Moon, Rabbit And Prophecy

Moon, Rabbit And Prophecy (月と兎と予言の書召喚) is a game event that occurred in Mass for the Dead. It was released on September 17, 2021 to October 4, 2021.

Background
Tsukimi. Through a conversation at the Ashurbanipal, an event came to Momonga's mind, with the Guardians, to plan and host a moon viewing party. However, due to the purpose of the project, there are obstacles. On the day of the moon viewing ――an unexpected natural disaster prevented the moon viewing.

Incident
It all started with a series of conversations in Ashurbanipal. Momonga having come to the library to acquire a new book to help him, encounters the protagonist and Slimeko. The two ask the Supreme One to enlighten them on how to maintain the trust of humans. The Overlord offers to assist the protagonist with any help he can provide. Forgoing the usual protocol in submitting written necessary questions, Momonga offers to provide the homunculus with any cultural knowledge that turns up in the books that the protagonist is unfamiliar with. Secretly Momonga hopes the questions the protagonist brings to him are not advanced high school questions as he embarrassingly is only a graduate of elementary school.

The protagonist shows his master a book that he has a query on. The tome in question has no title and to the homunculus it seems like a prophecy of some kind though its meaning is unclear to him. Momonga taking the book scans the contents of the first page which reads: "Invaders from the moon. A calamity that brings chaos and darkness to the earth in the form of heteromorphs with the appearance of rabbits. A mallet crushes, crushes, and kills those on the earth. Beware of the full moon." Additionally there is mention of "werewolf" and the "sun". Momonga finds that the content is strangely dressed and vague, but guesses that it to be a memo or a self-made novel left by someone, or rather, a reminder of a setting. Since the storyline is jumpy and doesn't flow well he presume it to be unfinished. Still he finds the idea of rabbit-like extraterrestrials from the moon and who make mochi to be odd.

The undead explains to the protagonist that it is simply a book written by one of his colleagues which awes the homunculus. Momonga tells his subject not to worry about it which the protagonist accepts. Momonga studying the paragraph in the book attributes that the book must have been unfinished because it was at the spur of the moment and written in one of the many books of the library and later forgotten. The words moon rabbit and full moon catch his interest and soon gets an idea. Seeing the Overlord's change in attitude, the protagonist inquires what is on his mind. Momonga though tells him that he thought of a way to lessen the burdens of his subordinates. The undead tells the protagonist that he has some preparations to make and excuses himself once the homunculus confirms that he has no other questions.

Some time after the first scene at the oldest library. On that day, an event was scheduled at the Great Tomb of Nazarick. Momonga in his office finishes up reviewing a report with Albedo who also informs him that its near the time of the event that is hosted on the surface. The Supreme Being is eager to begin the event and asks if there were any problems in preparing it. Albedo reports that all the planned preparations went without delay and that the additional preparation to entertain him are ready. On that Momonga states that entertaining him is not necessary and while it is appreciated, he wishes them not to make it a big hassle like the Hanami and the Christmas party. Albedo apologies but cannot help it to prepare the best parties for Momonga so that it would be special for him. Again the Overlord reminds the Overseer Guardian that this upcoming banquet was conceived by him to entertain her and the others. His humbleness though makes Albedo admire his sincerity causing her to lose herself in her emotions. Once she remains her composure the female demon, Momonga adds that the party so far doesn't require any special preparations as the chefs have made dango and gather pampas grass.

Later the full moon is in the night sky and Albedo reveals that the theme of tonight's party is "Tsukimi". A time where people look at the moon to and enjoy small dishes of food. Though it's quite a costly use of time, it may be an invaluable experience because of it's taking place in the current world as in the former world, it was almost impossible to see the full moon in the night sky in real life, except in virtual reality. That being said Momonga believed that Blue Planet would have been happy to be at the Tsukumi.

Albedo noticing Momonga's silence causes the latter to be brought back to the present and focus on hurrying to the event and meet up with the other gathering Floor Guardians. He is informed by Albedo that the protagonist is due to return from E-Rantel. Before they can proceed to the surface, Albedo gets a [Message] from the protagonist. Excusing herself from her master's side, she directs her attention to the call. While she is gone, Momonga looks forward to the moon-viewing feast on the surface as it one of the rare instances he can go outside. And though he can't actually eat the food he wants to enjoy the festivities and notes that the Head Chef prepared other dishes like mochi and "Nazarick-type" food which appeals to those like meat eaters like Entoma Vasilissa Zeta.

Albedo returns with a worried face who states that the [Message] was from the protagonist who reports that some trouble has occurred while he was returning back to the dungeon. Momonga wonders what it could be and worries that it might be a warning of an intruder or some new calamity. Albedo states that their agent is not sure if it is an attack, but it seems that it has made the moon-viewing impossible. To clarify Albedo responds that apparently the sun has not set much to the shock of Momonga.

Reconvening at the Round Table Room, Momonga using the Mirror of Remote Viewing confirms that the sun has not set, despite the time indicating that it should have already set. According to Solution Epsilon, the protagonist and Slimeko who are present at the meeting when the team were headed back to the dungeon the sun was already setting, and yet almost instantly the world was all bright like noon.

Summons operating outside Nazarick report the same thing as if time had rewound. Though Momonga knows that such a feat is impossible as if it was time-control magic none of those with such countermeasures would be affected. But since the target is the sun, Momonga is unsure if casting time magic on is is feasible given the size. He knows that he is being prejudice on the physical laws of the New World as there is no way to determine if the laws of physics are the same as the old world's common sense. Since they do not have enough information, Momonga requests the undercover adventurers to return to E-Rantel to gauge on how the inhabitants react to the phenomenon as there is still the possibility of it being a regular phenomenon.

The protagonist proposes what they are seeing could be like a "midnight sun" which is a night when the sun doesn't set. Momonga doesn't believe such a thing could happen in the current world, though maybe in other lands. And given if no one in E-Rantel mentioned it, it's unlikely. Solution has a possibility of what this could be if it is not a natural phenomenon. Since the phenomenon occurred just before Nazarick's "Tsukimi" it is possible that someone is targeting Nazarick and caused it intentionally. Momonga tells her to be wary of such possibilities, though advises that she should not be prejudice when gathering information. At the moment Momonga tells the trio that Albedo and Demiurge are compiling reports from summons in various regions to determine the range and differences of the phenomenon. To be on the safe side, they have taken more thorough information measures than usual in preparation for the possibility that someone has caused this phenomenon with the intention of studying how Nazarick behaves. As it may take some time, Momonga assures them that by the time they return to E-Rantel, they'll get the results. He also warns them that when returning to the city that they may encounter Chaos Beasts, Contaminated Beasts, and swarms of magical beasts, asking them to be careful and not to neglect their guard as that they might be watched by another party.

Upon arriving at E-Rantel, the undercover adventurers went to the Adventurer's Guild to gather intel. There he and his team meet with the Swords of Darkness. From Ninya, she finds the phenomenon to be also strange as this is the first instance when the position of the day rewound. Dyne Woodwonder adds that this might be a bad sign, though Peter Mauk states that fortunately for now, Chaos Beasts and Contaminated Beasts are not appearing and neither is a demonic army. However the residents of the city are unnerved and worried. In contrast Lukrut Volve finds it a pity that it's day again as atmosphere feels out of tune especially when he wants to go out with a girl, such as Narberal, for a night out. His teammate Ninya doubts that the rogue would accomplish that even under normal circumstances.

Peter tries to point out the positive side of this ongoing day, as if the daytime continues as it is, it may be convenient for their work as adventurers work because the risk of being sneaked upon on by dangerous opponents in the darkness and fighting night-vision opponents during the camp is reduced. In contrast the protagonist notes that the phenomenon might be troublesome in the long-run, as the if the sun continues to stay in the sky then droughts will last longer, there is a risk that the growth of plants such as crops will be hindered and food shortages will occur. Soi adds that the climate might get hotter and cause the wells to dry up unless there is a magic item that provides infinite water.

Ninya argues that its unlikely that the climate will change so quickly, but if the daytime continues, there are likely to be various problems. The protagonist asks the magic caster what kind of magic could cause this to occur. Unfortunately Ninya can't think of anything that could but the closest that matches what is happening would be magic used to control weather. Dyne states that to be [Control Weather] a 6th tier magic spell and in the realm of legends, but even that magic is not described as being able to keep the day going.

The other magic caster agrees, though adds that a master once said that there are places where phenomena that normally do not occur happen in a wide range. There are places where it happened due to the failure of some ceremonial magic. The protagonist recalls such locations: a zone where rotting poisonous gas is scattered, a land where it rains in seven colors for a certain period of time, a desert where a mighty storm occurs once a year for a week. Still if this phenomenon is artificial due to supernatural magic or rituals, you should be wary of the existence of a considerably dangerous opponent.

Someone walks over interrupting the discussion. It is Saint Clementine who informs them that the guild is currently collecting information in the city side as well, but there are few clues that could lead to the elucidation of this phenomenon. After consulting with the guild, the city is adjusting the investigation procedure and would like to ask the protagonist to participate in the consultation. The protagonist agrees to help, and the members of Sword of Darkness bid their farewells to go and gather more information from the other adventurers.

Clementine then guides the group to the guildmaster's office. Pluton Ainzach is glad that the protagonist's team has arrived to help in the emergency and feels fortunate that two busy adamantite-class adventurer teams are staying together in the city. When the guildmaster mentions two sets of adamantite adventurer teams, Blue Roses appears to be also present in the room. Surako is surprised to see Blue Roses but is glad they are present as they might be able to get to the bottom of the current mystery which the female adventurer wholeheartedly agree.

Azinach interjects wishing to get into the main subject as the phenomenon could be a sign of the return of the demons. After the guildmaster warned the adventurers that the change in the sky could be a precursor to an abnormal situation that would hit the city, he immediately entered the main topic of response. As a result, the protagonist's group could not help but feel a certain sense of incongruity.

Aftermath
TBA