Gathering Information At Night... In The Normal Sense

With a crackling sound, the wood had popped right in front of my eyes.

It was a plain old campfire, but… what was it… it had calmed me down like crazy. I could have watched it forever… It wasn’t like anything “happened,” but… no, it really was interesting.

As I stared blankly at the fire like that, Eisha, who had been standing by my side, spoke to me.

“Fels-sama. Bangagonga has arrived.”

“I see. Let him through.”

Eisha silently lowered her head, then stepped away from me.

I mean, “let him through” and all… we were literally on an open plain… It wasn’t like we needed permission for wind and sand to blow straight through.

Well, my subordinates had formed a tight perimeter around me, so even if the wind passed, living creatures probably wouldn’t get through so easily.

Of course, my subordinates weren’t only guarding me—they were also properly guarding the goblins… putting it bluntly, the goblins were a valuable source of income. Five times that village… no, even more. I had to treat them as even more important.

While I was thinking that, a towering giant of a body that you’d have to crane your neck to look up at even if I were standing, and a tiny figure whose eye level would match mine even if I were sitting… okay, that was an exaggeration, but if I sat on a chair, our eyes would be about level—those two approached together.

It went without saying: Bangagonga and Eisha.

When these two stood side by side, the height difference was absurd… From far away, maybe, but up close it was impossible to keep both of their faces in view at the same time.

“Fels-sama. I have come as you summoned.”

“…Yeah. I had a few things I wanted to ask. I know you’re busy, but humor me.”

What did “come as you summoned” even mean again…? Well… whatever. It was probably an old-fashioned way of speaking.

“……”

“……Sit. There’s no chair, so bear with it.”

“Yes.”

It was seriously annoying that you had to say these things out loud every single time… As I thought that and watched Bangagonga, he plopped down cross-legged on the opposite side of the campfire.

“If you don’t know, you don’t know—so relax and answer what you can. Bangagonga, do you know anything about the humanfolk country that rules this area?”

“I am terribly sorry. I do not know of the humanfolk country.”

Bangagonga bowed his head apologetically, but… yeah, as expected. Well, I wasn’t exactly not hoping, but still—expected.

“I see. You lived avoiding the humanfolk, so that can’t be helped. Besides, I’ve got a good source for that.”

By now, Cougar was probably getting some decent information out of those three. I think one of them was called… Oppore or something? It felt slightly off, but whatever.

Anyway, interrogations weren’t really a thing back in Sword and Legions… Was Cougar handling it well? In Sword and Legions, prisoners were either made into subordinates, let go… or had their heads chopped off.

Back on topic…

“The real question starts now. I think I’ve told you more than once that we aren’t from around here, but I want to know more… Are there quite a few races around here besides the humanfolk? Goblins are… fairy-folk, right?”

“Yes. Goblins are fairy-folk, but… the only fairy-folk near here are likely just us.”

“Hm…”

I didn’t know what “near here” even meant… or maybe my question itself had been vague.

“By the way, besides goblins, what kinds of races are included as fairy-folk?”

“I have heard there is a harpy village to the south. As for the rest, I do not know where they live, but dwarves, elves, and spriggans are fairy-folk.”

“Goblins, harpies, dwarves, elves, spriggans…”

They were all races I’d heard of… though I didn’t really know spriggans. The name rang a bell, but I had no idea what they looked like.

And honestly, even goblins didn’t match the look I knew, so dwarves and elves could be totally different here too.

“What do they look like?”

“Harpies have arms and legs that are closer to birds. Their arms are wings, but… a harpy I know said she cannot fly.”

Harpies… Yeah, those existed as monsters in Sword and Legions. Bird-like limbs and a female form… Were they all female? Putting that aside, they were fairy-folk here too, just like goblins…

From what I was hearing, they sounded pretty close to the monster design from Sword and Legions… except they couldn’t fly. Maybe chicken-type, or ostrich-type?

“As for elves, dwarves, and spriggans, I have not seen them myself, but… I have heard all three resemble the humanfolk. Among them, spriggans seem to be quite small.”

“Hm…”

Dwarves weren’t… small? In my head, elves were slender, and dwarves were short but stout… but if Bangagonga hadn’t seen them either, there wasn’t much he could say.

“You mentioned demonfolk in your village. Do you know anything about them?”

“I am terribly sorry. I know nothing at all about demonfolk…”

“I see… Then what about the Demon King?”

“I do not have accurate information about the Demon King either. Only that the mana overflowing from its body is said to be the cause of Frenzy, and that it is to the north.”

So nothing concrete on the Demon King either… Well, fine for now. It wasn’t information I absolutely needed.

More importantly, what I cared about was whether fairy-folk besides goblins also had better mana stone recovery efficiency than the humanfolk.

If other fairy-folk were also five times as efficient, that would help a lot.

For now, maybe I should go ask that harpy village to the south to let me place a mana collection device… Would negotiations go smoother if I brought Bangagonga along?

“By the way… do the humanfolk have good relations with fairy-folk besides goblins?”

“…I wouldn’t call it good. The humanfolk… no, the races around here tend to look down on other races.”

Ah—humans looking down on other races. A classic in stories… so it was the same here too.

So the humanfolk were exclusionary, huh. Well, I’d gather that sort of information over time… Still, Bangagonga correcting himself to “the humanfolk around here” probably meant… we were humanfolk too.

“If we wanted to take in other fairy-folk as well, like we did with you, would there be any issues?”

“…That would depend on them. With all due respect, I do not know the ways of life of other fairy-folk. I cannot say for certain there would not be fatal differences in living habits when residing together.”

“That’s perfectly reasonable. We won’t know until we speak with them directly.”

“…Fels-sama, will you take in other fairy-folk as citizens as well?”

Bangagonga asked in a probing tone. Was a multi-race nation really that unusual?

“Is that strange? I believe that any being with reason who can hold a conversation can become a citizen. There is no high or low among them. There are only individual traits.”

Right—if I could communicate with them, there was no problem. If anything, I didn’t think you should force a race-wide box around how people thought or lived. Even in the same country, the same language, the same ethnicity, it was common to run into someone you simply couldn’t reason with. Everyone thought differently, so I didn’t like lumping people together by race and slapping weird labels on them.

So I didn’t think goblins were “good” just because they were goblins, and I didn’t think humanfolk would “understand” just because they were humanfolk. I’d be cautious with anyone, and I’d try to talk to anyone. Then I’d judge— that was the kind of Overlord I wanted to be.

“I am in awe of your beliefs, Fels-sama. If more rulers thought as you do… would discrimination, and the conflicts born from it, disappear…”

“Hahaha! Bangagonga, you’ve got that wrong! I discriminate clearly—between my citizens and those who are not. Of course, I won’t despise someone just because they aren’t my citizen, and I won’t treat them poorly. Any being can become my citizen. But if someone tries to harm those I must protect—my subordinates and my citizens—I won’t show mercy. Even if the enemy is a million humanfolk, or a million goblins… if they bare their fangs at us, I will cut them down without hesitation.”

I wouldn’t show mercy to enemies… I wasn’t kind enough to parry someone trying to kill me and then attempt a conversation.

“They might have their reasons. Maybe I’m the one at fault. But that doesn’t matter. I’ll offer mercy, and I’ll try to talk first… but if they still bare their fangs, they can’t complain when fangs are driven back into them, can they?”

When I said that with a smile, Bangagonga swallowed while making a low rumbling sound in his throat.

“I’m the king. There are things I can accept, and things I can’t. The line is simple: I will not permit harm to me, my subordinates, or my citizens. That’s all. So, Bangagonga—if you ever feel you can’t follow me… come to me and speak your mind without holding back. I don’t intend to be so narrow-minded that I refuse to listen to my subordinates and citizens. But if you come at me with a blade… I’ll have to respond accordingly. I don’t want that from someone I can speak with like this.”

Also, please come tell me your opinions proactively. Seriously, having the whole course of our future depend on my steering was bad for my heart.

“…I will carve it into my heart.”

With a solemn expression, Bangagonga bowed.

Maybe I threatened him a bit too much… but he understood that I wouldn’t mistreat them and that I wanted them to speak up if they had complaints, right…? Please don’t suddenly snap my neck from behind, okay?

Anyway, time to change the mood… the atmosphere had gotten heavy.

“By the way, Bangagonga. Can you… drink alcohol?”

“Huh…? Ah, no—my apologies. Alcohol is a favorite of mine.”

“I see… Then when we reach our base, shall we have a feast? You and your people will be the first residents of my castle town. We’ll serve alcohol and food as a chance to mingle.”

Sword and Legions had alcohol as an item, so I could just use that. Wait—how old even was Fels? The game never said explicitly… Well, he was probably an adult. Probably.

“That… I will look forward to it.”

“We should arrive around midday tomorrow, but… you’ll need some rest too. We’ll hold the banquet at night.”

“Thank you for your consideration. In our settlement, even brewing alcohol was quite a task, so everyone will be pleased—gh!?”

Bangagonga, who had been speaking with a gentle smile, suddenly clutched his chest and looked like he was in pain.

“What’s wrong? Are you all right?”

Intercostal neuralgia? That thought flashed through my mind, but Bangagonga hunched forward, still clutching his chest, forcing out a pained voice as if biting it back.

This… looked bad.

“What is it, Bangagonga!?”

As I stood and tried to move toward Bangagonga on the other side of the fire, he raised a palm toward me as if to stop me, breathing raggedly.

“Fe… Fels… -sama… I-I’m… sorry… This is… Fre… Frenzy…!”

“What!?”

At this timing!?