The Overlord On The Eve Of War

About a month after Lynferia drove off the Lumoria Kingdom’s unit, an urgent report reached me.

Even though it was called “urgent,” the one delivering it was Ururu, so it could be said to have been an urgent report delivered in an extremely leisurely tone.

Well, tone aside, the contents were exactly what I had expected, and there was no need to panic at all… but inside, it was the kind of thing that made me want to sigh and think, so it finally came.

The report was that a force of fifteen hundred had begun marching toward us from the capital city of Yōntsu Territory in the Lumoria Kingdom.

I did not know whether one month before the army moved was fast or slow… but at the very least, it was certainly much later than we had expected.

Thanks to that, we used this month to grasp the surrounding geography and investigate Yōntsu Territory quite thoroughly.

The diplomats, working with great enthusiasm, had already begun extending their reach beyond Yōntsu Territory, and had even started gathering information in the royal capital of the Lumoria Kingdom.

Well, I would organize that information another time… for now, it was war.

The enemy force was fifteen hundred, but thanks to the diplomats’ efforts, we had everything laid bare—its composition, the amount of provisions, and of course, every detail from the overall commander and upper command staff down to the field commanders.

What was more, even now, several diplomats were still lying low in the territory capital, and if we truly wanted to, we could take every family member of the upper command as hostages.

Well, we would not do that… because the enemy was only fifteen hundred.

By Sword and Legions standards, even a tutorial battle had about ten times as many opponents as this.

Of course, this was not Sword and Legions, and as the number of troops a local territorial lord could mobilize rather than an entire nation, it might be more than sufficient.

Still, for our people—who had raced across battlefields in the world of Sword and Legions—it was probably a letdown of a number.

Our people were not exactly battle junkies by nature. But back in the game, the main war members had been going out to battle almost every week.

And not in skirmishes, either—these were clashes of armies in the hundreds of thousands. And since the fights basically continued until one side was nearly wiped out, it was beyond “crazy” as a description.

For our people who had thrown themselves into that kind of war and conquered the world, even if the opponent was fifteen hundred flesh-and-blood humans, it might feel like children’s play.

In fact, their demeanor was no different from usual—just another slice of everyday life.

And as for me, I felt no sense of threat at all.

If anything, I was thrilled—my first real war, and moreover, I would be the one commanding… This was not a game, but an actual war. I could act freely without being bound by the system. And the ones moving at my command were the familiar Sword and Legions characters.

I could use all kinds of movements and applications of skills and magic that were impossible in Sword and Legions. There was no way it would not be exciting.

…

…

…That was a lie.

I did not want to wage war.

To be blunt, this entire month had been downright depressing, and I could barely sleep at night.

People would die by my command… and if things went badly, the ones who would die could be our people—or even me…

I wanted to scream that I could not do it. I wanted to dive into bed and cry my eyes out. I wanted to close my eyes, cover my ears, and curl up in a corner without thinking about anything.

Why did this have to happen?

I had only… been trying to play a game as usual…

I closed my eyes, pulled my awareness away from the sounds around me, and sank into myself…

Why did this happen…?

…No, it was my responsibility.

That day… when I came to this world, even if I was excited, even if I was swept up in everyone’s cheering… it was my own will that chose to call myself Overlord Fels.

And at the same time, I had thought this… this looked like it would be interesting.

Back then, I had still believed we had been transferred to a peaceful world after the ending, but that belief was quickly shattered.

Even so, I aimed outward… mana stones were our lifeline, and that was my reason for stepping outside the castle… but our monthly upkeep was only tens of thousands, and we had nearly a hundred million on hand.

In a year, it would decrease by about five hundred thousand.

How long would it take to burn through hundreds of millions? That was how it felt.

Of course, five hundred thousand per year was just the basic upkeep. If we squandered elsewhere, it would shrink faster, but even with only basic upkeep, life was fully sustainable—no, we could live luxuriously.

In front of our people, I could not say, “Let’s laze around in the castle”… but while gathering information, we could have proceeded slowly. After all, our leeway was clear as day in the numbers. There was absolutely no need to rapidly expand our territory.

Even so, whether we went outside or not, conflict with the local powers was unavoidable… because the castle existed. If a towering castle suddenly appeared, they would be confused at first, but they would soon move to drive it out.

If someone put up a tent inside my room without permission, I would remove it with everything I had.

Well, I did not choose to place the castle there, but if they told me to leave, I would resist with everything I had… I could never give up that castle, and there was no substitute.

From their perspective, it probably looked like an unreasonable occupation, but we had our circumstances too. In other words, sooner or later—regardless of our wishes—we would be dragged into conflict… no, we were fated to start a war.

If we wanted to avoid it, we would have to abandon the castle, part ways with our people, and have each person live however they pleased.

…I did not want that.

I had declared myself Overlord Fels, and I had decided to live with our people who had been in the Audience Chamber.

Yes—I was Overlord Fels.

The Overlord Fels whom our people revered.

This war was a war we could not avoid if we were to live in this world. It was a war I had chosen to bring about.

I opened my eyes slowly.

There, our people were lined up, waiting for my orders.

“We will begin the war.”

Today, I would kill people.

From the command tent, the people participating in this war departed, and the only ones left here were Lynferia and Ururu—my guards—and Kiriku, my strategist.

A few people were standing by outside the tent, but inside, including me, there were only four of us.

This was headquarters—the heart of the army that issued orders to each unit.

It was a strange thing that only four people were there. Even if the battle had not started yet, both armies had already formed their lines and were glaring at each other.

Over in their headquarters, messengers were surely coming nonstop to the commander—bringing orders and information.

Information on the enemy army and information on one’s own army were both crucial in war, but human vision had limits. To compensate, many people labored to gather as much information as possible.

In fact, the Lumoria army had built observation towers, relayed the information gained from them to the commander, grasped our formation, and likely assembled their tactics.

In contrast, our army had built no observation towers, and there were no constant messengers visiting headquarters to relay battlefield information.

A quiet so complete it hardly felt like an army command center enveloped our headquarters.

“Alright, let’s begin soon. Lynferia, Ururu—guard me. Kiriku—support me.”

“Yes!”

After speaking to the three of them, I closed my eyes and activated an ability.

Abilities were one of the character-edit elements in Sword and Legions—things that defined a character’s traits even more than magic or skills.

Abilities were divided into passive and active. Passive abilities took effect just by being possessed, while active abilities were triggered at will, like skills or magic.

Among those abilities, I activated the ability called “Hawk Eye.”

This was the protagonist’s exclusive ability in Sword and Legions, and a necessary feature of the game system.

Its effect was an overview of the battlefield.

Anyone who had played strategy simulation games would understand, but in many games, the war screen showed the battlefield from above, and you fought by giving orders to each character.

In Sword and Legions, that system of viewing the battlefield from above was explained as a protagonist-specific ability.

There were also abilities called “Hawk Voice” and “Hawk Ear,” which could deliver your voice to allies far away—and let you hear their voices as well.

“Whereas ‘Hawk Eye’ made sense, ‘Hawk Voice’ and ‘Hawk Ear’ felt like they were tacked on, but honestly, I wanted to applaud the development team for giving the protagonist these abilities.

Well, when I was playing the game, I had been like, Huh? Do we even need this?”

In any case, thanks to that setting-loving dev team, I could view the battlefield from above in this world as well. And I could issue orders to units with zero delay.

I did not know the state of communications technology in this world… but judging from the way messengers were constantly going in and out of what looked like their headquarters, they probably could not issue orders to units via long-distance conversation.

By the way, “Hawk Voice” and “Hawk Ear” only worked on those belonging to our army, so I could not eavesdrop on enemy plans or spread false information. And “Hawk Eye” could not see through tents and such to view the inside.

That said—being able to see inside the enemy camp with “Hawk Eye” was insanely convenient. You could change angles and even zoom, so you could peek as much as you wanted… peek as much as you wanted!?

N-no, what was I thinking during a war? I was the Overlord, you know?

In the first place, what I could overview was the battlefield… though… I felt like it might not be impossible to activate “Hawk Eye” in everyday life too… This required experimentation. No ulterior motives.

Anyway.

“Good. I can grasp every corner of the battlefield. Kiriku, I will share my vision. Support me.”

“Leave it to me!”

In the war phase, you could also let the units fight automatically without giving orders, but in general, it was better for the player to give orders. If you let it run on auto, it basically had your units charge straight in and unleash maximum firepower, which increased allied casualties.

However, even if you gave orders yourself, the war phase was RTS—real-time strategy—and the enemy moved aggressively in real time. Naturally, even while you were issuing orders or focusing on one portion of the battlefield, the enemy kept moving, so it was not uncommon to miss enemy movements.

That was why, during war, the strategist would tell you about the enemy’s movements and intentions.

Even a strategist who, in the simulation phase, eventually said nothing but “let’s attack” in the latter half, became incredibly competent during war.

Still, “Hawk Eye” was amazing. In the game, it had been a 3D map, but now it was fully live-action… the immersion was unreal.

“How is it, Kiriku? Do you feel any discomfort?”

“No issues. Rather, by sh-sh-sharing vision with Lord Fels… a sense of unity… no, my morale is more than sufficient!”

It felt like the question and answer missed each other a bit… but if his morale was high, that was fine.

“Good. Then I will begin issuing orders… Jōsen, can you hear me?”

“Yes! My lord, I hear you loud and clear!”

When I spoke to him, I heard Jōsen’s pseudo-samurai speech—Jōsen, the strongest physical fighter and a Sword Saint.

“Hawk Voice” and “Hawk Ear” seemed to be working perfectly. I should really check the effective range sooner or later… If my voice suddenly stopped reaching them on the battlefield, it would be bad… Though I had the sense that if I could see them with Hawk Eye, my voice definitely reached them… Still, I should run experiments so I do not forget.

Right—focus on command.

“Jōsen, your unit is deployed in the center, and you will lead the vanguard. It’s a dangerous role, but you can handle it, right?”

I poured strength into my heart as I issued Jōsen a dangerous order. If I did not, I felt like I would chicken out.

“Absolutely no problem! If it is my lord’s command, then even into fire and water! And above all, being the first spear is a warrior’s honor!”

“I’m counting on you. Go wild. But follow orders, understood?”

“Yes! Understood!”

Eyes, voice, and ears… all functioning fine. Though, speaking of which, why was it “Hawk Voice” and “Hawk Ear”—wouldn’t “Hawk Beak” make more sense?

Thinking such pointless things, I zoomed out until I could see both armies at once.

Our numbers were fifteen hundred, and the Lumoria Kingdom’s army was also fifteen hundred… Even though I could easily mobilize troops in the hundreds of thousands if I wanted, the reason I formed an army with the same number as the enemy was to make this battle my… my proving ground as the Overlord.

Even with equal troop counts, this was a battle where we held overwhelming advantages. If I could not achieve an overwhelming victory here, then I had no right to call myself the Overlord.

…Using human life and death as a mere measuring stick—maybe that already made me the kind of monster who had lost his humanity.