AN: Well here we are again, another commissioned piece which I plan to enjoy, might be a bit longer than the last one, but you know how I think about stories by now, they should be as long as needed and no longer. So, here we go. Also, I finished the 2nd chapter of my original work 'Scales of Trust' available on my patr 3 on page at slash tellingstories. At five thousand one dollar supporters, I'll write full time for a living. Four so far, so 4,996 to go. Overlord stuff though, will always be free, and my original work will be previewable on my discord server. So, on with the show! P.S. Included a bit of a shoutout to 'The Overlord and the Human Maid' a wonderful little fic that never got the popularity it deserved)

...Nazarick...Ainz' Private Office...Five Years Post War…

Ainz was relaxed, he wasn't usually relaxed when doing paperwork, however that was the case today, Tuare was comfortably tending to his office as he worked, she no longer seemed as anxious as she was the first time she'd been assigned to him. A few years of routine had settled her into it quite comfortably. Resentment from the other maids had eased since she was only assigned to him intermittently, specifically on days that he had no maids attending to him at all previously.

"It is part of his master plan to train servants loyal to him to tend all the world, do you resent the Supreme One the furtherance of his goals?!" That was what Albedo had said to them after a few weeks of mild hostility had built up, and it had immediately vanished once they'd come to understand, and the after the fact rationalization that they weren't losing anything anyway, did the rest.

Tuare was busy dusting just at that moment when Ainz came across a document pertaining to the intelligence reports on the general morale of the Sorcerous Empire. In the past, mentions of the Dark Hero had been plentiful, he served as a useful conduit to take the pulse of his people, however of late little had been said of him, and on the last venture into E-Rantel while Ainz had been disguised as his alternate persona, neither himself nor Nabe were approached by throngs of admirers.

The Overlord set the document down and looked at the human maid. Tuare was a well trained servant, between that and her survival instincts that taught her when someone was looking at her, she knew quickly that Ainz had shifted his focus to her.

"My lord? How may I serve you?" She asked him with a demure gaze downward as she folded her hands down in front of her. It was a little more formal than he required, but even a tiny extra showing of respect made her more comfortable.

"Just a question, Tuare." Ainz said amicably.

"My Lord?" She prompted as she raised her eyes.

"You know of the Dark Hero's significance to me, do you not?" He asked.

"He makes people comfortable under your unfamiliar rule due to his reputation as a human champion, My Lord." Tuare said with an emphatic nod.

"Yes, that is exactly correct." Ainz said, casually folding one hand over the other at his desk. "As I go through my reports, I find that his team's reputation has been… faltering a bit, speaking as one of the 'common people', how could his reputation be restored in your eyes?"

"My Lord, I… I may not be the best to answer that question." Tuare said softly.

"Oh, why is that?" Ainz asked curiously.

"Because, I am most comforted by your rule. I don't need Momon." She said with a confidence the timid maid seldom exhibited.

"Is that so?" Ainz asked rhetorically.

She nodded emphatically. "I have my husband because of you, I have my life back because of you, I am safe serving you, you've never hurt me, nor let me be hurt, you are the lord this world has always needed, even if we didn't deserve it. So to ask how to boost Momon's name… I would sooner boost your own." She said, her eyes welling up as emotions presented themselves.

Ainz felt even more relaxed, "The peace of my rule has touched you, and I appreciate your words, Tuare, yet my question stands, and even though you do not feel adequate in answering it, I would have your thoughts."

"As my lord commands." Tuare said, "His reputation is built on displays of his humility and his power, he exemplifies human ideals. His reputation has lessened because the chance to show those has been diminished. So… he needs the chance to show them again, My Lord." She said gently.

Ainz nodded, striking sage undead pose number five. "Very sensible, but with no crisis… well… something else will do." Ainz let his thoughts wander as he spoke, his eyes were vaguely on Tuare, and then he leaned back and laughed, "I have it." Tuare looked at him with curious innocence.

"Tuare, you're dismissed for the day, go and see Sebas, have him, Albedo, and Yuri Alpha come to see me immediately." Ainz said casually.

"At once, My Lord." Tuare said with a quick bow before she turned and scuttled out of the room.

A few minutes later each of the three he'd wished for appeared in front of him.

"My Lord." They said and bowed together.

Ainz took note that Sebas, the head butler had a fairly anxious air about him. "Sebas, is something troubling you?" Ainz asked with some concern.

"My Lord, you sent Tuare away, and then summoned the three of us, I feared she had done something to offend… if she has, please allow me to atone for it." Sebas said with a small note of urgency buried beneath his calm tone.

Albedo looked to be barely concealing outrage at Sebas's words, while Yuri Alpha's calm demeanor broke briefly from sheer surprise, only to be quickly corrected by her own limiter as an undead and her calm demeanor was restored.

Ainz shook his head vigorously, "Not at all, she served as well today as she always has, and what is more, she offered decent advice which allowed me to hit upon the answer to a problem I was contemplating."

Relief swept over Sebas's face, while curiosity touched upon the other pair.

"You remember a few years ago Albedo, when yourself and Demiurge hit upon my plan for creating staff suitable for tending the manors of all the leaders of the empire?" Ainz said as he swiftly took credit for their own misunderstanding which… was a really good idea at the time.

"I do, My Lord." Albedo said in answer.

"I believe now is the time to begin implementing this, so I want you to oversee the establishment of a school in E-Rantel, some of the war's orphans from the former Slane Theocracy and those of our own veterans are old enough to begin to enter vocational training. Therefore you will select a suitable site and a design, I will raise the first building from the ground myself, others can be completed by more conventional means elsewhere. Garnish what resources you need to see it done with all due haste. Any questions?" Ainz asked patiently.

"None my lord, your plans are impeccable as always, I had not known you intended to proceed this quickly." Albedo said, her eyes alight with joy, "But I should have known that this was your real intent all along, I will have it done at once." She clasped her hands tight together, Ainz knew where this was going.

"Then go, see to it at once." He said, dismissing her. She bowed and scurried out.

From beyond the door he heard her shout, "Oh! My Lord is so amazing!" As she rushed down the hall to gather those she needed.

Ainz then turned to Yuri Alpha, "Now yourself, I will employ as my first instructor, or more accurately, as a principal, you will handle establishing the guidelines, rules, standards, training, and testing for all maids. You will train the educators, do you know the current standards for maids in this world already?" He asked.

"Low. Very low, my lord." She said with a voice of contempt.

"That bad?" Ainz asked.

She nodded, "In Re-Estize, the maid system used to be noble ladies for the royal family, but they were more widely considered to be 'spies'. Unreliable at best and with no loyalty to the house they served. For common nobles, a pretty girl was thrown in a maid outfit and set to work. She needed little organizational skill and no literacy, they were seldom much better than live-in prostitutes for the local lords. In the former Slane Theocracy, the long lived elves had higher standards as slaves to their houses insofar as what duties were expected of them. However, there was no established curriculum and they could end up with the same wildly varying standards. Disgusting." She said with such revulsion in her voice that he did not choose to probe further.

"I see." Ainz said in a neutral voice. "Then yourself and Sebas will go among the survivors of the old Theocracy. Visit those few houses of significance who were spared the wrath of the Pope, the ones whose staff of elf servants stood forth for them. Their most experienced former or current servants will be offered teaching positions, you will establish a two year training regimen for basic service with a four year course of study for advanced service to train would-be maids and butlers on every aspect of service to everyone from governing officials to wealthy tradesmen."

"This will set about creating general and specialized skill sets. We will raise the bar for service to such a degree that no house will be considered worth anything unless they have a servant of our school administering their affairs or tending to the needs of their estates, and those who are fully staffed with our students will be the only ones considered to be 'great' in the eyes of their peers." Ainz said passionately as the project unfolded before his eyes.

The passion he put into his voice was infectious, and light sprang in the eyes of both servants. "No more will a feather duster and an outfit be considered sufficient for a girl to call herself a maid, no more will a man be able to pridefully call himself a butler by simply standing straight and putting on nice clothing. As with everything we of Nazarick touch, this too must be improved."

"Yes, My Lord!" Sebas said passionately.

"Now, when these schools are built and staffed all over the Sorcerous Empire, I will have 'Darkness' conduct an exhibition in every arena of the empire to not only commemorate, but also 'advertise' the establishment of these schools. Several Nazarick maids, including Tuare, will be used to publicly attend to Momon and Nabe to showcase the unrivaled ability to perform their tasks and create both envy and desire for the quality personnel that we will produce. Do you understand? Or do you have any questions?" Ainz asked them, moving his red eyes from one to the next.

Yuri Alpha and Sebas traded looks at one another, both were shaking with anticipation and eagerness to begin such a grandiose project, he could feel their urge to get up and run to get started. "None, My Lord." Sebas said with deep gratitude in his voice.

After Yuri Alpha echoed the sentiment, Ainz waved his hand before him, "Then you are dismissed, send Pandora's Actor and Nabe to me, then adjust your schedules as you see fit, and commence the selection process immediately. Inform me when you are finished." Ainz ordered, and they stood, bowed, and walked swiftly out the room, he thought he could hear them practically sprinting down the hall as soon as the door shut, but that, he thought, might be his own imagination at work.

"Mein Vater!" Pandora's actor began as he walked into the door to present himself.

"Please! Relax, my son!" Ainz said almost frantically, interrupting Pandora's Actor before he could go on one of his spiels or start overly dramatically gesturing and saluting.

"Ah, yes. Of course, father." Pandora's Actor replied hesitantly.

Ainz took a deep breath, he wanted to get this over quickly. "Your task is simple, you are to visit each Arena of the Sorcerous Empire. At each one, you will mingle with the people, show off your skills and character, humility and nobility, and enhance the reputation of team 'Darkness' and defeat your opponents. You will have maids of Nazarick attending you to show off the skills we produce here, and advertise the greatness of the servant schools we are establishing throughout our lands. We want them clamoring for those who graduate from our courses, long before the first class is deemed ready. When the first crop of graduates is ready for service in a few years, you will tour again, with select top students attending you to show off the results of our work. Do you have any questions?" Ainz asked.

"Yes, My Lord." Nabe replied.

"What is it?" Ainz asked, as he thought, 'Why? Why must there always be questions, can't I just get through one set of orders without having to wing it? How many times have I had to do that?'

"Is this part of your ten thousand year plan?" She asked.

Just then, Ainz muttered in answer to his own question, "Twenty thousand."

Their eyes widened, "You have a twenty thousand year plan?" Naberal Gamma asked in breathless amazement.

'Damn it!' Ainz thought to himself in frustration. "Any other questions?" He asked with a barely suppressed sigh.

"No, My Lord." Naberal said calmly.

"Very well, you have some time to evaluate the locations you'll be visiting, and notify the arena heads to expect this event and to start planning the events. They will need excellent competitors to be worth your time. I realize you could crush them easily, but put on a good show." Ainz reminded them.

He could see the gleam even without there being one in the two doppelgangers' eyes as soon as he said that they should put on a good show. He mentally groaned, wondering just what horror he had unleashed, and wondered for the thousandth time if it was his tastes or the tastes of the New World that were askew. "You're now dismissed, but send me Demiurge and Vanysa on your way out." He said, once again suppressing his frustration with the exaggerated salute of Pandora's Actor before the pair departed to carry out their own orders.

When he was alone again, he went back to tending his paperwork, and made a mental note to have the first set of contracts offered to his daughter and her wife for their own estate. He doubted Neia would accept as she kept a staff of liberated elven volunteers around, but such an offer, made public, didn't need to be accepted in order to be effective. His days as a salaryman came back to mind as he remembered that the mere appearance of prestige was sufficient to draw interest from many quarters, and more than one client had been closed with the promise of prestige for even a perceived success.

Ainz touched his chin thoughtfully, "I play this right, I might even get a short vacation out of this to 'attend' the matches." He said to himself. It was at that moment that he heard Demiurge speaking from beyond the door as he started to knock. "A twenty thousand year plan, can you believe it, he must have been humbling himself to me before to keep me from feeling inadequate at underestimating him so. He's as impressively kind to us as he is intelligent."

"I know, I know, serving such a mountain, I feel like a pebble, yet it means we must redouble our efforts to even hope to be worthy, have confidence Demi, and you will do well at whatever task he gives to you." The feminine voice said in response.

Ainz rolled his eyes, 'Great, that didn't take long.' He thought, but there was no help for it.

"Enter." Ainz said, forcing the frustration from his voice.

The pair entered, they'd had a long working relationship that spanned most of the war and in the years since, Vanysa's fondness for sandwiches had resulted in the reopening of her shops, which as they'd grown in popularity, became the hubs of intelligence activity. This made her, despite the lack of a more elevated title, the de facto head of his intelligence operations, a job she excelled at when not assisting Demiurge in his research, where he praised her contributions. Thus Ainz had accidentally combined the two branches of Research and Intelligence, and it yielded unexpected fruits as the two collaborated. Her reports and methods improved with his contributions, and his research paths redoubled and yielded increased fruits as a result of her own participation. Not a bad outcome given he had only done it by accident when he noticed the pair worked well and enjoyed mutual interests.

They bowed deeply, "My Lord, I understand you've moved up your plan, truly a wise decision, as expected of the Supreme Leader." Demiurge said enthusiastically.

"How can we help, My Lord?" Vanysa asked with similar eagerness, bowing low enough to ensure she gave him a chance to 'look', she smirked when she noticed that he did so. He doubted that would ever change. No matter whether she held the form of a demoness, as she now did, or whether she kept the form he first met her in, that of a buxom blonde human.

Ainz coughed at a moment of discomfort as he turned away from his 'glimpse' that the demoness had given to him. He quickly ran them through the planned events, and when he finished it all, he got to their part. "Such a demand creates an additional opportunity. Out of each graduating class, a handful should be selected and approached as the chance to serve as 'agents', what the First World called 'sleepers'. They would have no immediate task, not have a requirement to report to us regularly, but only to do their jobs. Such persons will only act if their employer is engaged in some form of activity that marks their intent to rebel or pose a threat to Nazarick's interests in some other way. These selected personnel will be trained here within the tomb as agents. I want you to select a few of those you currently have in your employ within your restaurant headquarters for that purpose. In this way we will have eyes within every great noble house in the empire. Questions?" He asked the demoness.

"None, My Lord, it is brilliant." She said enthusiastically.

"When you capture the guilty," Ainz paused to let the lust for her other amusements wash over her face and vanish, "they are to be routed to Demiurge for use in his experiments, ensure you have an established system for turning over such assets, and follow it accordingly. The two of you should work together on that, but ultimately the path of research falls to Demiurge to decide." Ainz added.

"Demiurge, any questions?" Ainz asked.

"None sire, though since I am here, I should inform you that we're making excellent progress on the morphomantic item, we should be ready for live trials within five years." Demiurge said enthusiastically. "With additional assets ferreted out by the first graduates, we may easily have enough to produce a functional item by then."

"Excellent, I realize the two of you have been working hard lately, and when possible I will see to it that you're given a short vacation as a reward." Ainz said happily.

The pair were about to speak when Ainz cut them off, "Don't say serving me is its own reward, instead, go forth and serve, and enjoy time at ease when it comes." He said as pleasantly as possible.

The pair bowed, and he gestured to the office door. "You are dismissed, I have work to do." He said as he struck 'busy emperor pose number nine' and bent back over the paper on his desk without really reading it.

They swiftly departed, and as the door shut behind them, he could hear them chattering excitedly. He sighed as he caught more mentions of the twenty-thousand year plan. In no time, that would be everywhere in the tomb. It made him eager for the battles in the arena, nothing truly significant that he could recall, ever came from casual words there.

-end chapter-