The Overlord Struggled

Ahh, I really screwed up———.

No matter how many times I looked, no matter how many days passed, even if I took a bath and felt refreshed, the mana stones I’d spent weren’t coming back.

Fifty million… to earn that in a month would take five million humanfolk, or one million goblins… meaning my “Strategy” rose by the equivalent of five million humanfolk worth…!

No… no way… there was no way I had that kind of insane Strategy… If I was going to burn through a huge pile of mana stones anyway, I could’ve had the maid girls learn development abilities, or—there were a million better uses.

If I’d used them constructively like that, I wouldn’t have taken any damage to my heart at all. Strategy… Strategy…

I propped my elbows on the desk in my office, resting my chin on my clasped hands, and sank into a truly miserable funk.

It had already been more than a week since the day I spectacularly messed up… but the wound in my heart still hadn’t healed.

I’d done something awful to Ilmitt, who handled resource management… I’d made her panic like crazy.

That said, the instant I screwed up, she grasped that mana stones had vanished and came to report it—she was outstanding, plain and simple.

I told Ilmitt I’d used them in an experiment and apologized for not informing her beforehand, and she smiled and said it was no problem.

But maybe it was my guilt talking—still, I felt like she was somehow… a little annoyed. So when I got some liquor from my game-days stash, I tried inviting Ilmitt to drink with me.

She was unbelievably happy… but for some reason, instead of sitting across from me at the table, Ilmitt sat beside me and poured my drinks.

I got to spend a very pleasant time… it felt wonderful.

No, I hadn’t done anything shady—this was a totally wholesome space… it’s just that, well, it also felt wonderful.

Alright, I felt better… no, not like that—mentally. I was mentally refreshed, so I should get back to work. It was time for the meeting.

Today’s meeting wasn’t just the usual kids with official posts—Karmos and Viscount Assen… no, Gusco, plus Eltrise and Haria, the sibling pair, and even Bangagonga were attending.

“Lynferia, we’re heading to the meeting.”

“Yes!”

I called out to Lynferia, who was standing by the office door, and had her guide me to today’s meeting room.

I mean, I’d already spent months in this castle—I wasn’t going to get lost now or anything, okay?

The Overlord who couldn’t find the dining hall and walked around with a growling stomach was gone forever.

Thinking that as I followed Lynferia, I soon arrived at the usual conference room.

Lynferia opened the door for me, and when I entered, everyone in the room rose at once and bowed their heads.

“Good. At ease. You all gathered despite being busy—don’t waste time on needless formalities.”

Even as I said that, I didn’t hurry. I strode with dignified steps to the very back of the conference room, then sat deeply in the chair Kiriku pulled out for me.

“Yes! Then we will begin today’s meeting. First, Ilmitt—give us the income and expenditure report.”

As always, the meeting began under Kiriku’s facilitation.

“Yes~ last month’s mana-stone income was about seven hundred fifty thousand~. Expenditures were fifty million and fifty-six thousand five hundred~. The detailed breakdown is in these materials~.”

Income of seven hundred fifty thousand, expenses of fifty million…… I’m sorry…….

My HP got reduced to zero by the very first agenda item—me, the Overlord.

It should’ve been a huge surplus under normal circumstances…

“Also, regarding the specialty products that Lord Fels ordered each farming village to produce~ we have successfully harvested them~. We’ll be using them preferentially in the dining hall starting this month~.”

…It wasn’t like Ilmitt was taking a jab at me… right. I was the Overlord—if I carried myself proudly, there was no problem.

Right. More importantly than the past—specialty products.

The seeds I’d distributed everywhere had apparently grown and been harvested safely—more like, at an insane speed… but that didn’t mean there were no issues.

“By Lord Fels’s instructions~ we had them remit a portion of the harvest~, and directed them to consume everything else within each village~.”

“Lady Ilmitt, may I ask a question?”

The one who raised his hand was Gusco. Still the type to act immediately when something occurred to him.

“Go ahead~.”

“Why have you made them consume all the crops within the village? If they sold them to merchants, wouldn’t it become a good source of income for the village?”

“That’s because~ the seeds bestowed by Lord Fels~ produce top-class quality and growth speed~. If crops like that hit the market~, you’d trigger price destruction in no time~?”

“Price destruction…? If the quality is good, wouldn’t they simply sell it at a higher price?”

“Quality isn’t the main issue—growth speed is~. In these villages~, crops take several months to half a year to cultivate, yes~? But~ the seeds Lord Fels bestows~ can be harvested in a single month~, regardless of season~.”

“W-what…!”

Not only Gusco, but Eltrise and Haria too looked stunned by Ilmitt’s words.

Karmos already knew… and Bangagonga was, for some reason, staring off into the distance. What was up with him?

“Because the growth speed is so different~ if you let merchants sell them~, existing farmers would be driven to ruin~.”

“So it’s an oversupply problem…”

When Eltrise murmured that, Ilmitt nodded with a bright smile.

“Eventually we plan to permit sales~, but for now we’re only letting them grow enough to consume within each village~. If we sold them now~, the seeds would leak to other countries~, too~.”

“I see… you’d thought it through that far.”

Gusco said that admiringly while looking at me with sparkling eyes, but… that gaze was kind of scary, you know?

Try saying my name out loud for a second?

I wanted to confirm I hadn’t become a god (Lord Fels) in his head…

That aside, while it would be hard to prevent any seed leakage at all, it was necessary to avoid wrecking the economy.

Breaking it took a moment, but rebuilding it was brutally difficult… that was “the economy,” as far as I could tell—me, a member of the generation that kept getting swallowed by recession waves and never knew a real boom.

So I wanted to avoid risk as much as possible… but stopping all leakage was probably impossible.

For now, aside from the village I used for the initial experiment and our castle town, I’d only given each village one type of seed—and every village’s seed type differed, so if something leaked, it would be easy to trace the source.

As for the experimental village, starting this month I’d collected everything back except one type, and during the experiment summoned soldiers had watched it constantly, so there shouldn’t be any problems.

“Sorry for interrupting, Lady Ilmitt. Thank you for your instruction.”

“No problem~ it was nothing~. As for mana-stone income and expenditures, and the specialty products~ that’s all from me~.”

“Next is Otonoha. Report on the installation status of the mana collection devices.”

The moment Ilmitt sat, Kiriku passed the baton to Otonoha without pause.

“Got it. Installation of mana collection devices is finished across all former Yōntsu Territory, and we’ve started installing them in former Assen Territory. With Gusco’s help, there haven’t been any issues so far. We’re scheduled to finish installing them in all major towns by next week.”

We’d started work in Assen Territory right after the war with the kingdom army ended, so it’d been a little over three weeks… though we’d also been doing work in small villages in Yōntsu Territory in parallel, so it wasn’t like the development department was running at full throttle.

Was that slow, or faster than expected…? Either way, since Yōntsu Territory and Assen Territory were about the same in area and number of towns, even if we didn’t reach the smallest Assen villages, our income should still exceed one million.

“But going forward, it’s gonna be a problem. If we’re installing mana collection devices across all of the Lumoria Kingdom, it’ll take a long time with just us.”

“We haven’t seized the entire country yet, but… depending on how the subversion proceeds, our territory could expand all at once. If installation lags at that time, it will be a serious headache.”

Kiriku answered Otonoha’s report with a troubled expression.

The development department had seven people in total.

Those seven could install one mana collection device per person every five days, but factoring in travel time and such, it was probably best to think of it the same as in the game: one location per week.

Back in the game days, territory never ballooned all at once like this, so it hadn’t bothered me—but in reality, it wasn’t like we’d capture towns one by one… and the number of towns and villages wasn’t even comparable to the game.

We wanted mana collection devices installed quickly for the mana-stone income, but the biggest reason was teleportation.

Teleportation, which let you move an army instantly, was the ultimate function for responding from the homeland when something happened in a distant region.

To respond quickly, we had to prioritize major cities, of course, but also towns and fortresses near the borders. The Lumoria Kingdom didn’t face the sea, and it had borders with neighboring countries in every direction.

From the neighbors’ perspective, the Lumoria Kingdom’s chaos would be a prime opportunity to expand their territory.

It wouldn’t be strange if armies came flooding in.

For now, our controlled region didn’t include any borders, but as we expanded, we’d have to prioritize defending them.

If we focused only on borders, we might manage—we could set up thirty-five bases in a month—but domestic stability wasn’t guaranteed, so we couldn’t look only outward.

“Otonoha, Kiriku. Have the maids learn ‘Mana Collection Device Installation’… say, about five of them. Would that make this workable?”

I made a proposal to the two of them, both wearing difficult expressions.

“Mana Collection Device Installation” was an ability you could learn through mana-stone enhancement; if you learned it, you could at least install mana collection devices.

Well, just learning it didn’t let you install the simplified version used for dungeons—but right now we were installing them in towns and villages, so we didn’t need the simplified one. And without other abilities, the time required would be long—in the game days, it took about three weeks.

“Just ‘Mana Collection Device Installation’?”

“Yeah. If we add other abilities too… we don’t have enough mana stones right now.”

In the game days, the mana stones needed to learn “Mana Collection Device Installation” were one hundred thousand, but in this world it took a full million.

Even though the collection amount was the same… unfair…

Just teaching it to five people would burn five million mana stones… ah, my stomach hurt… If some Overlord somewhere hadn’t carelessly wasted fifty million, I could’ve worn a slightly more relaxed smile.

“…If we handle the urgent spots ourselves since we’re used to it, and leave the lower-priority places to those girls, it might work.”

“Decide the installation priority with Kiriku. The top priority is strengthening our defenses. Lower the priority on mana-stone income.”

“Yes!”

Since defense came first, I didn’t mind if, depending on the location, villages took priority over towns. Kiriku would understand my intent and build a solid plan.

“And I won’t designate who learns the ability. Survey the maids for volunteers, and let those who want to become development apprentices step forward.”

“Understood. That’s all from me.”

With Otonoha’s report finished, Kiriku turned his gaze next to Ururu.

“Next, Ururu. Report.”

Ururu rose without a sound and began reporting in the same murmuring tone as always.

“…The dragon… still hasn’t been found.”

The dragon… I wanted to find it soon… If we didn’t deal with the dragon, it’d be bad for Karmos and the others too, and we couldn’t move Kamila away from the royal castle.

As I thought that and looked toward Kamila, she gave me a sidelong glance with a finger pressed to her lips.

It felt extremely… seductive, but… I couldn’t really tell why she was doing it. Either way, it was far too wasteful to have Kamila doing nothing but defense against an enemy who might not even come.

“The royal capital was… somewhat chaotic… but the duke was holding it together… Also, the old nobility… strengthened defenses in their own territories… but there were no signs of mobilization. …Word that the kingdom army was annihilated… has spread everywhere.”

“The royal capital and the regions are as expected.”

“The newly risen nobility… seem to want to abandon their lands and flee… but near the borders… are the old nobles’ territories… so they can’t escape even if they want to…”

“I can understand losing their nerve after losing their standard-bearer, but it’s nothing but pathetic. In times of chaos like this, it should be the perfect chance to carry out reforms.”

Kiriku continued with a shrug, as if to add that the country would cease to exist anyway once we were done.

In the meantime, Ururu said nothing and sat back down. Apparently, that was the end of Ururu’s report.

“Then, regarding subversion of the Lumoria Kingdom… Eltrise, you will explain first.”

“Yes!”

At Kiriku’s nomination, Eltrise stood.

This was the main topic for today. I had to focus and not miss a word…