Scary Little Girl

After burning the settlement to the ground, waking up the hunter who had somehow fainted, and making him properly confirm the ruins, we returned to the village.

It took far longer than planned—the hunter’s pace was slower than expected, his stamina was poor, and then he fainted… but once we delivered him back to the village and had him report to the chief, we would have no more business here.

What should we do after this? Return to the castle, or rendezvous with Kamila’s group and escort Bangagonga and the others to the castle… From an Overlord standpoint, going back to the castle felt more “proper,” but what should I do…?

Thinking that, I stepped into the village and…

Huh?

Something felt off.

“Fels-sama… the knights and the chief… are… arguing… by the magic-power collection device.”

“Knights? What do you mean, arguing?”

If knights were here, then… I assumed they’d come for goblin extermination… so why would they be arguing?

Were they angry because they came all this way and the job had been given to someone else? Knights seemed like the prideful type… like: We came for your sake, and now what is this?

No, there were “for the people” knights too… but if they were that type, they probably wouldn’t be arguing.

“They’re complaining… that the goblin extermination… was entrusted to Fels-sama… and that the device was installed… The knights are making a fuss… erase them?”

“Erasing them is out. From the knights’ perspective, it’s understandable they’d be angry. But I won’t overlook them objecting to the magic-power collection device. Ururu, guide me.”

With the barrier in place, they shouldn’t be able to touch the device… but barrier or no barrier, I couldn’t tolerate anyone laying hands on it. That device was the foundation of our nation.

Still, this would be my first encounter in this world with people whose job was to fight… If possible, I wanted to know how strong they were, and where they stood in this world’s power scale. Well, that might be too much to ask.

While thinking that and following Ururu’s lead, I heard shouting ahead.

How to put it… it felt hysterical.

This sounded like it would be a pain.

“You lowly commoners! Just how far do you intend to mock me!?”

He was furious… and he was still on horseback, huh.

But for knights supposedly dispatched to deal with goblins, there were only three of them… Could three people wipe out that many goblins? Without some method of wide-area extermination, goblins would just escape…

So did they have such a method?

“We had no such intention…!”

“Then what intention did you have!? You’re the ones who petitioned for goblin extermination! And now you say it isn’t needed because you asked someone else!?”

“Regarding that… we truly are… very sorry…”

“Do you have any idea how much it costs to mobilize the army!? Do you think an army can be raised on the taxes paid by the likes of you!?”

So it wasn’t pride—it was money.

That was realistic, but… wasn’t yelling at the chief pointless?

And when three people called it an “army”… could they, like us, summon soldiers using magic stones?

If so, then they would naturally know about magic-power collection devices too…

And if that was true, then was this actually the world of Sword and Legions?

If it was, then being outraged at a collection device you didn’t place yourself made sense… but if we were thinking in Legions terms, it would be weirder not to place one in a settlement.

Was the installation cost not worth the return? But Otonoha said it would run permanently once installed… in the long run, it should pay itself back.

“N-no, um… that is…”

While I was thinking that, the chief seemed to be getting cornered more and more.

“Did you think no cost is incurred if the army doesn’t fight!? Or do you think that because you pay taxes, it’s your rightful privilege to waste the army’s time with pointless dispatches!?”

No ordinary villager would think that far, would they?

This felt like someone calling the police with a false report and getting chewed out…

From the chief’s perspective, it probably felt like his head could roll.

Still, up to this point the knight’s anger was reasonable, and the chief being troubled wasn’t really my concern…

Well, if he looked like he was about to be cut down, I could help.

…Wait. The goblin handling had been my suggestion in the first place, hadn’t it?

Then maybe I should help proactively.

“And this! What is this bizarre object!? It’s in your village, isn’t it!? Why can’t you explain it!”

Oh?

So he didn’t know what the magic-power collection device was…

That wasn’t a bluff, was it? There was no point lying to villagers.

“Well, th-that is… the one who… dealt with the goblins… ah!”

The chief, pale and looking like he might die as he argued beside the device, noticed me and made a face like he’d found a savior.

I understood the feeling, but… don’t shove even more trouble onto the people who saved you.

If he maneuvered here without dragging us in… I might’ve respected him.

“Knight-sama! Th-that gentleman there handled the goblins, and he is the one who installed that device!”

…My urge to help just evaporated.

No, well… the chief couldn’t possibly defy a knight.

He looked like he’d get his head cut off.

Still, someone who tries to dump trouble on us—his benefactors—wasn’t trustworthy.

This would be the end of our dealings with this village.

We’d leave the barrier-protected device here, though!

As I was thinking that, the mounted knight turned his horse toward us and approached.

“Hey! Yo—”

He started to shout at me, but midway, his voice turned into something like a scream.

The cause was obvious.

A small, pink-haired girl—Eisha—had suddenly appeared between me and the approaching knight and swung her staff, blowing the horse’s head clean off.

“Uwoooo!?”

A beat later, the headless horse toppled sideways.

Sorry. You did nothing wrong. It’s just… our girl…

I’ll make sure you’re properly honored later.

Eisha walked up to the knight, who had been thrown to the ground and was now crawling, and spoke to him in a voice utterly devoid of emotion.

“…How much insolence will satisfy you?”

“Hah…? You, an apprentice priestess?”

“Who permitted you to open your mouth?”

Eisha continued, her voice now laced with faint anger, as the knight stared blankly.

“What are you saying!? Do you know who I—!”

“Silence. Our Lord has not permitted someone like you to speak freely.”

The god Eisha worshiped was… really strict.

Come to think of it, Legions had priests and gods, but it never really went into religion.

Who was Eisha’s god, anyway? The Creator God?

“No—God (Fels-sama) is more merciful and magnanimous than anyone. So first, kneel and press your forehead into the ground. Then offer up your heart. If you do, you may be permitted to speak a single word.”

…That was basically “your dying scream,” wasn’t it?

Also, was it just me, or did she say “God (Fels-sama)”?

I mean… sure, in the ending I became one of the gods, but my title was still Overlord…

“Fanatic—!?”

When the knight tried to stand, Eisha stepped on his head and crushed it into the ground.

Scary little girl…

“Coppol-sama!”

Two knights behind him, who had been stunned, leapt down from their horses, drew their swords, and rushed Eisha as villagers screamed.

I understood the screams.

Two armored knights raising swords and swinging at a delicate, beautiful little girl—

Anyone would imagine the next moment would be blood spray and her collapsing.

But wait.

Just ten-odd seconds ago, what did that little girl do?

She swung a gorgeous staff that clearly wasn’t built for bashing…

And blew a horse’s head out of existence.

A horse’s head.

Do you think armor can stop that?

“Eisha. Don’t kill them.”

“Yes.”

Eisha turned her head, smiled sweetly over her shoulder at me, and casually swung her staff—

And the sword tips the knights swung vanished.

Was she a magician?

No. She was a high priestess.

While I was thinking something that stupid, the knights were swept off their feet and forced into the same posture as their leader, their faces pressed into the ground.

“Impressive work, Eisha.”

“I-I apologize. That man’s rudeness was so extreme, I lost myself… I showed you something unsightly.”

“No. Don’t worry about it.”

Eisha spoke with her cheeks faintly red, looking utterly adorable…

She was… slightly… terrifying, and I was… somewhat… curious where her faith was pointed, but digging too deep felt like it would stir up a hornet’s nest, so I’d leave it alone.

Our nation promoted freedom of belief.

“Now then, Chief… who are these people?”

“H-hih!? Th-they are! Um…!”

The chief had gone deathly pale and was trembling like a massage machine.

Honestly, I had no intention of speaking gently to him.

“That device was installed as the reward for dealing with the goblins. I don’t expect you to defend it… but I would like you to at least uphold basic obligations.”

“Ah… guh…”

Watching the chief’s face turn from pale to outright white, I felt a thought rise up: Did I threaten him too much?

Well, I was pretty irritated…

But, depending on how you looked at it, it couldn’t be helped.

And…

I was Overlord Fels.

If I got worked up over something like this, my subordinates might think me narrow-minded…

But if I forgave too easily, they might think me soft…

Can someone teach me the Overlord-grade balance here?

“…Fine. Now, Chief—are these men knights of the kingdom that rules this region?”

“Y-yes! As you say… they are the vanguard of the knight order sent to exterminate the goblins!”

“Then with the vanguard now embedded in the ground like this, you don’t have many paths left, Chief.”

“Th-that is…?”

He looked at me like it was my fault.

It was.

“So what?”

“One: lie to the knight order’s main force when they arrive, and say no vanguard ever came. Two: lie and say the vanguard came, told you the main force would arrive, and then returned immediately. In that case, we will handle these three ourselves, so you needn’t worry.”

“……”

“Either way, that device will obviously remain where it is. When the main force arrives, it’s entirely possible the same kind of dispute will happen again.”

At my words, the chief glared at me with even more resentment.

As a “special option,” it looked like “your head and body suddenly part ways” might be added, so I probably should have softened my tone…

My girls were standing still only because I was speaking, but if I picked the wrong words, they looked ready to leap at any moment.

I had intended a third option—attack us and beg the knights’ forgiveness—but if I said that now, it might just provoke the people behind me, so I decided not to.

“…And three. Enter our complete protection.”

“W-what does that mean…?”

“We will protect you from any and all external enemies. Whether goblins or some petty knights. Under my protection… you become my people.”

“…I-I understand you would protect us, but… what do you mean by ‘your people’…?”

His confusion was understandable.

But I didn’t know how to explain it cleanly.

“It means exactly what it sounds like. This village will be placed under my rule. If you become my people, protecting you is only natural, is it not?”

“……”

The chief’s face shifted from “I don’t understand” to “I have no idea what you’re saying.”

Which were… basically the same face.

“You’ve seen our strength… haven’t you? Knights of this level are no match for us, no matter how many come. And… our troop numbers should be greater than those of any nearby kingdom.”

How many troops could we mobilize…?

Around ten thousand…

Ah—right, I’d prepared to fight on four fronts at once.

Each unit had three commanders, and each front had at least five units, with the main attack front having ten…

Yeah, I remembered now.

Ten, eight, and five units were our basic combat packages.

So with around one hundred command each, sixty-nine commanders meant six hundred ninety thousand.

And the RPG-mode characters, who hadn’t been deployed to war, could still summon about ten thousand each.

Five of them meant fifty thousand.

And even the untrained ones could summon five thousand…

Otonoha and the other domestic specialists could summon at least that much too.

All in, if we ignored quality… a million troops was easily possible.

And as long as the commanders weren’t lost, we could resummon with magic stones, so casualties weren’t a concern.

Unless this world’s civilization level was near-modern with a post-population-boom scale, I doubted it could support huge numbers.

Their gear looked like armor and swords…

At best, medieval.

It could even be earlier… something like late-Heian conflicts, or Three Kingdoms, or Warring States levels.

Depends on the world’s scale, but… a kingdom being able to send a ten-thousand-class force to one battlefield might be the ceiling.

Well, there was also the possibility this was some backwater, and if we went to a metropolis we’d find flying cars and robot armies…

…Right. I’d been leaving the chief hanging.

“Well, choose whatever you like. But I suggest deciding quickly. The vanguard has already arrived—so the main force likely isn’t far behind.”

“B-but…!”

“To me, coming to this village was nothing but circumstance. I helped because you said you were troubled by goblins. So what will you do, Chief? Deciding is the leader’s job… and so is bearing the responsibility.”

“……”

Even as I pressed him…

It was true he lacked enough information to decide.

It would be normal to trust dispatched knights over some passing stranger who talked big.

“I…”

The chief, who looked like he’d aged twenty years in the span of a few minutes, opened his mouth heavily.