TUMA!

“Aaagh————”

In the Audience Chamber where I had strictly ordered that no one enter, I sat sloppily on the throne, opened my mouth sloppily, and let out a sloppy groan.

It was behavior unbefitting an Overlord, but just this once, I wanted it forgiven.

Why had I ended up like this…? Embarrassingly, it was because our nation’s lifeline—our stockpile of mana stones—was running dangerously low.

Just a moment ago, to reinforce staffing in the development department as I’d proposed at the recent meeting, I had five maid girls learn the ability “Mana Collection Device Installation.”

The mana stones consumed totaled five million… honestly, it was work done while suffering a strange stomachache I’d never experienced before.

But I was the Overlord… I didn’t show a single hint of it. I finished enhancing the maid girls, offered a few words of encouragement, and wore a fearless smile.

Their eager expressions were deeply reassuring… but the Overlord’s stomach hurt so badly that it really wasn’t the time for that. Still, I pushed through by sheer willpower.

Fortunately—or rather, strangely… the moment the maid girls left the Audience Chamber, my stomachache vanished… Was that what people called a “sharp, pinching stomach pain”?

To be honest, I’d never understood what “pinching pain” even meant… but maybe that was it… It felt like my organs were being gripped by an icy cold hand and slowly squeezed tighter and tighter…

It was nothing like diarrhea, where you just desperately wanted to run to the toilet—this was a completely different dimension of stomach pain… I never wanted to feel it again as long as I lived.

For now, freed from that pain, I told Lynferia, who stood by my side, that I wanted a little time alone, and asked her to ensure no one entered the Audience Chamber except in an emergency.

…Alright. If I thought about mana stones again, my stomach might start hurting, so I should think about something else.

I slid my hips forward on the throne, sinking into an even sloppier posture.

But… wasn’t this throne way too hard? My back and—like… wouldn’t it be more comfortable without a backrest? That’s how bad it was.

The backrest was at a right angle—it was brutal… I really thought it should have a reclining function… Hm?

If we developed and sold reclining chairs, couldn’t we make a fortune?

A reclining throne… the kings of every country would probably love it… though it also felt like dignity would go straight out the window.

But kings sat all day long, and reclining chairs seemed like they’d work… lots of them probably had back pain.

Wait—are reclining chairs bad for people with back pain? Should I ask Karmos?

No, unless you let him try one, Karmos wouldn’t know either…

What kind of structure did those things even have?

I’d assembled some before, but I’d only tightened screws on armrests and such, so I didn’t know the internal mechanism.

It probably needed springs… but what materials would you use?

Iron… probably not, right? Some kind of alloy?

And how do you even make an alloy? No, what even is an alloy? Do you melt things and mix them? Yeah, I should toss this to a specialist. The Overlord’s job was to decide policy, not think through tiny details.

Should I ask Otonoha if she could make reclining chairs?

…No, her department was the busiest right now… even after forcing them to work hard enough that we had to increase staff, tossing an extra project on top was… kind of too much, wasn’t it? That was way too black-company.

If I asked, she’d probably make it happen, and that was exactly why I couldn’t casually bring it up.

For now, I’d keep “reclining chair” as an idea… Still, I felt Einheria as a nation should earn some cash separate from mana-stone income, but I couldn’t come up with a good plan.

The potions I’d asked Karmos about before had all kinds of issues and couldn’t be sold lightly… and specialty products would do more than just “hit” existing farmers—it would obliterate them.

Medicines from the general store were dangerous just like potions… and weapons and armor were no good either.

If possible, I wanted to squeeze out a new product or industry that didn’t steal existing resources… but… nothing came to mind…

The easiest thing would be to buy items from the general store using mana stones and resell them… but that was way too terrible as a national industry…

Potions were “safe” because we could make them in the development department without buying them from the general store, right?

Well, setting that aside… thinking about it, I didn’t really know what the towns in this world were like.

If I didn’t know the technology and culture, I couldn’t know what was needed or what was lacking… Right now everyone was busy doing a hundred things, so shouldn’t the Overlord himself go inspect the markets?

I might get a good idea… and more than anything, even though I’d been in this world for months, I still hadn’t taken time to properly see a town.

That wasn’t good… As the Overlord, it was unacceptable to know the lands I ruled only through hearsay!

Alright, let’s go right away!

I rose from the throne where I’d been lounging and headed for the exit of the Audience Chamber.

Lynferia was outside the door.

I couldn’t go out alone, so Lynferia would come with me… but this outfit wouldn’t work.

I wasn’t wearing armor, but my clothes were fairly high quality, and Lynferia wore partial armor and… what was it called… like a knight’s uniform? We wouldn’t be able to blend in with ordinary people.

I should ask Ururu to prepare common clothing for this world.

“Um… Lord Fels? Why are we going into town dressed like this?”

“An inspection. But if we walk around dressed as usual, the people won’t be able to act normally, right? What I want to see is the people’s usual behavior—not a patched-together façade. Also, right now I’m Fei, and you’re Lyn. We’re villagers visiting the territorial capital for the first time.”

I explained as Lynferia walked with a slight tilt to her head.

But if she’d already changed properly and come this far, wasn’t that question a bit late?

We had arrived at the former Yōntsu territorial capital. I’d come incognito without even informing Karmos, so aside from Lynferia, our escort was… unseen, but Ururu only.

Even Lynferia carried no sword, and her clothing was extremely plain—she looked like an ordinary woman, with no hint of being a guard.

And I, too, looked like a village middle-aged—no, a village guy… so standing beside Lynferia didn’t feel strange.

“I see… so that was your thinking. However… is it not a bit careless to carry no sword?”

“Ururu is with us, so there’s no problem. And even barehanded, I won’t be outmatched, will I?”

“Yes! I will stake my life to protect Lord Fels… no, Lord Fei!”

“…Lyn. Right now I’m just Fei. And you are… yeah. You’re my wife, Lyn. Let’s say we’re a married couple who came to the territorial capital to sightsee while we’re here for village work.”

“A-a-a wife! M-married couple, is it!?”

Is it?

“Do you dislike being husband and wife? Then siblings, maybe—”

“No no no no no no no no no!”

So it’s a no?

“That is not so!”

Did she just answer my inner voice?

“H-hu-husband and wife! Let’s do husband and wife! That’s best! It’s the most natural! We can win with this!”

Win against what?

“…Then husband and wife it is. Now, let’s… no, this way of speaking won’t do. We need to blend in more with common folk… alright. Let’s go, Lyn.”

“Hauh!”

When I spoke to her, Lynferia clenched both fists, closed her eyes, and arched back like she’d been struck.

Did someone stuff ice down her back?

“What’s wrong?”

“Nya…”

Nya?

“…It’s nothing at all! I am resolved to fulfill my duty with all my body and soul!”

“Yeah, Lyn, let’s calm down a little. Today is just sightseeing. Nothing difficult. We’re just going to stroll around and look at the town together.”

“Y-yesh…”

Lynferia had broken.

Her face was bright red, her eyes were darting around like a butterfly on caffeine, and her right hand and right foot and left hand and left foot were all moving at the same time… she couldn’t be more conspicuous…

“Lyn, if this is too hard, we can switch with Ururu—”

“…Fully prepared…”

“You’re fine! You can do it! You will do it! Full power! Don’t come out! Go home!”

After bowing to me in a panic, Lynferia chased away Ururu, who had smoothly appeared from who-knew-where.

Well, if she said she’d do it, fine… but she was extremely conspicuous… Also, I was the one who invited Ururu, but her department was as busy as Otonoha’s—was this really okay?

Either way, if we didn’t move, we’d stand out too much.

“Then, Lyn, shall we get going?”

“Hyah…”

I grabbed Lynferia’s hand—she moved like an under-oiled robot—and started walking in a random direction.

For now, it would be best to move to somewhere without eyes on us and start the inspection there. In this state, we weren’t the ones observing—we were the ones being watched.

Lynferia was a serious, rigid knight type. Was this role too difficult for her?

But Kamila, who would’ve done it enthusiastically, still couldn’t leave the castle, and with Ilmitt, given what happened recently, it was a little scary to make it look like she was “playing”… Maybe Eisha or Marie would’ve worked better with a “siblings” cover story?

By the way, no men.

Absolutely not… If I’m walking around town with someone, I want it to be a girl… If we were in full work mode, sure, but today was relaxed inspection mode—I wanted to enjoy sightseeing in another world.