The following contains spoilers for Episode 5 of Overlord IV, “In Pursuit of the Land of Dwarves” now streaming onCrunchyroll.
After defeating the Warrior King Go Gin in battle in the Colosseum, Ainz had another important excursion to attend to – a journey towards the Dwarven Kingdom. His objective? Obtain the rune-inscribed weaponry that only Dwarven runesmiths can make.
After seeing rune-inscribed weaponry at Osk the merchant’s shop in the previous episode, Ainz was surprised to notice runes with origins not from the meta of Yggdrassil, but rather, from the real world. For Ainz, these runes are a possible link to another player trapped within the game just like himself. However, finding the dwarves proves to be a difficult task.
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Behind The Scenes
The episode begins with Demiurge heading towards Ainz’s chamber, unawares that His Majesty has departed. There, he finds Albedo, who was left behind to deal with the various aspects of ruling the Sorcerer Kingdom. Effectively, Demiurge and Albedo are Ainz’s eyes, ears, hands and will while he is away, and even when Ainz is present, he relies on their competence to run the country. That being said; however,Jircniv’s hasty and fearful proposalto make his Empire of Baharuth a vassal state to the Sorcerer Kingdom makes Ainz wonder if his trusted underlings are pulling some strings behind the scenes.
Albedo and Demiurge themselves aren’t particularly interested in Baharuth and Emperor Jircniv’s strange decision; however, their conversation highlights something important: they and Ainz aren’t on the same page regarding the overall goal of the creation of the Sorcerer Kingdom and misread his attempts to connect with other lands on amicable terms as evidence of his desire for world domination. As underlings of the undead overlord, the disconnect obviously lies in the fact that unlike them, Ainz was not always an undead, nor is he native to this world, not to mention that world domination isn’t quite the end goal Ainz is dreaming about.
Meeting With Cocytus
Ainz requests an audience with Cocytus in order to discuss going to the Dwarven Kingdom. The dwarves are secretive, and getting to their kingdom is something that even Ainz needs help with. One of the lizardmen under Cocytus’s leadership, Zenberu, once fostered a decent relationship with the dwarves after they saved his life, but given Ainz’s identity as an undead, the first assumption is that he intends to inviade and subjugate the Dwarven Kingdom. However, Ainz’s approach thus far has been to attempt to establish some kind of friendly connection to the dwarfs in order to gain access to their powerful weaponry and smithing. Zenberu leads them very far into the Azerlisia Mountains on the first day of their trip, and on the morning of the second day, Zenberu sees the entrance to the Dwarven Kingdom, an unassuming cave opening.
The Nurturing of Shalltear
One of the major elements of this episode is the centering of Shalltear, a once-trusted companion of Ainz. After succumbing to mind control magic, Shalltear’s status as a Floor Guardian was brought into disrepute, and she effectively fell from the right hand of Ainz Ooal Gown despite her high combat potential. For Shalltear, returning to her previous glory and reinstating Ainz’s trust in her is paramount, but only because she doesn’t realize Ainz’s true motivations for his treatment of her thus far. Seeking the growth of the NPCs-turned-individuals who now make up his Nazarick family is Ainz’s objective, and due to the aggrandization of Ainz’s very being, thoughts and desires, Shalltear fails to understand that her position was never in disrepute.
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This particular mission required Shalltear to be there as combat power, given that she isAinz’s strongest underling, all things considered. Eager to please her master, Shalltear is told to accompany him alongside Aura, as Ainz’s personal bodyguards. For Aura, this interesting new relationship with Shalltear feels like he gained a new incompetent younger sister, but he doesn’t necessarily hate that. His best advice for Shalltear, who was wasting time and effort simply writing down every last thing Ainz had said, was to look for ways to incorporate His Majesty’s words into living her life in her own way.
The Dwarfs Are Gone?!
After travelling for a full day, Ainz decides to set up camp. He builds a huge tower, one not unlike Nazarick, and everybody is told to relax until the next morning, when Zenberu leads them to the cave entrance of the Dwarven Kingdom. To avoid the appearance of a surprise invasion from forces led by an undead, Ainz sends his least intimidating underling to establish contact with the dwarves. Aura confidently enters and encounters the Dwarf hard at work, but the Dwarf is caught by surprise and tries to use an invisibility cloak to hide his presence. Aura is not fooled by the illusion, introducing himself to the Dwarf, who reveals his name to be Gondo Firebeard. He also explains that the Dwarven Kingdom abandoned this city of Feo Raidho to move further up north to the city of Feo Jura, the reason why is revealed later. He also explains that he’s the only Dwarf who remained, and that the others lost the sense of diligence and hardwork that isoften characteristic of Dwarves in fantasy settings.
Ainz soon reveals his presence to Gondo, who is taken aback at a child like Aura being so peppy in the presence of a fearsome undead like Ainz; however, he soon comes to realise what sets Ainz apart from the common human perception of the undead. He reveals to Ainz the dying craft of runesmithing, something which had been a huge part of Dwarven culture until the establishment of the magic enchantment of weaponry and artefacts. Ainz’s interest in runes is surprising to Gondo, especially the extent to which His Majesty is familiar with them; however, after a short conversation, Gondo finds himself being taken by Ainz’s charisma and his strange desire toestablish friendly relations with the Dwarves. Ainz really hooks Gondo when he describes wanting to revive the dying craft of runesmithing and turn it into a powerful tool for the sake of the Sorcerer Kingdom.
The Threat
The reason why the Dwarves left Feo Raidho is made apparent: magical ore-consuming creatures known as the Quagoa had been a frequent problem in the area. Their diet of various metals makes their fur stronger than steel, making these dog-like creatures extremely hard to kill. Upon their arrival, Ainz sees an opportunity to build Shalltear’s confidence, and sends her to deal with the threat as she sees fit. Leading a large squad of the aptly-named Hanzo ninja, Shalltear quickly rounds up the large swarms of Quagoa with high-level magic before attempting to interrogate their leader.
The alpha, under the influence of Shalltear’s magic, reveals that the Quagoa have been attacking Dwarven settlements with the intention of genocide upon the order of the Clan Lord Riyuro. He also reveals that the Quagoa were invading the abandoned Feo Raidho to set up a trap. They were going to attack Feo Jura, which is situated six days north of Feo Raidho, and force the Dwarves to return to their older settlement, where they’d be ambushed.Thanks to the efforts of Shalltear, that plan has been completely crushed, and the Dwarves who don’t even realise that Ainz is coming have no understanding of the massive debt they now owe him.
