The Cautious Overlord

I’d gotten used to being summoned here too.

As I thought that, I looked up at the sky, where countless stars spread across the night.

“You have grown quite accustomed to it.”

“Well, if I keep getting summoned out of nowhere every single time, of course I’d get used to it.”

When I turned my gaze forward again, Fio was there, standing gracefully as ever while her beautiful long black hair fluttered.

“Well, anyway, it’s been a while.”

“Hm? Has it? It has only been a month or so at most, has it not? Did you miss me that much?”

“No, not at all. I see. Since you’re old, a month must feel like yesterday or the day before—!?”

Before I could finish my line, an incredible number of stone spears shot up from the ground.

“This again!?”

I smashed the stone spears that came shooting out one after another while backstepping away.

As I was defending against the stone spears that kept popping out of the ground like that, I felt something crawl along the back of my neck and leaped far to the side. Then, a massive block of ice fell from above, as if to crush the spot where I had been standing a moment earlier.

“No, I’d die from that!?”

“I have lost a person who was not particularly worth mourning.”

“No, I’m not dead, and that’s not something the person who tried to kill me should say!?”

“For you, something of this level should be no problem, should it?”

“It was an instant-death-level attack!”

If the stone spears stabbed me, I wouldn’t get away unharmed, and the final block of ice was bigger than that dragon from before.

The killing intent was way too intense, and the Overlord’s life was hanging by a thread!

“Phew… I did this for your own sake, you know?”

“What’s with that line that sounds like a condensed mass of ego from someone who wants to control others…?”

“You were trembling in fear over whether you could deal with a surprise attack, so I lent you a little assistance.”

“I-I-I wasn’t scared!”

“No, no, you were scared the whole time after arriving in the Lufelon Holy Kingdom, were you not? I could see right through you. Well, now you understand, do you not? If it is an attack aimed at you personally, then even if it is a surprise attack, you can somehow deal with it.”

“That’s good news, but…!”

Even though we were in the middle of talking, this time a pitch-black spear shot out from the shadow at my feet. I immediately moved to dodge, but it seemed the spear really was coming out from my shadow, because even after I moved away from that spot, it stayed attached to the shadow and stretched its sharp point toward me.

“Damn it!”

With the Overlord Sword at my waist, I slashed away the shadow spear that had reached my chest.

She was totally trying to kill me, wasn’t she!?

“Ow!?”

Hidden behind the vicious spear I had cut away, a thin spear as narrow as a needle had stabbed into my butt.

“Well, putting that aside… A man with no delicacy requires discipline. I forgave you the first time… but the second time, you should learn physically.”

“…”

Fio said that and smiled… a very beautiful smile.

There was a shadow needle in my butt… And this needle… probably had barbs, so I couldn’t pull it out… It hurts like hell…

Also, even though I said butt, it had stabbed deeply into the right side… It wasn’t that kind of “aah!” situation, okay?

“I do not hear an apology.”

“…I’m sorry for bringing up age with an older woman.”

“…Incidentally, even now, I can change that shadow currently stuck in you into a more vicious shape. Or would you prefer I make it match what you just imagined in your mind?”

“I’m really sorry!”

In this dream world, I didn’t need to be the Overlord… Admitting my own fault was a piece of cake… What did “piece of cake” even mean?

I didn’t understand what either “piece” or “cake” meant in that expression…

“You still have quite a bit of room to spare, even with a needle stuck in your behind…”

Even though she had stabbed it in herself, Fio muttered that with a somehow exasperated expression.

“…Can you pull it out already? Ever since I came to this world, I’ve been suffering painful experiences in my dreams over and over…”

“You seem to be having an easy time in reality. It is good that you were able to remember the harshness of the world.”

When Fio shrugged as she said that, the needle stuck in my butt came out.

“Am I bleeding or anything?”

“There should be no problem.”

Fio said that without much interest as she sat in a chair she had taken out from who knew where.

You’re the one who stabbed my butt, you know?

“Still, it truly has been a while.”

Fio’s words irritated me slightly… No, well, that was always the case.

Yes, it was always the case. As usual, I should show my tolerance here.

“…I haven’t been able to hunt monsters lately, after all. So the Demon King’s mana didn’t gather very easily.”

“In exchange, you recovered mana from the war and expanded the range where mana collection devices were installed. Every day would be impossible, but if it is only for a short time like this, I should be able to show my face about once a month.”

“That means… if I keep expanding the mana collection devices any further, you might start showing up almost every day?”

“You are pleased, are you not? That is what I would like to say, but… as expected, every day would be impossible. It will likely be something like being able to meet like this on the day mana stones are collected from the mana collection devices. If more mana collection devices are installed or you hunt frenzied creatures, then the time I can summon you here will increase.”

“I see…”

“Putting that aside, what did you mean by ‘might’?”

“…I meant that I’d be happy if that happened.”

“Oh…?”

Fio turned an extremely meaningful smile toward me… Yes, being combative wasn’t good.

Mainly for the sake of my butt.

As I thought that, a chair and table appeared before I knew it, positioned so that I was facing Fio.

…If I sat down, my butt seemed like it would hurt… Well, would it be all right?

When I cautiously sat in the chair, I was able to sit without any particular discomfort.

“As usual, the preamble has grown long… but I called you here today because there is one thing I wished to tell you and one thing I wished to ask you.”

I definitely did not think about whose fault it was that the preamble became long.

“I always end up listening halfway and suffering painful consequences, so… Can I hear the thing you wanted to tell me first?”

I wasn’t someone who suffered terrible experiences every single time, you know?

“I do not mind. I believe that even if you miss some of the content this time, it should be all right… Well, with you, there is a chance you will do something foolish regardless.”

Yes… Even if I was needled like this, I, the Overlord, could let it pass with a tolerant heart.

“You have those abilities, ‘Hawk Eye,’ ‘Hawk Voice,’ and ‘Hawk Ear,’ do you not? I tried expanding their functions a little.”

“Oh? When you say expanded, in what way?”

“For ‘Hawk Eye,’ I increased the number of people with whom you can share vision. Including you, three people can now see the same overhead view.”

An increase in the number who could share it, huh… There were children other than Kiriku who had war-support-type abilities, so that wasn’t bad.

“And for ‘Hawk Voice’ and ‘Hawk Ear,’ I greatly increased the number of people who can converse simultaneously. It should work for about ten people… but could you test the exact number on your side?”

“Got it. Yeah, this is pretty helpful. Until now, I could only send instructions to two people at the same time. Giving orders to the whole army and the like was pretty hard.”

“I saw how difficult it seemed during the previous war…”

During the war with the Kingdom of Est, huh… Switching connections on and off to give instructions was pretty troublesome, and I hadn’t been able to warn the whole army about the catapult attack in time.

“By the way, can my people speak directly with each other without going through me…?”

“That is impossible. They are merely abilities for communicating with you.”

“I figured… Still, being able to keep a detached force connected while communicating with the main force is a big help. Oh, by the way, can I speak without using my voice, like telepathy…?”

“That is impossible too. What a shame. You cannot secretly ask questions about things you do not understand.”

“…”

Fio said that while grinning with tremendous enjoyment. She must have seen clearly how I had suffered during meetings.

It was all right… I was calm…

“So… are there any side effects? Because the number of people increased, is there a time limit, or a distance limit… any kind of pitfall like that…?”

“You have become quite cautious… Well, there should be no problem.”

“That’s good…”

“…Probably.”

“…Hey.”

Fio, who had muttered something I couldn’t ignore, looked away from me.

“No, it is fine. Super safe.”

“When it goes beyond safe, only anxiety remains…”

“You are so fussy… I told you there is no problem, did I not? Even if something happens, at worst your head will just go pop!”

“If my head goes pop, that’s a disaster!?”

That was too terrifying, and now I couldn’t use the Hawk-series abilities anymore!?

“No, it was a joke. Your head will not go pop… rarely.”

“You! Seriously, stop that!”

When I shouted while rising from my chair, Fio laughed hohoho.

“My apologies. It truly was a joke. I guarantee that absolutely nothing like that will happen, so be at ease. I promise that you can use them exactly as you have until now.”

“…Got it. I-I’ll try to believe you.”

“It does not seem as though you believe me very much…”

“No, that’s not true… okay?”

It wasn’t that I didn’t believe her… No, even Fio would probably stop my head from going pop…

Yeah… It would probably be fine.

“Is that all you wanted to tell me?”

“Mm. And then… about what I wished to ask…”

“Yeah…”

Fio suddenly changed to a serious expression and opened her mouth while looking straight at me with earnest eyes.

“Are you… going to marry young Efaria?”

“…Huh?”

What was this woman saying?

“I mean it exactly as I said. You are going to receive everything from young Efaria, are you not?”

“What are you talking about?”

Fio was speaking with an extremely serious air, so I also answered with complete seriousness.

“Young Efaria declared it, did she not? That she would offer everything she had in exchange for you defeating the enemies of the Lufelon Holy Kingdom.”

“Now that you mention it, she did say something like that at the beginning… but I’m not annexing the country, and the Lufelon Holy Kingdom will remain as a vassal state, so that has nothing to do with anything anymore, right?”

“Is that so? On the contrary, if it is a vassal state, I would think they would desire the blood of the sovereign state’s king.”

“…Even if that’s true. There’s no way I’d think of something like that with a ten-year-old girl.”

“She is not in the position of a princess, but of a Holy King. Marriage may be difficult in various ways, but in four or five years, she will be able to bear children, so there should be no problem, should there?”

“There’s a huge problem. How many years apart do you think we are?”

“Ten years, is it not? How fortunate. An older wife.”

“…”

S-so that was how it worked… Efaria was older than me… Wait, that wasn’t the point!

“That’s not the problem! When Efaria first came to Einheria, she was completely overwhelmed, so she said something like that, right? Kiriku came up with all kinds of plans and settled everything in one go, so it looked easy… but in reality, the Lufelon Holy Kingdom was on the verge of being taken over by the Kingdom of Sorakil. Of course she would think of throwing away everything if that was what it took.”

“And as a result, her wish was granted, so it is natural that she should pay. To begin with, were you not the one who asked what she could pay if you helped her?”

“…Was I?”

“Yes, you were.”

“…Well, my wish is the installation of mana collection devices. I’ve already received more than enough reward. Kiriku will probably manage to bring the two countries together in a good way somehow.”

People called that dumping everything onto someone else.

“That is true as well. Well, marriage was a joke… but I do not know what the other side is thinking. If she does feel that way, then depending on your attitude, you may hurt her. It would be good to keep that in the corner of your mind.”

“I see…”

She was ten now, but in a few years, she would certainly be around that age… It would be bad if she tried to faithfully keep the words she had said to me at that time and refused to marry anyone.

I decided I should properly listen to Fio’s advice.

“Wait… Now that you mention it, can I… or rather, can my people, including me, have children?”

“Hm? I believe there should be no problem… Come to think of it, I have never investigated your reproductive functions.”

“…”

I had been the one to bring it up, but when she said it like that… it started to feel oddly vivid.

I couldn’t look straight at Fio anymore…

“How innocent.”

“Unlike you… I’m not, uh, researcher-minded.”

The moment I nearly blurted something about her age, the pain in my butt came back, and I hurriedly changed my line.

Rather than the pain coming back… I couldn’t deny the possibility that the chair had physically changed shape… Actually, since my thoughts were being read in the first place, I felt like everything was already over in various ways.

“Well, no matter… More importantly, reproductive functions are something we should seriously consider. It is not a problem that concerns only you.”

“…Can you investigate it?”

“It is not as though we can test it in practice, so could you give me a little time? I shall inform you of the results as soon as possible.”

“Y-yeah. No, it’s not especially urgent… No, my people may fall in love too… Sorry, it would put me at ease if we found out soon.”

“Mm. I am the one who brought all of you into this world… so I shall investigate it responsibly.”

“I’m counting on you.”

…I was extremely curious about how she would investigate it… but well, if I left it to Fio, it probably wouldn’t turn into anything strange.

After all, she was somehow reliable in the end.

“Your trust tickles somewhat.”

“When everything I’m thinking is completely visible… it’s a little embarrassing at times like this.”

“Rather, you should be concerned that everything is always completely visible.”

“It’s too late for that now. Besides, precisely because everything is visible, I don’t need to put up any appearances here. It’s a problem that the only place I can completely relax is inside a dream, though.”

When I said that, Fio smiled gently and opened her mouth.

“…I shall look forward to the next time we meet. It is nearly time for today.”

“I see… Ah, there’s one thing I wanted to ask…”

“The amount of mana stones required to use a new employment contract starts from five hundred million.”

Before I could voice my question, Fio answered it for me.

At times like this, having my thoughts completely visible was helpful… As I thought that, I sat up in bed.

This was not my bedroom… but the room I had been assigned in the royal castle of the Lufelon Holy Kingdom.

Maybe Fio had called me as a bit of a breather… To be honest, I couldn’t relax at all while I was here.

Still… Starting from five hundred million, huh… That probably meant I could create a character in their initial state for five hundred million… but if I thought of it as the cost of creating one human being, it was pretty cheap.

Our current monthly income was around twenty-five million, but once mana collection devices had been installed throughout the Lufelon Holy Kingdom, the Kingdom of Est, and the other three countries as well, it would be about seventy million per month… That meant we could increase the number of maids by one in eight months… No, wait.

The initial ability values might not be the same as in the game… In the game, I could reduce the cost by creating a character with lowered ability values.

If the minimum was five hundred million… then to make someone on the same level as the maids, I might need around one billion.

As expected, I should use the new employment contract cautiously.

I had thoroughly learned that rushing led to nothing good, and I, who had learned that lesson well, left no openings.

When I got out of bed and opened the window, cool air and morning sunlight flowed into the room.

Even though I had just woken up, thanks to talking with Fio, my mind was as clear as it could possibly be.

I was Fels… Overlord Fels.

For some reason, after becoming the Overlord, I had come to another world, waged wars of territorial expansion, and destroyed several countries in less than a year—a several-month-old Overlord.