7 — The Overlord’s Path Starts Here

“So food won’t be an issue for the time being, then? Still, just like mana stones, we’ll need some way to procure it eventually.”

“Ha!”

Kiriku—thoroughly cowed—answered without returning to his chair, still prostrated. I wasn’t saying anything that outrageous, so I wished he’d relax a little.

“Kiriku, return to your seat. It’s hard to talk like this.”

“My apologies! At once!”

Kiriku sprang back to his chair with the speed of a child the instant the music stopped in musical chairs.

“Otonoha, make sure the airship is ready for use at any time.”

Among the facilities we maintained at the castle was an airship dock. An airship was… well, exactly what it sounded like: a ship that flew.

In the game, you could teleport between your bases, so it almost never saw use. It was only needed when invading enemy territory beyond a mountain range or crossing the sea to another land. Otherwise, it had no purpose.

“An airship? How many?”

“One is enough. We’re not sending an army. Depending on what Ururu reports, we may need to use it to investigate the area.”

“Using an airship for investigation, huh… I see… so that’s a use for it…”

…So it really was like that. Hearing Otonoha mutter, I realized something. Just like the earlier issue with food, the edited characters might only move within the boundaries of the game’s systems.

If you were hungry, food mattered. If you investigated from the sky, you could cover a wider range. Those were obvious without needing to think.

But Legions had no such systems. So they never reached those ideas.

That might be very bad.

Legions was a JRPG in the purest sense—a “Japanese role-playing game” with limited freedom, a story that followed predetermined scenarios.

No matter how many routes there were, it wasn’t a free-scenario, open-world game where you enjoyed playing however you liked. Fundamentally, what you did was fight.

And it was full of systemic constraints.

In reality, if you had a flying ship, there would be countless ways to use it. But in Legions, it existed only to cross mountains and seas to invade enemy territory.

So the characters’ thinking stopped at that use.

…Could this be fixed by encouraging a shift in mindset? In a world that had become reality, could they act freely beyond the system’s boundaries?

…Whatever. I won’t know until I try. Even right now, the situation was incomprehensible. No point whining—things would only turn out the way they turned out.

More than anything… they had will. If they had will, they should be able to think and act for themselves.

“Whether we actually use the airship will depend on Ururu’s report.”

“Got it. I’ll make sure it can launch immediately if needed.”

Even though it had looked like plains from the wall… it could still be Hokkaido for all I knew. Flying an airship without permission would be a massive problem.

Well, even a gigantic castle suddenly appearing would be a massive problem… and if this was Japan, we’d definitely be an illegal-occupying cosplay group.

No—whether it was Japan or another world, that was still entirely possible. If it was some futuristic sci-fi world, we’d be in deep trouble…

“And about the mana stones… conserving them is fine, but we need to prepare for contingencies. Everyone, charge to the maximum. If something happens and the rear line can’t move, we’ll take casualties.”

“Is that really all right~?”

Kamila brightened, striking a coquettish pose as she asked.

“Of course. There is nothing more important than the safety of all of us. Understood? Everyone. No one is to throw themselves away as a sacrifice… and I will not permit anyone to take responsibility and kill themselves like Kiriku nearly did earlier.”

If I didn’t say it, he’d probably try to cut his belly every time something went wrong.

“…”

For some reason, everyone’s eyes were glistening at my words, and that was terrifying…

A brief hush fell over the room—until it was broken by Ururu suddenly appearing inside the conference room.

The door wasn’t even open. How did you do that?

“…I’m back… why is everyone crying?”

Ururu tilted her head cutely, and my heart relaxed—but not the people she’d pointed at.

“Absurd! There is no way we would disgrace ourselves with such ugliness before Fels-sama!?”

“Exactly! Fool! Has your eyesight failed you!?”

For some reason, Kiriku and Lynferia snapped at Ururu. Ururu, in turn, looked mildly offended.

“…My eyesight can… do an eye exam… from three kilometers away…”

That was outside the scope of an eye exam… Also, even if you shouted “up” or “down” from three kilometers away, I wouldn’t be able to hear it.

“…Ururu. We would like your report.”

Arandor said it with a weary tone as he watched the three of them glare at each other. His eyes were bloodshot.

“…I found a village… about two hundred people… public order was normal… development was low.”

That report sounded exactly like what you got in the game when you sent a spy. Fine. More importantly, two hundred people… In Legions terms, that was the lowest-ranked village.

Even if we installed a mana collection device there, we’d only get two thousand a month. But…

“Not bad.”

At my mutter, everyone’s eyes gathered on me.

“Ururu, how far is it to the village?”

“…About thirty kilometers.”

Did Ururu run a sixty-kilometer round trip on foot? It hadn’t even been two hours since she left. And it wasn’t like she’d gone straight there and back…

How fast was she? What was her top speed?

I swallowed that and simply said:

“I see.”

The eight of them stared at me.

The pressure was insane.

“In this situation… mana stones and food matter, but above all, we need information.”

“Then we should send diplomats into the town—”

“Wait, Kiriku. No ‘diplomats.’ We are not hostile.”

“Ha! My apologies.”

Using “diplomats” on ignorant villagers was far too extreme. We really needed to change what we called them.

Now then… how do we gather information? From what I’d heard so far, leaving it to them still made me uneasy…

Do I have to go myself?

But going outside without even knowing my own capabilities…

Right. Before that, I should check my abilities at the training hall.

The training hall was one of the facilities maintained with mana stones—like the dining hall and the airship dock. It let you strengthen abilities through training, check techniques and magic and party composition for the RPG segment, and even practice war battles for the war segment.

For today, I’d check our capabilities there… and tomorrow, I’d have Ururu guide me to the village.

“We will go to the village Ururu found tomorrow. I will go.”

“!?”

At my declaration, everyone in the conference room stiffened.

Normally, a king shouldn’t move so lightly, but… this time it couldn’t be helped. Well, if the training hall proved I was helpless, I’d call it off.

Besides, back in Legions, the protagonist fought on the front lines and charged into dungeons all the time…

So it should be fine.

“Of course, I do not mean I will go with Ururu alone. I will bring several people… Arandor, Kiriku, Ilmitt.”

“Ha!”

“You will remain here to hold the castle. If anything happens, send a ‘diplomat’ running to me.”

“Ha!”

The three of them bowed at my words. After confirming that, I addressed the remaining five.

“Ururu, you will guide me to the village. However, once we arrive, conceal yourself and act so the villagers do not notice you.”

“…Yes.”

“Lynferia, Aisha, Kamila. You will accompany me as guards.”

“Ha!”

“And Otonoha, you will come as well. But your role is investigation. Whether a mana collection device can be installed in that village, and if installed, whether it can produce mana stones. Like information-gathering, this is a highest-priority mission. I’m counting on you.”

“Leave it to me.”

Seeing Otonoha nod firmly, I rose from my chair.

“One last thing—something I must tell you… no, something I must tell everyone, including those not present here.”

Everyone’s serious gazes pierced me. But what I was about to say absolutely needed to be said.

Not only for me, but for them—because this was undeniably reality.

“Right now, we have been struck by an unforeseen crisis. Precisely because of that, we cannot remain as we were. Each of you must think and act with your own will! Never stop thinking! Consider it past history that we were once the overlords of the continent! We must begin walking again!”

If this were truly the world of Legions… if this were truly the post-ending world, I thought we could have lived in peace.

That possibility was not zero yet… but given the situation, it was as close to zero as it could be.

But… even so, I wasn’t going to do something dramatically different. It was the same as when I’d called myself Fels in the Audience Chamber.

Whether this was a game or reality, I would not give up on living. I would keep moving forward.

“And I, too, am not the same as before. I already told Lynferia, but perhaps due to my time in the divine realm, parts of my memory are uncertain. That means… I may be a different existence from the Overlord Fels to whom you swore loyalty.”

I was afraid they might reject me.

But I didn’t think it was right to deceive them and keep going.

Just as their thinking had not yet broken free of the game’s systems, the Overlord Fels within them had also existed only within the game’s bounds.

It was certainly me who controlled Overlord Fels. But that did not mean I was the same as Overlord Fels.

“Yet… even so, I can only be myself.”

If I was the one standing before them—who had stepped beyond the frame of the game—then I, too, had something I had to step beyond.

“I understand that asking you to follow me is an arrogant wish. But I will surpass the Fels who once existed within you! So you, too—surpass who you were until yesterday. Even if it’s only by one step—surpass yourselves!”

At my words, everyone there knelt to the floor.