32 — This Was The Overlord’s Way Of Life

“W-wait, King of Einheria. Just now… did you say you were building a castle? You were building a castle on that western plain?”

The viscount—who had already gone past blue in the face and turned deathly pale—asked, trembling.

Mm… He might have collapsed, but I should deny it for now.

“No, it wasn’t under construction.”

“I-is that so… thank—”

“It is already finished.”

“Wha!?”

As expected, the viscount was struck speechless. At this rate his complexion looked like it might turn transparent.

“Our castle was already there. Though, it wasn’t as if we built it there.”

“…Not built it there…? Then perhaps there had been a castle there since long ago…?”

The viscount’s expression grew grim… He was truly terrified of the western plain—or rather, of the dragon.

“We investigated that plain to some extent, but we didn’t see any man-made structures besides our castle. And that castle had been ours from the start. We didn’t seize a pre-existing castle.”

“P-please wait. Did that mean the nation called Einheria had existed on that plain since ancient times…?”

Even as he struggled through his confusion, the viscount asked, but of course I denied it.

“That wasn’t the case, but… in any event, our royal castle was on the western plain, and the place where we stood was Einheria.”

I felt like I could have explained in detail, but from an Overlord’s perspective, “I showed up here out of nowhere and didn’t really understand it either” felt a bit lame. So I just had to push through with something that sounded right.

“You would entangle even the neighboring nations in the calamity called a dragon, you know!?”

“Then let me ask you. If other nations told you it was a nuisance for you to place a castle there, would you move your capital?”

“Th-that’s…”

“It was the same. No matter what kind of land it was, I was there, my castle was there, my subordinates were there, and my people were there. That was Einheria. It was unthinkable to abandon our castle out of deference to some mere lizard.”

“…”

Perhaps he realized persuading me was impossible; the viscount drooped his shoulders in defeat.

Well, as long as I was the king, my words should have been right. It meant nothing even if the viscount objected.

Even if he could see a future where his territory was burned to the ground by a dragon, the viscount had already been thoroughly beaten down. There was no position from which he could force his opinion through, no matter what he did.

Realizing there was nothing he could do, the viscount’s face darkened again as he seemed to age on the spot. He looked about at his limit too, so I decided to end it there for today.

“It looked like you were quite exhausted, Viscount. We’ll leave it at that for today.”

“…My…”

As if reacting to my words, the viscount muttered weakly.

“Hm?”

“…What happened… to my subordinates…?”

“Kiriku, answer him.”

“Yes!”

I told him to answer… but come to think of it, did Kiriku even have the details? Ilmitt had said earlier she was still making a list, and I doubted Kiriku had already grasped its contents… Had I pushed him too far?

“Of the enemy’s fifteen hundred, the dead numbered thirty. The wounded totaled five hundred, minor and major combined. The rest were mostly light bruises and cuts. As for the commanders, all captains and above have been captured. The number of prisoners is fourteen hundred. We disarmed them all and are transporting them to a temporary facility in units of one hundred.”

As expected of Kiriku—those glasses weren’t just for show. Should I start saying, “As expected of Kiriku,” from now on?

“Fourteen hundred prisoners…”

The viscount murmured. Hmm, thirty dead… Jōsen had been blasting them away so flamboyantly that I thought there would be far more, but it was surprisingly few. Maybe the enemy soldiers were sturdier than I expected, or maybe Jōsen had held back properly…

Either way, it was only because the gap in strength was overwhelming that we could take that many prisoners… We’d captured over ninety percent of the enemy army…

The viscount’s stunned muttering was probably because of the number of prisoners… probably.

“The soldiers we took prisoner have been confined in a temporary facility. As for the commander class, we plan to transport them as soon as preparations are complete.”

We called it a temporary facility, but it was nothing more than a crude enclosure made by throwing up a shabby fence near the village, fully exposed to the elements. Still, we’d post a solid guard, so they shouldn’t be able to escape.

We put it near the village… because of my petty thought of, “Maybe we can collect mana.” The villagers were probably thinking, “Give us a break.”

As I thought that, I turned my gaze to Jōsen, and without saying a word he approached the viscount.

The viscount glanced at Jōsen for an instant, then stood weakly and spoke with a face full of bitter resolve.

“…King of Einheria. Please forgive me for voicing an arrogant request, even as the commander of a defeated army. Please… please save my people. I beg you… I beg you…”

“Very well. They aren’t yet officially my people, but I will protect them from anyone. Of course, I swear that we will never commit any atrocities. If someone only bites a little, we’ll settle it by gently scolding them.”

The viscount bowed his head at my words and left the tent, led by Jōsen.

After seeing him off, I immediately gave Kiriku instructions.

“We will install a mana collection device within Yōntsu Territory. The viscount likely has no intention of resisting anymore. When we bring the town under our control, if it looks like it will get troublesome, have the representative and the viscount talk. If they still refuse to submit, we’ll have no choice but to display force, but proceed as peacefully as possible. Assign Jōsen as the viscount’s escort.”

“Isn’t it somewhat dangerous to have the viscount negotiate with the local powers?”

“It’s fine. If he betrays us, then that’s the kind of man he was. But he probably won’t betray us. More than that, since our castle is on the western plain, it seems as if we’re stroking the dragon’s wrath. A viscount who values his people will have no choice but to rely on our military strength, even if we’re the cause.”

…At least, I thought so.

I acted confident and called the dragon “just a lizard,” but there was also the possibility that dragons in this world were absurd monsters… I only knew dragons from games, after all. Well, if I can cut it and it bleeds, we can probably kill it.

Still, if it’s only described as destroying multiple towns and villages in a day and night, it feels manageable. That means it doesn’t have the kind of absurd firepower that wipes out a whole nation in one hit… They didn’t say towns or villages vanished without a trace, either.

If it’s just destroying multiple towns and villages in a day… my kids could do that too… probably. It’ll be fine… I hope.

But if our castle gets smashed, we’re done for… In that case, hmm… I should consult Otonoha about whether we can relocate the headquarters functions—especially the function that generates mana stones—to another location.

It would hurt to lose access to the castle’s facilities, but as long as we can preserve the mana collection device and the mechanism that produces mana stones, we can manage somehow.

“Understood. May I dispatch an expeditionary force using the troops we used on the battlefield, along with the rear-guard reinforcements we held in reserve?”

“Do as you see fit. But keep Kamila off the expedition’s roster. I’ll leave the rest of the composition to you. Leave some behind to guard the prisoners as well.”

“Understood!”

Kiriku would probably be fine managing the prisoners even without me saying it… but in cases like this, should an Overlord say it out loud, or should he trust his subordinates and stay silent… It’s hard.

For a workplace where subordinates can work comfortably, the boss probably shouldn’t nitpick too much… but I worry… Ah, so this was how a nagging boss felt?

If they were saying behind my back, “He’s so annoyingly picky—like we don’t already know,” I’d be seriously depressed.

As an Overlord, it felt like I might get a hole in my stomach…

By the way, I kept Kamila out of the expedition because she’d be reassuring to have around if the dragon shows up.

Personally, I wanted Jōsen to stay too, but after rampaging so violently in this battle, Jōsen had definitely become the viscount’s trauma. I said “the viscount won’t betray us” to look cool, but if he did, it would worsen Kiriku and the others’ impression. So by keeping Jōsen as an escort—an intimidating deterrent—right at the viscount’s side, we prevent him from doing anything rash… Of course, in terms of protecting the viscount from anyone who might attack him as a traitor, Jōsen is also the best choice.

Well, even if Jōsen is the strongest physically, he isn’t as singularly exceptional as Kamila, so the others should be fine too. No, that was a bit unfair to Jōsen.

For now, I’ll have Ururu and the others investigate the dragon… but if we keep expanding like this, we might run short on diplomats. Once securing mana stones is on track, I’d like to try strengthening the maids too… but like creating a new character, how do we even do “strengthening”?

Back in the game… we strengthened them in the Audience Chamber… I’ll try it when we return to the castle.

Securing mana stones, gathering local intelligence, investigating the game system… and then the war with the Lumoria Kingdom. There was a mountain of things to do.

As for securing mana stones… if we take the Lumoria Kingdom whole, we won’t lack for anything. Speaking of which, I forgot to ask the viscount about Yōntsu Territory’s population.

Well, if the whole kingdom is around a million, then it probably isn’t even a hundred thousand. Before talking to the viscount, I was thinking, “If we can earn a million mana stones per month…” but it looks like we can achieve that sooner than expected. I’m looking forward to seeing how much we get from Yōntsu Territory alone.

The pressing issues were the war with the Lumoria Kingdom and that thing called a Ground Dragon.

Judging by the viscount’s demeanor, the dragon seemed more dangerous, so we can’t let our guard down… Should we start using the airship?

No, if the dragon was the flying type, that would be dangerous… An airship was just a transport, so it probably had no combat power… We’ll decide while watching the situation.

As for the war… well, it’ll turn out how it turns out. We have diplomats investigating various things in the royal capital too, so we should be able to respond quickly if there’s movement.

…I came to this world and, without understanding anything, I’ve been acting as Overlord Fels for the time being… but am I doing it well?

This time, I finally gave an order that took human lives. Even if I decided to steel myself, it would be a lie to say I felt nothing. But even so… I decided I would live as Overlord Fels.

I had plenty of hesitation and anxiety… but more than that, I found being Overlord Fels enjoyable.

I don’t know what will happen from here on out. With one wrong call, I might be thrown into a ridiculous crisis. But…

I turned my eyes to those around me.

Lynferia, Ururu, Kiriku… and the edited characters who weren’t here… If my kids are with me, it feels like everything will be fine.

I am Fels… Overlord Fels.

For whatever reason, after becoming the Overlord, I ended up in another world— despite being just a gamer.