin. Meyrin, this is the boy who will be your older brother. There's only a year between you. Get along, all right?"
"I'm Meyrin Bilene. Nice to meet you."
"I'm Ainz. Nice to meet you."
That was my first meeting with Meyrin Bilene — age nine — and the beginning of my life at the Ivory Tower.