Getting Fired Up

“…No good. No matter what I did, I couldn’t open the enhancement screen.”

Several days had passed since the recent war, and I had been in the Throne Hall trying all sorts of things to see if I could somehow open the enhancement screen.

I sat on the throne and tried saying “menu,” “enhance,” and “settings.” I felt around the throne to see if there was some kind of mechanism. I even tried dancing… etc.

But so far, there was no sign of progress at all, and I spent my days forcing a polite smile at my kids whenever they came by the Throne Hall… Maybe it was time to give up?

No… but still, the easiest way to get powerful talent was relying on creating new characters and strengthening them… Of course, there were plenty of capable people in this world too, but compared to kids whose stats I set myself, it was harder to work with them in all kinds of ways.

With edited characters, their strengths and weaknesses were crystal clear, there was no need to judge talent… and their loyalty was sky-high…

Well, it’s not like my kids would absolutely never betray me, but as long as I don’t do anything too insane, it should be fine… I hope.

Speaking of doing something insane, the other day when I was in the Throne Hall struggling to see if I could open the menu screen somehow… you know how in VR games there’s that kind of thing where you “operate” something in the air with your fingers? I tried that, and while I was tracing my finger through the empty air, Kamila saw me…

It was super embarrassing… Though thankfully, the Overlord’s smile saved me from disaster… But since the Throne Hall doors can’t be locked, it’s not suited for secretly doing weird experiments.

Even so… strengthening abilities should definitely become necessary going forward.

I’ve been hearing various information from the viscount, and it seems there are beings called “heroes” in this world.

He himself apparently had never seen a hero, but one of his subordinates had once witnessed one on a battlefield, and he said Jōsen’s strength was second to none—even compared to that hero.

…Seriously? There were people that strong in this world? On Jōsen’s level? Well, Jōsen wasn’t even going all-out back then, but… even so, someone who can blow away heavily armored soldiers existing in this world is not something I can take lightly.

That’s why I need to strengthen, and then confirm my kids’ abilities… and if possible, being able to check the abilities of people from this world would help a lot.

So, I’ve been doing my best to open the game-era menu screen somehow, but it hasn’t reacted at all.

Maybe, unlike “Hawk Eye,” you couldn’t use game-like functions unless you have an ability specifically for them.

If that’s true, then creating new characters and strengthening them would be impossible… Well, the method from the game—advancing turns quickly, securing mana stones, then focusing on enhancements—won’t work here, so even if strengthening is possible, making a character with outrageous specs like Kamila is probably impossible… Still, having some kind of countermeasure ready when a powerful enemy appears is important.

So today as well, I continued my strange behavior in the Throne Hall, but with absolutely no results.

I stood up from the throne, walked a dozen or so steps forward, then turned around.

In the game’s Throne Hall screen, I’m pretty sure the background was drawn from about this distance, looking back toward the throne.

Up to now I’d been desperately trying to summon the menu screen and enhancement screen, but maybe I should change my approach.

Yes… until now, I’d been full of embarrassment… sneaking around, experimenting like some petty crook committing misdeeds. But I am the Overlord, am I not? Shouldn’t I be doing this more boldly?

I raised my open palm diagonally upward and spoke out loud as if proclaiming a decree!

“Open! Menu!”

My voice echoed through the Throne Hall. And, unfortunately, no menu appeared.

Damn…! Embarrassing!

No, wait! Isn’t feeling embarrassed here proof that I’m not being serious enough?

Fels. Overlord Fels. Is that all the “Overlord” inside you amounts to? No, it isn’t. You can go further! Spirit! Get fired up! More… more passion!

“…Open the menu! Grant me power!!”

“Lord Fels, I found you!”

“Pyoh!”

A girl’s voice suddenly rang out, and I made a strange sound in response.

This was bad! This was really bad in an Overlord sense!

No! Calm down! I can’t deny the possibility that she heard a lot, but the only option now is to push through with my Overlord power!

Having decided that, I slowly turned around.

A red-haired girl in a robe stood there.

“Marie. What is it?”

“Lord Fels! I was looking for you! Ah, not Marie—Lynferia-chan was looking for you!”

“Lynferia?”

“Yeah! She said it’s almost time to go out, but you weren’t there!”

“It was that time already? I made you go to trouble, Marie.”

“It’s okay!”

Marie showed a perfectly unclouded smile. As I lightly patted her head, I activated the abilities “Hawk Voice” and “Hawk Ear.”

“Lynferia, can you hear me?”

‘Yes! Lord Fels! I can hear you!’

“Is everyone already gathered?”

‘Yes! There are no problems.’

“Then I’ll head over now. Marie came to get me, so you don’t need to send anyone else.”

‘Understood. We will be waiting.’

After hearing Lynferia’s reply, I deactivated the abilities.

Hmm… Abilities, magic, and skills work with no issues, but the system-menu type functions don’t… It’s probably because they aren’t abilities contained within Fels’s body…

With a small sigh, I returned my focus to the girl in front of me.

“Hawawawa.”

“What is it, Marie?”

When I peered into Marie’s face as she made those “hawawa” sounds, her green eyes were spinning restlessly.

“N-n-n, it’s nothing! I understand what Eisha-chan said before! Lord Fels is amazing!”

“…I see.”

I understood nothing at all!

Well, she looked energetic, so whatever… It sounded like Lynferia and the others were waiting, so I should hurry. An Overlord who can’t apologize lightly is kind of a hassle in a very Japanese way.

“Marie, guide me to Lynferia.”

“Y-yes!”

When I asked, Marie started walking ahead.

Looking down at her small back, I suddenly remembered… Marie was actually one of the main combat-type characters.

Back when it was just a game, I was like, “A loli is cute and strong—invincible, lol,” but now that this is real, and I’ve experienced something like war—even if we won overwhelmingly… sending these kids to war, even if they’re strong, makes me feel a lot of resistance.

Eisha and Marie, and a few others like them… yeah, I should have them work in ways other than war. If I asked them, they’d probably happily go to war… but emotionally, it’s a hard no for me.

Since there will be times I leave unit composition to Kiriku and the others, I need to tell them that… I have to think a bit about how to phrase it.

Back in the game era, they were charging the frontlines nonstop… so if I don’t come up with a proper reason, it’ll be bad.

Thinking that, I followed behind Marie for a while… and we arrived at the room where Lynferia and the others were waiting.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“No, there are no issues. Marie, well done.”

“Yes!”

Hearing Marie’s cheerful voice, I remembered I hadn’t warned her not to tell anyone about my strange behavior in the Throne Hall. Crap… I have a feeling she’ll blurt it out to all sorts of people.

“Marie.”

After Lynferia praised her and Marie was about to leave, I stopped her, patted her head, and spoke.

“What happened in the Throne Hall earlier is a secret. Understood?”

“Y-yes! It’s a secret!”

Yeah, your voice is loud, okay? Well, if I say it like this, it’s probably fine.

After seeing Marie off, I turned back to everyone waiting.

“Then, let’s go.”

I spoke to Lynferia without a hint of guilt. Lynferia seemed a little fidgety… Maybe I’ve gone way past the scheduled time.

We were heading to the usual village. The group was Lynferia and Ilmitt, plus Ururu, Jōsen, and two others…

“Karmos and the others, this will be your first outing since coming to us.”

“Yes! To be allowed to accompany Your Majesty is the height of honor.”

Karmos-Fivro-Yōntsu.

He was a former Lumoria Kingdom viscount and the man who used to rule Yōntsu Territory. The other one was a knight named Harris who had served him.

The two had decided to submit to us, and today would be their first task since becoming my subordinates.

“Haha. You’re stiff, Karmos. There’s no danger, so relax.”

“Yes! But… um, that thing called ‘teleportation’? I experienced it once when coming to the castle, but… it truly is mysterious.”

“I see. The Lumoria Kingdom doesn’t have it, then. From now on, the number of places we can teleport to will keep increasing, so it’ll become more and more convenient.”

“…That is wonderful.”

After giving Karmos a faint smile as he nodded seriously, I approached the device placed in the center of the room… the core device that served as the origin point of the mana collection device.

This time, my reasons for going to the village were: to check on the village, to show the village to Karmos and the others, and to take the two of them to the prisoners—Karmos’s soldiers—being held near the village.

Those were the three purposes.

To be honest, there was absolutely no need for me to go, but since I’d been cooped up in the castle for several days, I wanted to get outside as a change of pace.

“Jōsen, protect Karmos and the others.”

“As you command!”

After Karmos and Harris saw the village and the state of the soldiers, they were scheduled to join the army currently advancing through the territory.

Information had apparently reached the nearest city from merchants who had been watching the war, and when Kiriku’s invasion unit approached, the city threw open its gates and showed its intent to surrender.

Kiriku and Arandor were already inside that city, and installation of the mana collection device had begun as well.

Installation would be finished in a few days, but the invasion unit had already moved on to other cities, and it seemed they were rapidly expanding our controlled territory.

The problem was that installation of the mana collection device wasn’t keeping up… We didn’t have enough people on the development side.

Once a city is under our control, we have to protect its residents, but… if the mana collection device isn’t installed in time, we can’t respond quickly.

We’re in the middle of a war, so not being able to dispatch troops by teleportation is pretty bad… I might need to go to Kiriku’s city and talk about that.

No, I don’t think Kiriku hasn’t considered it… but just in case… yeah, just in case, I should confirm.

Thinking that, I began the transfer to the village.