Overlord 2, the Other Guild

Game Master BloodWolven

Always seeking to test themselves, they would hunt down stronger prey, but neither stupid nor reckless they would seldomly engage in the true hunt without extensive preparation, including scouting out the terrain and their opponents. Once the hunt was on, they would use ambush attacks.[2]

Even as a child, she was different. Born to a pair of ordinary working class parents, Kenyu had always been unique. She had a particular way with words, her speech and mannerisms could calm the hottest of heads and mend severed bonds. She found friends wherever she went and she earned much good will from even the grown-up around her.

She had a particular affinity for animals, her very presence seemed to calm the critters, and she kept innumerable pets in her youth. Despite her parent’s initial worries, she managed to prove to them she was more than ready for the responsibility. She cared for each pet diligently, from the smallest of squirrels or goldfish to the large animals like dogs, cats and even snakes. Her pets would all live long healthy lives and her sorrow when they passed only strengthened her resolve to take better care of her new animal friends.

But, most concerningly for her parents, was her unwavering optimism and kindness. She would spend much of her free time helping the people around her. She helped peers with work and disputes, she helped seniors with tasks unprompted and she’d even help strangers on the street with any problem she saw they had. It was when she first came home late because she had to escort an elderly lady back home that her parents expressed their concerns.

Kenyu didn’t understand what they were trying to tell her. Why wouldn’t she offer to follow the kindly old woman back home when she clearly needed help? She was so sweet, Kenyu was sure of it. Of course, to ease her parents' worries, she nodded along and pretended she understood. And she would change her behaviour, just not quite in the way her parents would have liked.

Kenyu started planning out her schedule and becoming more efficient in her everyday life. All the predictable everyday activities such as studies, chores and transport were to be done as quickly and efficiently as possible. In addition, other activities that could be scheduled such as volunteering or extracurriculars were also managed so that they could fit neatly into her schedule. All this to ensure she would have enough free time to fit in spontaneous acts of kindness that she saw the opportunity to do.

This regulated timetable allowed her to put her parents at ease and she would never cause them such worry again. Still, this was merely kicking the can down the road. She didn’t kick the habit of helping anyone in need she saw and in fact she had planned her time around being able to help those she saw were in need. If anything, she was becoming more and more used to being someone who worked to please everyone else.

At 18 years old, she attended university and that was when she started noticing the wider issues her society was facing that caused the problems she had been helping with. The many struggling students at her old school was caused by the school being underfunded and the teachers being overworked. The children wandering unsupervised in the street were caused by their parents being forced to work long shifts at the factories. Even the number of distressed elderly on the street could be attributed to the increase in pediatric healthcare costs.

This simply wouldn't do. How could anyone witness such injustice and rest on their laurels? Kenyu certainly couldn't and she resolved to do something about it. It started small as all movements do. She set up a student welfare club in her university and, with the help of some like-minded students, strove to improve the quality of life for students on campus. She made progress quickly, her friends brainstormed ideas and she swayed professors and students alike to support their cause.

She quickly amassed quite the considerable following and it was child’s play for her to leverage her influence to push the university authorities to agree to her proposals. In the coming semester, Student satisfaction surveys would note a marked improvement in student happiness levels. She managed to change much of campus life to make the university a less stressful place by implementing small changes to make campus life more enjoyable for everyone. As well as push for more oversight to make sure no one was left behind.

It didn’t stop there. University students have a long history of organising protests and movements to tackle societal problems. Kenyu’s movement was no exception. She tackled a relatively wide array of issues ranging from healthcare and fair wages to marginalised groups rights. The typical stuff a college student would campaign for. But her movement generated waves. Waves that would quickly earn her the attention of organisations who would try to use the movement to turn a profit.

Her first encounter with corporate intervention was rather positive. She wanted to raise awareness and funds for an animal shelter and she was approached by a company that sold pet products. They would help promote her movement in exchange for a cut of the funds raised. Kenyu agreed though she managed to wrangle the price down to a small percentage. The corporation was surely shocked when she somehow raised half a million dollars in 3 months, greatly surpassing her own goals.

Her next encounters were less ideal. Her campaign for raising the minimum wage was, as expected, firmly opposed by a number of conglomerates. Unfortunately, they were sloppy and underestimated her ability by having one of their mouthpieces debate her on live tv. Kenyu proved to be able to portray herself as both ernest and keen minded, being more than a match for her opponent. Unfortunately, charisma can be matched by wealth and so nothing came out of that particular campaign. Though her participation would earn her some fame with the wider world.

She graduated smoothly, having completed her bachelors on scholarship, and would pursue further education in veterinary studies. All the while her following and fame grew. Fame is a double edged sword though and it was always a toss up whether the platform she was invited on was meant to praise or deride her. It mattered little though, as long as she thought she was making a difference it was worth it to her.

She would become quite acquainted with the various media platforms and stages she needed to perform on. Television was the most obvious one. After her first few successful campaigns, she would appear frequently on tv. Sometimes for interviews, sometimes for debates. It mattered little which form it took, she had a way of turning even the most hostile hosts onto her side. Personal interviews and debates were easy. But other forms of publicity were not.

She would grow to dislike livestreaming, even with a moderated chat. She had a good number of detractors, most likely corporate sponsored detractors mind you, but it was enough that answering all their clearly hostile questions was challenging. At least with interviews, you only needed to tackle one person, during livestreams you had to tackle thousands. But she was excellent at maintaining her cool so even under fire she remained calm.

She would soon amass a large following, larger than even some politicians. Hardly surprising, she had a way with words and so she was always able to demonstrate her sharp wit and humour in all her appearances. She charmed the masses with her words and her enemies found little ammunition to use against her. However, that wouldn’t stop them from trying.

They pried into her personal life, her internet history and her business dealings. Sure they found some juicy facts about her love life and some of her earlier more disappointing business deals but nothing she could explain away. So they tried to frame her. Her enemies consisted of some of the most powerful businesses on the planet. Of course they could frame her.

A deep fake here, some fabricated documents there and just a dash of coerced testimonials would surely be enough to dissuade her following right? It was successful at least initially but when the scheme was revealed, she hit back hard. After all, corporations were massive and there were many people within them that could be swayed.

With a little luck and her charm, she would destroy the reputation and business of a smaller conglomerate. An unfathomable feat to the leaders in the business world. It was impossible, or it should have been. She was only one woman and they were on the verge of ruling the country. She needed to be dealt with and fast.

While she was sure that they would have certainly disposed of her the good old fashioned way with glee, she had been quite careful in taking measures in ensuring her following would endure even after her own death. And the corporations were not foolish so they would reach a compromise.

It was only reasonable after all, Kenyu had the support of the people and the corporations couldn't have their organisations take losses because of one girl. Initially, the idea was for Kenyu to become their mouthpiece so that her following could benefit them. But that was soundly rejected. Instead Kenyu would simply retire and pursue other endeavors, with all her policy changes becoming permanent. She was basically a legend now and her untimely death would certainly ruffle quite a lot of feathers. So it was agreed and announced on every platform in the world.

While some would view her action of retiring as cowardice, Kenyu did not see it as such. She was only one woman after all and she wouldn’t be able to single handedly remove all the corruption in the world. But she had made a difference. Life was better for the common man and safer too. The number of lives she touched through her actions were numerous. Perhaps she would inspire others to finish the work she started. And so it was with this hope she retired

She went on to pursue her other passion, caring for animals and the needy. She would open a new animal shelter for creatures of all kinds to be cared for by her. She had always had a special kinship with animals. Her habit of keeping pets of all kinds persisted even into adulthood. And with the shelter she would be able to care for more animals in need.

Her shelter was more of an open field sanctuary with plenty of room for the animals to roam and explore. Having such a large compound was also useful in letting her host a whole slew of community centric events as well as provide for the needy. While her efforts were not quite as widespread as before, it still benefited many in her community and so she was satisfied.

She also had more time for other activities, like games. She particularly enjoyed rpgs which let her indulge in her more silly ideals. She was only human in the real world, relying on only her wits and charisma to improve the world around her but if she had powers she would be able to make a much greater impact on the world. Or so she liked to imagine.

In the popular game yggdrasil, she roleplayed as her ideal self. The perfect supporter, someone whose charisma was able to supernaturally affect the people around her. She could give her allies a nearly unfathomable boost to their abilities and change the normal masses into legendary fighters. She couldn’t give the people in her world such supernatural strength but in the game she could.

Her playstyle was in a sense what she always wished to be. The inspiring leader whose very presence would drive her allies to glory. She would rarely engage in a battle directly, instead relying on summoned monsters and allies to do the job for her. Even the weakest creatures could become powerful under her command. Sometimes she would wonder about being able to translate her powers into real-life. She could easily overthrow the government if she had her rpg abilities. It was a fantasy of course but one she indulged in. So much so she crafted a ring that would block magical thought detection so she could be safe from anyone discovering her “plan”.

While initially she was simply a wandering player who joined random people in their raids and missions, she quickly gained some notoriety in being an impressive support who could drastically improve a group’s odds at success. Many guilds would attempt to recruit her but she didn’t truly care who she joined. It hardly mattered since she would go out of her way to help anyone who asked her to anyway.

Near the end of the game, she decided on a whim to join the guild dragon’s glory and befriend the people there. She had hopped guilds multiple times before and decided to do so just before the server ended. She got to know the guild’s members and helped them several times before the game ended but unexpectedly, instead of waking up back in her sanctuary, she remained in her room in the guild base. Strange…