Organizing Information — Side: Overlord

“Then, we will begin the meeting. Today’s agenda is the outbreak of war with the Lumoria Kingdom.”

With Kiriku’s opening words, the meeting began.

“The other day, the village that Lord Fels personally brought under our rule… that area was under the control of a power called the Lumoria Kingdom. Ah—needless to say, the grasslands around this entire region where our castle stands are also within their sphere of influence, but because it is said to be ‘cursed land,’ settlement does not seem to have progressed.”

Huh? “Cursed” how? That was kind of scary, though?

I felt a lingering unease inside, but Kiriku did not explain what that “curse” supposedly was. W-well… I would ask later… maybe? Was ignorance bliss…? No, but now that I knew it was “cursed,” not knowing made it even creepier…

“First, I will share the information we obtained from the filth called Coppol, who committed the grave sin of insulting Lord Fels.”

Saying that, Kiriku stood beside a blackboard on wheels. A map of the surrounding area was already drawn on it… but it was very rough, showing only the castle’s location, the village’s location, and the forest where Bangagonga and the others’ settlement had been.

Wait—was the captured guy named Coppol? Wasn’t it Oppore?

“Approximately thirty kilometers east of the castle—here is the village in question. About twelve kilometers northeast from this village, there is a town, and the enemy army should advance by way of that town. Also, the terrain around here is nearly all flatland, and aside from the forest stretching south of the village, there are no notable terrain features worth mentioning.”

In Sword and Legions, there had been many different war maps depending on where you fought, but… I never liked flatland battles. The casualties were always heavy. With other terrain, you could use terrain effects, or flank with ambushes, or strike from behind—depending on your plans and marching routes, there were so many ways to attack.

“The troops dispatched to exterminate the goblins numbered two hundred. Ten scouts, twenty cavalry, five mage soldiers, and the rest were infantry and a supply corps. This cavalry is a troop type we have never fought before.”

Cavalry, huh… Honestly, it looked cool, but it did not seem all that strong.

Sure, a mounted charge in Western plate armor sounded terrifying, but if you stopped the horse’s legs, they would just be targets, and they seemed weak to attacks from the side. Horse archers sounded strong, but the knights from before had swords. A sword while riding a horse… that sounded ridiculously hard to fight with, though I did kind of want to see how they fought.

Well… if a horse came charging straight at full speed, I would be terrified, though. Thinking about that, cavalry might be pretty troublesome on the plains that would be this battlefield.

“The noteworthy point is that a single unit contains four or more troop types. This also aligns with what Lord Fels often says: abandon your old common sense. In our way of operating troops, we could incorporate at most three branches into a single unit.”

Right—because in Sword and Legions, one unit was formed by incorporating up to three generals. The troops each general summoned were like their own avatars, so the troop branch naturally matched the general’s branch.

“An unknown branch, and an unfamiliar unit composition. If we fight the same way as before, there is a strong possibility we will suffer. Arandor, we will need tactical research. Cooperate with Ururu and gather information about these unknown branches and tactics.”

“Understood.”

Mm, an excellent proposal, Kiriku. Even though it had only been about ten days since coming to this world, I could see growth. That attitude toward the unknown—things not present in our information… in the first meeting, it had looked like he did not fully grasp it yet… but as expected of a strategist, he adapted quickly.

“As you know, the unit that came to subjugate the goblins withdrew promptly due to Lynferia’s warning, but they should soon send in their regular army. If we think in terms of our common sense, then if they dispatch from an adjacent base within their country, it would be sometime within this week.”

In Sword and Legions, you could move between bases in your territory via inter-base travel, then sortie from the base within that same turn. The turn you arrived depended on the distance to the target base—that was the system. By Kiriku’s calculation, if troops were dispatched from a town twelve kilometers away, they would arrive in less than a turn.

However, this was not Sword and Legions. That unit would bring back information, then they would organize an army and set out… I did not know how far their base was from here, but even if infantry marched as hard as they could… there was no way they could get here within this week.

Unlike the game, they could not deploy with the press of a button. Moving an army should require all kinds of preparations. Opp—no, Coppol had even been furious at that village chief about how moving the army cost a fortune.

I thought about pointing that out, but Kiriku was still talking, so I decided to stay quiet for now.

“However, as a result of interrogating those we captured, we have confirmed they have no knowledge of the mana collection device or the inter-base travel function that accompanies it. In other words, even within their own country, moving troops requires considerable time.”

Ooh… Kiriku, you were truly wonderful. Those glasses were not just for show!

“Furthermore—astonishingly—the soldiers of the Lumoria Kingdom are all said to be real human beings.”

At Kiriku’s words, the meeting participants other than Ururu and me widened their eyes.

“So even a common soldier is a commander-class warrior?”

Arandor asked Kiriku with a grim expression. In Sword and Legions, rank-and-file soldiers were all summoned troops… so “real human” being equal to “commander” would be common sense.

“I do not know whether they can be called ‘warriors,’ but it seems all soldiers undergo training and carry out orders faithfully…”

“When we depart from the nearest base, we must carefully confirm the enemy’s total numbers. If, for instance, a thousand men each summoned ten thousand troops, we could not possibly hold them back.”

Hearing Arandor say that, I realized I had been making a massive mistake.

I kept thinking this was not the world of Sword and Legions… but that did not mean I should assume they could not do the same things as Sword and Legions. That was dangerous.

Because it was reality, I needed to change how I thought compared to the game… but even if it was reality, it did not mean the enemy could not have game-system-like abilities. In the first place, there might be entirely unknown ways of fighting.

We had summoned troops as a method, so assuming only the enemy would charge in with flesh-and-blood bodies was obviously wrong.

This was bad… this was really bad!?

In Sword and Legions, summoned troops could only be called forth at a base, and once summoned, they remained summoned for one week.

If each person in that earlier unit could have summoned a hundred troops, then it would not have been an army of two hundred—it would have been twenty thousand. There was even the possibility they had not used summoned troops because it was also training against goblins…?

As cold sweat poured down my back internally, Kiriku replied to Arandor without losing his calm.

“It appears the concept of summoned troops does not exist for them in the first place. Everyone who stands on the battlefield—down to the lowest soldier—is a flesh-and-blood human… It seems some do command animals or monsters, but fundamentally, it is humans only.”

At Kiriku’s words… I resisted the urge to let out the biggest sigh of relief imaginable, while throwing a triumphant fist pump inside my heart and doing a little victory jig.

Th-thank goodness… I thought I was about to be attacked by ten million enemy soldiers… No—what even was an army of ten million…? How much space would you need just to deploy…? Do not scare me like that, Arandor.

No, that was on me… I had to be more careful from now on.

“Hm. Commanding monsters… that too is an unknown troop type.”

I glanced at Arandor, who was already calmly moving on to a different topic.

His nerve was more “Overlord” than the Overlord. I wanted some of that.

“I wanted to investigate unknown troop types and tactics more thoroughly, but… the captives are not well-versed in troop employment or tactics, and we have not obtained meaningful information. If possible, during this war, we may need to prioritize taking commander-class prisoners.”

At Kiriku’s words, Arandor looked as though he was thinking for a moment, then spoke.

“…No, Kiriku. In that case, should we not take as many prisoners as possible, even if they are rank-and-file?”

“What do you mean, Arandor?”

“If even the lowest soldiers are all human… then perhaps simply keeping them as prisoners would yield mana stones?”

“—! …I see. Indeed, prisoners can be used that way as well.”

Mm, Arandor had a pretty good idea. Back in Sword and Legions, aside from commanders, enemies were all summoned troops, so you could not do that—but in this world, it was possible.

“Waaait a second~. Taking mana stones from prisoners sounded like a good idea, but~ those kids ate food too, right~? If it’s food for hundreds of people~ the mana stone consumption would be huge~?”

…True! Ilmitt, you were pretty good too!

“There’s also the prison issue. We don’t have enough cells to hold hundreds of people.”

Otonoha raised another problem. Mm… I was glad I did not immediately agree with Arandor just because I saw mana stones.

Still—everyone was thinking things through, and I, the Overlord, was very satisfied.

“Hm… it seems the problems are piled high. My apologies.”

“No, I overlooked many things as well. Still, it might not be a bad idea to calculate the costs and build detention facilities. Ilmitt, can you estimate the incarceration cost per hundred?”

The Arandor who had been called out by Ilmitt and the others apologized, but Kiriku pushed up the frame of his glasses with a fingertip and asked Ilmitt.

“If we use the kids we’re holding right now as the baseline, I can do it~”

“Then please compile it. Can you prepare patterns for ordinary soldiers, commander-class, and—additionally—high-ranking nobles? For commanders and nobles, calculate per person.”

“Okaaay~”

“And Otonoha—can you estimate the construction cost for a facility that can hold… for now, one thousand people?”

“Can you give me some time? It’s a completely new facility, and we’ll need defensive measures and counter-espionage too, right? Since it starts from developing the blueprint… it will take at least three weeks.”

“If it comes to blueprint development, that will require Lord Fels’s approval…”

Oh—so my decision was needed here.

Well, yes. In order to have the development department make something, the player had to give the instruction. Even so… I wanted time to think. I needed to stall somehow…

“Hm. How many people can the current dungeon in the castle hold?”

“About a hundred~”

When I asked the room at large, Ilmitt answered. Since it was a castle facility, it was Ilmitt’s area, I guess.

I had no idea if a prison that could hold a hundred was a lot or a little… but at least, for war prisoners, it did not seem like enough.

“Then, for this war, it will be best to take only commander-class prisoners. Whether we develop a blueprint for detention facilities will depend on the costs Ilmitt calculates. If it runs a deficit, it defeats the point.”

“Yes! As you say—I was thinking too hastily.”

“No, Kiriku, that is not the case. Arandor, it was an excellent suggestion. That kind of new thinking—ideas unlike what we have had before—is exactly what I want. I’m counting on you. Keep it up.”

“Yes! I’m honored!”

“And Ilmitt and Otonoha. It was also excellent that you noticed the issues immediately. You were thinking properly.”

“Yes!”

“Lastly, Kiriku. Your quick response and direction when issues surfaced—this is why I entrusted you with being strategist. As long as you hold that post, I can leave things to you with peace of mind.”

“Th-thank you very much!”

Arandor and the others responded with mild smiles, but Kiriku looked like he was about to cry… No—he was fully making a crying face now.

It was hard to say, “Let’s continue the meeting,” right away…

“Setting aside the prisoner matter for now, is there any other information about the enemy army?”

“Y-yes! That concludes the information obtained from the three people we initially captured.”

“There are other captives?”

When I latched onto Kiriku’s words and asked, Ururu answered instead of Kiriku.

“…From the unit that retreated… they sent spies… we caught them.”

“I see.”

That knight… he had seemed like a refined old gentleman, but he was not someone to take lightly. Pretending to withdraw, while leaving behind surveillance. No—of course that was what anyone would do.

Well, our people seemed to have caught them easily, so it was not a problem.

No… it was possible not all spies had been captured… there could be spies still in hiding, probing for information about us.

Even so, you could not prove the nonexistence of something… It felt disgusting, but I had no choice but to trust our people.

“But… they’re not… talking easily…”

“If they are spies, that is only natural.”

Had they received anti-torture training…? Mm, a job I never wanted. Come to think of it—did Ururu and the other diplomats undergo training like that too…? Sword and Legions never depicted interrogation scenes, but…

While thinking that and looking at Ururu, my eyes met hers. Without changing her expression much, Ururu twisted her body in a squirmy, wriggling way. Her face was slightly red—was she embarrassed…?

As I watched that strange sight, Kiriku regained his composure and resumed running the meeting. The agenda shifted to how we would fight the Lumoria army, what our formation would be, and so on.

Everyone understood that I wanted to conserve mana stones as much as possible, and they were steering the discussion in that direction, so I watched quietly, interfering as little as I could.