Jack the Ripper Beauty Salon (切り裂きジャック美容院) is the seventy-sixth chapter of the Overlord: The Undead Oh! series.
Summary[]
A few months after the transfer to the New World, Ainz Ooal Gown is flying above in the air towards the Great Tomb of Nazarick. He notes that he has been away due to his activities as Momon. Once he lands at the Central Mausoleum, he is greeted by Mare. Though Ainz hardly recognizes the dark elf as his bangs now cover his eyes, causing him to wonder if his character design changed. Mare's hair has obviously grown and the Floor Guardian admits to having not cut it in awhile.
Ainz has never noticed people's hair grow, as he mostly sees them often enough not to notice. But since he has been gone awhile he guesses appearances tend to shift more noticeably. But what shocks him is that he is seeing proof that the hair of NPCs do indeed grow. When he questions about this to Mare, the dark elf assumes Ainz's curiosity is due to being an undead and not experiencing the biological phenomena. Ainz leaves Mare thinking this, but internally he is ashamed for having missed this blind spot, as he should have known hair grows and must also apply to the NPCs as they are now alive.
Ainz asks who Mare has cuts his hair. He answers that Aura usually does, but was unable to do it for him recently due to her business. Thinking that is a problem, Ainz suggests that another person helps cut Mare's hair, like Nigredo.
Mare balks in fear at the suggestion as he is afraid of approaching the woman with he scary shears. As for everyone else, Mare thinks each person is trying to figure out on their own as there are no hairdressers in Nazarick.
Ainz realizes that although there was a high degree of freedom in YGGDRASIL, allowing players job classes like cook, etc. there was no job class of hairdresser and thus no haircutting skills. However in this New World, anyone can become an excellent hairdresser through effort, and Nazarick could benefit by providing haircutting service.
Later at the Beauty Parlor, Ainz directs a Jack the Ripper he summoned to be in charge of the location as its store manager. The parlor conveniently was created by Tabula Smaragdina at the request of Bukubukuchagama who wanted to take a specific photo of Momonga's summon Jack the Ripper as a hairdresser. Momonga complied though wondered if placing a cuttthroat killer with blades for hands was really a good choice for a hairdresser. To Bukubukuchagama the summon was perfect as it was just like a scene she saw in an old romantic movie by Tim "Something". Tabula knows the movie and recalls that it was about a barber who killed a customer and then the hairdresser an later processed the bodies as food. Though the slime tells her friend that is not the right movie.
Back to the present Ainz tells his summon while he doesn't understand his friend's choice, he is willing to go along with the idea, and encourages the summon to train itself. So far the best way for practice as deduced by Ainz is to actually cut hair while using a hair catalog as a reference. Ainz though looks around the area for mannequins but sadly there are none to use for training. The summon at first thinks its summoner wants it to cut models as well when Éclair Éklair Éklare arrives with a manservant, interested in what the Overlord is doing on the 9th Floor.
Ainz looks at Éclair hair curls for a moment though dismisses the idea of using him as a model, openly stating that there isn't much to cut. The penguin hearing this and seeing the Jack the Ripper, fearfully misinterprets this as Ainz wanting to eviscerate him. Once Ainz explains the dilemma, Éclair understands and agrees that him being used a model is an ill choice due to the lack of volume of his hair.
Since the general maids commonly all have long hair, the penguin suggests that Ainz calls them to be used as practice models. This is declined by Ainz since Jack the Ripper is still a beginner as a hairdresser and he does not want to cause the maids to have a hairstyle they will regret. Ainz then asks the manservant if he has any hair to cut since it can just use his mask to cover up the hairstyle if it goes badly. Sadly the manservant shakes his head in negative.
Éclair then suggests that Shalltear could be used as a model. According to the vampire, if an undead's hair is cut, it will be treated as damage and will recover, regrowing back to its original state. Ainz hearing this agrees, deeming Shalltear to be the perfect person as a model, though also considered Yuri. However Éclair insists that Shalltear be given the task as she was feeling depressed when he saw her at the bar.
Soon enough when Shalltear receives the summons, she is eager to take part, having dressed herself in a cute school girl's uniform. As for her clothes, Shalltear dressed in it as she felt her usual dress would not be suitable when getting her haircut. The Floor Guardian shows off her outfit, boasting it belonged to Peroroncino and asks Ainz if its suits her, which he states it does.
The haircutting session then begins with Shalltear sitting in a chair with a blanket around her shoulders. Ainz directs the Floor Guardian to retract her power to allow Jack the Ripper to cut her hair. Before actually committing to Shalltear to a new hairstyle, Ainz wants to check if Shalltear's hair will regrow.
By taking a tress of Shalltear's cut hair, he uses [Ray of Negative Energy] and it does indeed grow back. Before Ainz can start the real thing, he is stunned to find Shalltear passed out on the chair. The vampire quickly rouses wake, embarrassed that she fainted after experiencing Ainz's recovery magic. This is good news to Ainz as they now cut Shalltear's hair without leaving at permanent damage, all that is required is for Shalltear to get used to the recovery magic cast by Ainz. This shocks Shalltear thinking her master wants to damage her to use recovery magic all over again.
To test out Jack the Ripper's hairdresser skills, Ainz orders it to cut Shalltear's hair exactly as the woman on the Hello Catalog cover. Shalltear is about to untie her bow, but Ainz tells her to leave to Jack the Ripper. It ends with disastrous results as the summon removes the bow by cutting off Shalltear's ponytail. The Floor Guardian is dismay at the cut. Jack the Ripper though takes this as a failure and asks to commit suicide to atone itself. This is denied by Ainz as he tells the summons to resume showing that there was no harm as Shalltear's can be restored. Still the summon is apprehensive of angering Shalltear for messing up. Shalltear though sympathizes with the undead telling it not to give up and try again.
Given that Jack's fingers are sharp as scalpels Ainz sees that the summon will face difficulties in delicate movements. For example, Jack won't be able to use the shampoo stand. And more likely he will break the shampoo bottles or even hair the patrons when rubbing their hair with shampoo. If such incidents occurred it would mean possibly canceling the beauty saloon.
Still despite the obstacles, Ainz tells the summon to not be depressed as it can't be helped as Jack is not suitable for washing people's hair. And that he should only focus on haircutting while leaving other tedious tasks to someone else. For now Jack should only focus on masting haircuts. When Ainz thinks about specializing in haircutting, it brings to mind of Nishikienrai who had a specialized build. Using his old friend as an example, Ainz believes that peak performance can be achieved through haircut DPS though the terms falls deaf to the summon and NPC.
Training resumes and Shalltear comes out with bangs. Shalltear asks if the summon was not able to cut the ends of her hair like on the catalog. Jack replies that it would be helpful if he had a reference on how to cut like that. Though both Ainz and Shalltear don't know how. Shalltear has a solution, Jack could ask her vampire Brides since they are in charge of styling her hair and could give the summon some hair cut tips. A trio of Vampire Brides come at Shalltear's request and provide invaluable advice to the summon on haircutting.
Later the Beauty Parlor is open, with a Vampire Bride providing fliers to passing maids to try it. Ainz and Shalltear creeping behind a corner note that the store is a big success and is the talk of the general maids. Somehow Ainz's training of Jack paid off, and Shalltear feels proud that her master's summon achieved so much due to his guidance. In truth Ainz feels more credit should be given to the Vampire Brides.
Months pass, Aura notes that the Elven Slaves hair have grown and suggests that the trio go to the Beauty Parlor. The elves at first are hopeful of going for a session, but panic upon seeing Jack. One of the elves even had to hold hands with the other two in order for Jack to do his work. The experience is reflected badly by Jack at the bar with Shalltear and Éclair. Although Shalltear comforts the summon stating that it was not him but the outsiders, while the penguin feels that from their point of view the store gave a bad vibe to begin with.
Character Appearance[]
In Order of Appearance[]
- Albedo
- Shalltear Bloodfallen
- Aura Bella Fiora
- Solution Epsilon
- Lupusregina Beta
- Yuri Alpha
- Mare Bello Fiore
- Demiurge
- CZ2128 Delta
- Narberal Gamma
- Ainz Ooal Gown
- Nigredo
- Bukubukuchagama (Flashback)
- Tabula Smaragdina (Flashback)
- Éclair Éklair Éklare
- Cixous
- Lumière
- Nishikienrai (Flashback)
- Elven Slaves
Locations[]
Chapter Notes[]
- This chapter first appears in Monthly Comp Ace June 2024 Issue.
- The movies mentioned by Bukubukuchagama and Tabula Smaragdina are obviously references to Edward Scissorhands and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, movies both directed by Tim Burton.
- It seems if hair is cut, it will be treated as damage and will recover and return to its original state, this applies to not only for undead but also for non-living things, such as golems.
- In Overlord: The Undead Oh! Volume 13, this chapter is changed to Chapter 75.
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Overlord: The Undead Oh! Chapters | |
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Volume 1 | |
Volume 2 | |
Volume 3 | |
Volume 4 | |
Volume 5 | |
Volume 6 | |
Volume 7 | |
Volume 8 | |
Volume 9 | |
Volume 10 | |
Volume 11 | |
Volume 12 | |
Volume 13 | |
Not in a Volume |