First Villager Found

For some reason, morning came after a night in the form of the Sword and Legions protagonist, Fels.

Even after sleeping and waking up, nothing had changed, and I was still the Overlord.

I’d more or less accepted that part… but right now, I couldn’t suppress the exhilaration coursing through me…

No, seriously—there was no way to stay calm after that… I could cast magic, and the moment I held a sword… what even was that?

Movements that didn’t feel like mine… yet paradoxically, my body understood my intent better than I did, and executed the optimal motion.

That abnormality—surpassing my imagination despite being driven by my own will… a sensation you could almost call omnipotence… I didn’t understand the situation one bit, but… at the very least, it seemed I could wield magic and skills… possess outrageous physical ability… and fight.

Yesterday’s training with Lynferia had been brutal… I was shocked by the sheer abnormality of my physical performance and kinetic vision… but more than anything, even while trading blows at full intensity, I still had enough mental room to think.

Maybe not just my appearance—maybe even what was inside me was being influenced by Overlord Fels’s abilities… for now, I still believed I was me… but that anxiety was blown away by how vivid yesterday’s experience had been.

Right now, I felt like I could take the world… I really did!

And so, in a great mood from the morning onward, I made my way to the castle gate with a lightly springing step.

My subordinates—Overlord Fels’s… no, my subordinates—were already lined up there.

Lynferia, Ururu, Eisha, Kamila, Otonoha… just as I’d ordered yesterday, they must have been waiting here for me to arrive… but I was too scared to ask how long they’d been waiting.

“Ururu, I’m counting on you to guide us.”

“…Understood.”

As decided in yesterday’s meeting, we were heading to the village Ururu had found.

It was thirty kilometers one way… but with the absurd physical ability I’d confirmed yesterday, we should reach it with time to spare in a few hours.

By the way, Legions didn’t have a cavalry unit type.

Because the soldiers you summoned in the war segment were like the summoning general’s own duplicates; they came with weapons and armor, but no horses. Which meant even if you rode a horse, the troops around you would still be infantry only.

And above all… apparently there was no point riding an animal with far inferior physical ability to your own… though I did think, “Wouldn’t it still be useful as transportation?” But there was no facility in the castle for raising horses either, so I decided to accept it.

So… we were traveling on foot.

Well, it was still early, so we should arrive around noon.

While I was thinking that, Ururu started running, and Lynferia and the others followed.

If this were the old me, I would’ve been left behind instantly—but now I was a high-spec Overlord. I handled the unexpected calmly, without panicking.

We were sprinting at an insane pace, but since I’d already tested my physical ability yesterday, I wasn’t surprised… still, were we really going to the village at this speed? I assumed we’d be walking.

“Ururu, how long until we reach the village?”

“…About an hour.”

“…I see.”

The village was about thirty kilometers away, right?

To find speed… distance divided by time… thirty kilometers divided by one hour…

By my calculations, that meant we were currently barreling along at thirty kilometers per hour.

Slower than a sprinter’s top speed, but far faster than a marathoner… I felt like we could manage, somehow… even wrapped head to toe in armor!

I kept running while thinking that…

“Eisha… are you alright?”

With my eyes closed, still running with a cool expression, I spoke to the pink-haired girl who was running just as calmly.

“…? Yes. I’m fine. Did something happen?”

Eisha ran without a hint of strain despite the stiff-looking cleric’s robe, tilting her head with the relaxed tone of someone chatting at teatime.

“…No. If you’re fine, then it’s fine. How about you, Otonoha?”

Eisha looked like that, but she had combat capability, so she was probably okay… I was more worried about Otonoha, whose combat stats weren’t that high, so I called out to her.

“This is nothing. Boss… did you get a little overly cautious?”

“…Not so much cautious… I just don’t have everyone’s abilities fully figured out yet. I want to confirm that too.”

“Ah, that’s what you mean. Well, it’s fine. Even the maids who don’t train could keep a cool face through this, you know.”

“…I see.”

Even running and talking like this, not only did I not feel exhausted—I even had room to watch the scenery… and this wasn’t because my own physical ability was uniquely high; even the maids, who were basically at starting values, could handle it…

The baseline performance was way too high.

Well, I’d keep investigating that going forward… but what would this village be like?

Negotiations… I hoped it would go well…

Wait. Negotiations?

Ah—language… would we even understand each other!?

Guided by Ururu for about an hour, we arrived at a village smaller than I’d imagined.

They’d said about two hundred residents, so I thought it would be bigger… but if you assumed a five-person household and forty households, and then considered rural families tended to be larger so the number of households might actually be lower… then maybe this size made sense.

While thinking that, I was also agonizing over how to handle the language barrier.

I’d brought it up while we were running, and they’d told me it would probably be fine—but I wasn’t reassured in the slightest.

To them, there was only one “language,” after all. They might not have even understood what I meant.

With that anxiety, I stepped into the village—and the first villager… and then about five more appeared in front of me.

“Oh! Sir Knight! You came for us!”

If there was a god, I wanted to offer thanks.

The language… worked…!

“You—”

“Lynferia.”

I called Lynferia’s name to stop her as she let her intimidation leak toward the first villager who had spoken to us.

Also… for a split second, a dangerous pressure rose from everyone except Lynferia… and the villagers completely shrank back…

When I turned only my head, they held back their anger like they knew they’d be scolded, and I sighed inwardly.

If you already know you’ll get scolded, show more restraint…

Still, it wasn’t ideal to keep apologizing, so I addressed the first villager.

“My apologies. And you are…?”

“M-my deepest apologies, Sir Knight! I am this village’s headman!”

The first villager—no, the headman—apologized in a strange tone while lowering his head with his hands on his knees.

The pose felt like some tough-guy greeting, but… I could absolutely tell he was terrified.

“My subordinate was rude, Headman-dono. Please raise your head.”

“H-hahaa!”

Maybe I wasn’t an overlord—maybe I really was some feudal lord…

Anyway… setting that aside… what should I do?

Earlier, the headman had said we “came.”

Meaning he’d been calling for knights in this village, right? And why would you call knights…

If knights were basically police, then nine times out of ten it was trouble.

You wouldn’t call knights to help with farm work… so in this case, my options were: pretend to be a knight, or deny it as mistaken identity… a two-choice situation.

“And also, Headman-dono. It seems you were requesting knights be dispatched, but I did not come here in response to a request. Think of me as merely passing through.”

“S-such a thing…”

Hearing my answer, the headman drooped, shoulders slumping.

“Hm… is this an urgent matter? If I can help, I’ll hear you out.”

“N-no… even if you are a knight, with only one or two…”

Well, only Lynferia and I were in armor, so I understood why he’d say one or two… but his words made my girls bristle again, and the villagers shrank back in fear.

When I looked back over my shoulder, they suppressed their anger with an abashed look, and I sighed inwardly.

If you know you’ll get scolded, really…

But since it would be awkward to keep apologizing, I continued.

“Hm… if the issue is numbers, you needn’t worry. There are only this many of us here, but we are a far larger group. We simply stopped with this number because we cannot frighten the villagers.”

“O-oh… my apologies, Sir Knight. We never meant to look down on you all…”

“Enough. Now, let’s hear it…”

“Hahaa! In that case… my home is dirty and unworthy, but we may speak there. This way, please…”

The headman’s home was no different from the others… so even as headman, he didn’t have any special power—more like he was simply the coordinator.

Now, why was I choosing to hear him out?

One reason was information gathering. The other was to make him owe us, so we could place a mana collection device in this village.

Of course, I’d need Otonoha to investigate before installation…

“Hm… if we’re only talking, we don’t need everyone. Lynferia, Otonoha—you two wait outside. Headman-dono, is that acceptable?”

“Yes! Of course! I’m sorry our home is so cramped!”

“No problem. Don’t worry about it. You two, don’t trouble the villagers… I’m counting on you.”

““Ha!””

Otonoha would handle the investigation properly, and with Lynferia as guard, there shouldn’t be any issue.

Alright—let’s hear the story… I just hoped it was something we could solve…

“Then, Headman-dono. Will you tell me what happened?”

“Y-yes! In truth, it seems a goblin settlement has formed in the forest south of this village.”

“Hm… a goblin settlement.”

Goblins… the typical early-game fodder monster. Legions treated them like that too.

“I’ve heard goblins multiply faster than rats. There hasn’t been damage yet, but… I fear it’s only a matter of time.”

“You noticed a settlement before any damage occurred?”

I’d assumed there were already victims and they wanted help.

“Yes. Some time ago, an adventurer visited this village to gather medicinal herbs, and went into the forest to collect them for a while. It seems he went quite deep… and there he discovered the goblin settlement and barely escaped with his life.”

“An adventurer… if it was ‘barely escaped with his life,’ then he wasn’t particularly skilled, was he?”

“I do not know his skill, but… he said that when he discovered the settlement, arrows were fired at him, and he fled in panic.”

“I see…”

With that alone, I couldn’t judge how strong the goblins were…

“Hm… if you wait for the knights you requested, and damage occurs in the meantime, you’ll regret it, won’t you? We’ll investigate, and if it seems manageable, we’ll deal with it.”

“Th-thank you! …But, um… how much should we prepare as a reward…?”

“Hm… then I’d like to ask two things. We have traveled from afar, and I would like to hear about this region. As for the other… we’ll decide after investigating the goblins. Ah—there’s no intention of making monetary demands.”

“H-huh…”

“I’d like to explain, but I’m not good at explaining it. I’ll have one of my companions explain later. Don’t worry—we won’t make unreasonable demands… but I apologize.”

“N-no…”

Yeah… I’m really sorry. I know it makes you uneasy, but even if I ask to place a mana collection device, I can’t properly explain what it is.

I’d leave the explanation to Otonoha… for now, I should have Ururu locate the goblin settlement.

“Ururu.”

“…Yes.”

When I called her name, Ururu appeared from nowhere as always. The headman jumped in shock.

“You heard everything, yes? Find the goblin settlement—but do not engage. Even if you can’t find it, return by night.”

“…Understood.”

Ururu vanished without a sound after receiving my order. Could I learn that trick too…? I kind of wanted to try.

“T-that person just now was…?”

“My subordinate. If I leave it to her, she’ll find the goblin settlement quickly.”

“S-so reliable…”

The headman said it with a stiff, twitching mouth, clearly terrified. He’d probably realized he’d asked something of an unknown, unsettling group. I understood how he felt.

But please accept your fate and become my resource.

Not that I’m going to kill you, though.