Great Friendship Mission (おともだち大作戦) is the eighty-fourth chapter of the Overlord: The Undead Oh! series.
Summary[]
Ainz Ooal Gown teleports to the Treasury seeking an item he thinks is there. He calls for Pandora's Actor, but is verbally stumped when he finds a paper cut-out of welcome sign with a girl dressed in the Area Guardian's equipment. Pandora's Actor soon appears and asks Ainz what he thinks of the toushindai or life-size panel, which as he explains for the Treasury as part of Nazarick Moe-okoshi Project. This only confuses Ainz, causing Pandora's Actor to further elaborate. Moe-okoshi being is a promotion method that pushes the image of beautiful girl characters based on characteristics of the region.
Though Ainz asks what is the point of incorporating such things into the Treasury when they are done mainly at tourist attractions? Pandora's Actor is not dissuaded believing its the perfect way to attract people, who rarely come to the Treasury. He wonders why no one comes, suggesting maybe they are shy of him. Still he wants to make the Treasury a place where he can show his appreciation and welcome guests, which Ainz points out is difficult given that the air is polluted with poison and could fatally kill visitors.
Besides that hazard, Ainz raises another point that the Treasury can only be accessed through a Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown. This is unfortunate to Pandora's Actor as it would be impossible for him to participate in the Nazarick Moe-okoshi Project's stamp rally. Hearing that there is a stamp rally, Ainz asks if this is being done for other areas. Pandora's Actor tells Ainz that some people in the project have agreed to support it, like in the Frozen Prison. Besides cold weather adjustments, it's suggested of having a pretty disciplinary girl character cut-out there as well. And even in the Black Capsule, though it's note it would be difficult to make the location appealing even with a life-sized panel.
Pandora's Actor really enjoyed this casual conversation with his creator, hoping he would come again. Ainz responds that the Area Guardian could use the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown and go outside the Treasury and have some fun. After Ainz leaves, the Overlord has an idea that maybe someone with a Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown could come and visit Pandora's Actor to keep him company. The remaining question is who. Mare Bello Fiore comes to mid as he and Pandora's Actor are similar in that they both like staying indoors. The only point of concern that Ainz has with their attitudes will clash, Pandora's Actor silliness and movements in contrast to shyness and stillness.
Ainz can't simply just go and ask Mare to go to the Treasury to play with Pandora's Actor as it will be an order to the dark elf, who will probably reveal why he is there to his creation. The undead tries to think of what he should do, feeling like he is a parent trying to set up a playdate for his child with that of Bukubukuchagama.
Later at Ashurbanipal, Ainz under the invisibility spell of [Perfect Unknowable], is looking through the shelves for the section on parenting advice. As he searches, Ainz thought perhaps many the library would be a good place for him to set Pandora's Actor and Mare together. He could show his creation the library and allow a meeting between the two, given Mare being an avid reader and can be found in the library. Ainz could leave them alone together, but feels it would not work as the other elder lich librarians could try to make themselves useful and assist Pandora's Actor in any searches for books. In the end Ainz borrows a book, How To Develop Subordinates Who Act Independently, which is a bit like his current focus of concerns. Reading through its contents, he comes with an idea.
Ainz meets with Mare presenting him with a shogi board. Mare takes a liking to the strategic nature of the game, in that the pieces a player can steal from another can be used against the other. Ainz tells the boy that the game actually requires the ability to see ahead, improving concentration and thinking skills.
Mare swears to train himself to be at Ainz's level though the undead thinks he will surpass him in skill soon. He offers to teach Mare his secrets to the game, through the protege effect. In which he will teach him what he knows so that mare's own knowledge will deepen. First Mare should ask somone to play shogi with.
On who he should ask, Ainz suggests Pandora's Actor given the character knows how to lay chess and shogi being similar. Mare admits that he hasn't gotten time to speak with Pandora's Actor. Seeing Mare's nervous on the subject, Ainz tries to find some common ground, admitting that Pandora's Actor's face can be unnerving as it looks like wood on the grain due to the simulacra phenomenon.
Ainz will begin Mare's instruction on shogi but advises that there may be some awkwardness if there is no topic to talk about. Mare is all for learning, taking his sister's words of deepening relationships with people he is not close to.
Mare is then on his way to the Treasury and Ainz lends him the shogi board and introductory book to help him. Ainz hopes that he planted the seeds of a good friendship. It makes him reflect on how he gamed and met people who would become friends and the a guild. In fact the one who taught him how to play shogi was one of his guildmates, Shizyuutensuzaku, spending much time just playing the game than going on adventurers in YGGDRASIL.
At a later date, Mare comes to Ainz's office and returns the shogi set the Overlord had given him, as he and Pandora's Actor used a set in the Treasury left behind by the Supreme Beings. Ainz tries to ask how Mare what he thought of Pandora's Actor. The dark elf adds that Pandora's Actor help him understand the introductory book on shogi and how to play the game. They even set up a date to play again. But before going to play, Mare wants to brush up on tactics. That in mind Ainz suggests using the siege tactic in shogi as it is his favorite method when playing, which confirms what Mare read saying it was the strongest defensive formation. He likens it to Ainz's buffing fighting style.
Two weeks later, Ainz becomes worried as he has yet to receive a follow-up report on Pandora's Actor and Mare's relationship. While "no news is good news," Ainz is concerned, as even though he created Pandora's Actor the NPC should know how to play shogi, but wonders maybe the doppelgänger could be beating Mare. If so maybe Mare's heart has been broken by Pandora's Actor.
Ainz knows that Mare while being pretty smart is still just a beginner. But guesses that he can't compare to one of the three greatest minds in Nazarick, which include Pandora's Actor, Albedo and Demiurge. He worries that the psychological shock of losing might have affected Mare, just as being PKed in YGGDRASIL had on him, before he was found and saved by Touch Me.
Regardless Ainz goes to hear directly from Pandora's Actor by teleporting to the Treasury. He is me by a sight of Pandora's Actor and Mare playing a game of shogi. Though it appears Pandora's Actor has placed a bag on his head and his tied to a chair. Ainz asks what is going on, surprising Mare.
It's then explained that Pandora's Actor and him have been playing shogi with the former accepting various handicaps to make the game more challenging. Seeing Mare being proud of how he is getting better, reminds Ainz of the nostalgia of when he raised his PVP win rate, and how happy he was even when Peroroncino pointed out that he still lost to Touch Me.
Back to the present, as for why Pandora's Actor is tied up, the Area Guardian out of consideration to Mare did not want to distract his guest hence him being restrained. Ainz then takes the opportunity to watch a game between the two NPCs which they do not mind.
There Ainz beams with happiness of seeing the two play a friendly game of shogi, despite the awkward scene. Though in the future Ainz soon becomes secretly frightened by Mare's growth as he nearly outclasses him in shogi. Although Mare just thinks that Ainz is pretending their games were close contests.
Character Appearance[]
In Order of Appearance[]
- Mare Bello Fiore
- Ainz Ooal Gown
- Pandora's Actor
- Bukubukuchagama (Flashback)
- Ulbert Alain Odle (Flashback)
- Luci★Fer (Flashback)
- Touch Me (Flashback)
- Peroroncino (Flashback)
- Shizyuutensuzaku (Flashback)
- Albedo (Cameo)
- Demiurge (Cameo)
Locations[]
Chapter Notes[]
- This chapter first appears in Monthly Comp Ace March 2025 Issue.
- This chapter calls back to Overlord: The Undead Oh! Chapter 27.1, where Pandora's Actor is an avid chess player which he applies in shogi.
- In Overlord: The Undead Oh! Volume 14, this chapter is changed to Chapter 83.
[]
| Overlord: The Undead Oh! Chapters | |
|---|---|
| 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 | |
| Volume 14 | |
| Volume 15 | |
| Not in a Volume | |