Today’s Overlord Move

Now then, it was time for today’s full-power Overlord move.

After all, the Overlord was now in the Audience Chamber, in the middle of an audience with the envoys of another nation… or rather, being received by them?

That said, it was not something to be all that nervous about.

Today was basically just a greeting, after all, so unlike with Viktor, there was probably no particularly important matter to discuss.

“It is my first time standing before you, Your Majesty. I am Faran-Heldio, granted the rank of count by the Lufelon Holy Kingdom. I offer my heartfelt gratitude for the honor of being granted this audience.”

It seemed that the representative of the envoy was this woman, Count Heldio.

She wore her long golden hair straight down her back, with blunt-cut bangs in front… what was it called again? A princess cut? It was trimmed in that sort of style.

Her eyes were sharp, and based on appearance alone, she looked like a very capable young female civil official. Well, since she was the head of the envoy, she probably really was extremely competent.

She was probably about the same age as Lynferia… around just past twenty, I would guess.

There was a smile on her lips, but the upper half of her face showed intense seriousness, as if she were thoroughly probing me.

“You have come a long way, Count Heldio. How was your journey through my lands? Were you able to travel in comfort?”

“Yes, very much so… the public order in every region can only be described as splendid. We saw not even a trace of monsters, let alone bandits. In addition, it appears that the roads are being developed, so distribution between the cities will no doubt become even more active going forward.”

“That is welcome insight, Count Heldio. One more thing, how did the people seem to you?”

“They seemed to carry one part anxiety and nine parts hope.”

“Oh?”

So she would not simply praise things without reserve?

Would she criticize another country here, in this setting of an audience…? Or was it praise disguised as criticism?

“Up to the point of arriving here, I was able to observe the condition of the towns quite well, and I believe the nine parts hope come from expectations for the new king and his politics, as well as the sense that their lives, which have already begun to change, are becoming better than before. The one part anxiety, I would say, comes from unease toward change itself. However, everywhere was lively, and I was made certain that Einheria’s future is a very bright one indeed.”

So it was the flattering kind after all. Still, even the great Overlord would not get carried away by this much.

“It is pleasing to hear Count Heldio, an envoy from another nation, say as much. It is only natural that anxiety arises toward change… however, if one fears change and falls into stagnation, then only decline awaits next. If possible, I would like my people to fearlessly move forward and enjoy everlasting prosperity.”

“…Your Majesty, whose might brought down the dragon, shall surely bestow great protection and peace upon the people of Einheria.”

Oh…? This lady… just came on the offensive, didn’t she?

Nnngh, she might be more troublesome than Viktor… I’d like to swap out with Kiriku before I let something slip.

“…Indeed? That is quite an interesting opinion. Now then, I suppose it is about time to finish the greetings, Count Heldio. What business has brought you to our nation this time?”

“To offer greetings to Your Majesty, who has accomplished a great feat, and to ask that you open friendly diplomatic relations with our Lufelon Holy Kingdom. Also, I have been entrusted with a letter from our king, His Majesty the Holy King Efaria-Falk-Lufelon. Would you be willing to read it?”

“A letter from the Holy King? That is interesting indeed.”

It was not exactly in return for what she had said earlier, but I spoke with the nuance of asking whether this was truly a letter from the Holy King, who supposedly held no real power. Yet Count Heldio did not so much as twitch in response.

If anything, it was one of the attendants standing behind her who reacted with a slight shake of the shoulders.

As I observed the group that way, Kiriku came near me carrying a somewhat ornate stand.

On top of it rested a rolled sheet of paper. It seemed they had already entrusted the letter to us beforehand.

I took the letter in hand and carefully unrolled it so as not to break the wax seal.

A seal had been stamped into the wax, and apparently it represented one’s house or something, and snapping it carelessly was supposed to be equivalent to picking a fight or something along those lines… I vaguely remembered hearing that before, so I carefully peeled back the wax… honestly, it was such a hassle that I wished they would please use envelopes instead.

Rolled paper was hard to spread open and hard to read… when we sent something from our side, I should ask Kiriku whether using envelopes would be fine.

Should we create standard formats for letters and envelopes… and launch a state-run postal service?

Thinking such things, I lowered my eyes to the document I had opened.

The contents were rather short, though….

“Heh… hahahaha! I see! It seems the Holy King is a more interesting person than I had imagined. I will have to make time later and compose a proper reply with care.”

“You honor us. If one so renowned as Your Majesty, famed as a great hero, says such a thing, then His Majesty the Holy King will surely be delighted as well.”

At my words, Count Heldio showed a smile that seemed slightly relieved.

She must have understood that I had accepted the content of the letter. Unlike the outward smile she had shown earlier, this one seemed more human.

“Then, as for diplomatic relations, I am inclined to consider them positively. However, as you know, our nation is presently at war, and sending an envoy to your side at once would… likely present difficulties for you as well. It will have to wait for a suitable occasion.”

“You have our gratitude for your consideration. However, having seen Einheria with our own eyes, we have become convinced that the outcome of this war has already been decided beyond doubt.”

“I would certainly like that to be the case… but the fortunes of war are also said to turn on chance. We shall proceed without arrogance, steadily planting our feet upon the ground. Now then, this has been a most interesting discussion. We have prepared a modest banquet, so I hope you will rest and recover from your fatigue before attending it.”

As I returned the letter in my hand to the stand Kiriku was holding, I moved into my closing remarks.

Perhaps it was short for an audience, but I would take my leave from the throne before my lower back took damage… and though the audience itself was ending, my work was not yet over.

After this, it seemed I would have to reduce the number of people present and hold a meeting… if it were just ordinary negotiations, I had intended to leave it to Kiriku or Ilmitt, but apparently that would not do here.

I recalled the letter I had just read.

“I would like to meet you. Might I have some of your time afterward?”

Though the letter gave off a certain awkwardness, those words had been written in careful script.

Since I wanted to get troublesome matters over with as quickly as possible, I told Kiriku about the letter as soon as the audience ended and had him send word to Count Heldio.

Judging from the way she had spoken in the Audience Chamber, Count Heldio clearly knew the contents of the letter the Holy King had given her. Rather, if she did not know, that would create all sorts of problems.

I did not know how many people in the envoy knew about it… but I could ask Count Heldio and the others when they arrived here shortly.

The issue was whether that really was a letter from the Holy King, but surely no one would impersonate their own sovereign, even a ceremonial one, in the middle of an audience… which meant the king was actually here among the envoy?

You sometimes saw kings like that in stories, with legends of traveling in disguise and the like… but did people really do that in reality?

No matter how I thought about it, it was far too dangerous… the envoy only numbered around twenty people… and even if most of them were guards, that was still far too few as an escort for a king.

If something happened, all sorts of things would be over, wouldn’t they…?

Given the present state of the Lufelon Holy Kingdom, there was almost certainly no heir… hm? Was that the point?

It would not be strange if the regent had a claim to the succession, and if the direct line disappeared, it would not be strange for things to move back one generation.

And if the king were assassinated while staying in another nation… or even just harmed, that alone would easily create a pretext for opening hostilities.

They could create a just cause for war while moving to seize real power rather than remaining only a regent acting in another’s stead… it did not sound like a bad plan… but the envoy this time had been dispatched by the regent’s faction.

To hide the king among an envoy led by one’s own faction and quietly have him moved to another nation to be assassinated… no, that would not do.

If I were the one doing it, I would dispatch the envoy under the name of the opposing faction. That way, I could pin the blame on them and weaken their faction as well, making it a case of killing three birds with one stone.

Which would make it a plot by the chancellor’s faction… no, but that seemed doubtful too… from the chancellor’s position, there was no need to kill a child ruler.

If anything, it would be faster just to kill the regent directly.

Which meant… the Holy King had secretly come along of his own will, but… no, there was no way a king could secretly tag along.

It would absolutely be noticed.

This was not something where hiding in the luggage for half a day would solve it.

There was no way someone could secretly accompany them on a journey of nearly a month.

At the very least, the people of the regent’s faction must have known the Holy King was coming along… he would need to be cared for, after all.

Or perhaps… was there a possibility of a third faction, a Holy King faction?

The envoy was probably led mainly by the regent’s faction, but there would likely be members of the chancellor’s faction mixed in as well… and if there truly was a third faction, then judging by the fact that Count Heldio knew the contents of the letter, she should probably be seen as part of the Holy King faction.

Yesterday I had been thinking about things like becoming the backing of a Holy King faction… but it really was starting to look like one of those patterns.

Well, for my part, I did not particularly care whether I became the backing of the Holy King or anything else.

Even if it were not under the rule of the nation of Einheria, as long as they let us place a mana collection device there, I did not care who governed the place.

Though, well, the moment they let us place a mana collection device that allowed free teleportation, it was basically the same thing as completing effective control….

“Fels-sama, pardon me while you are deep in thought. Ilmitt has arrived.”

As I was considering various possibilities regarding the intentions of the people who were about to come, Lynferia, standing near the door to the conference room, informed me of Ilmitt’s arrival.

“That is fine. Send her in.”

For this meeting with the Holy King, I had decided to have Kiriku, Ilmitt, and Lynferia present with me.

If the discussion turned to things like treaties or trade, it would be better to have Ilmitt take the lead, and to confirm the other side’s intentions and true motives, it would be better to have Kiriku present as well.

Surely they would not attack us here, but I had Lynferia remain at my side, ready to move at any time.

With this arrangement, we should be able to handle most things somehow, and they should cover for my mistakes too.

Well, if there was one problem… it was that if Kiriku and the others misunderstood one of my slipups and took it as me aiming for something, that could be bad… but in that case, I would just have them recover things afterward.

They would probably scold me for creating extra work, but… the Overlord was not good at negotiations, so I wanted to be forgiven.

“Ilmitt, did Kiriku tell you about the situation?”

When I asked the Ilmitt who had entered the room, she bowed to me as usual and then spoke.

Sway….

“Yes~, apparently the Holy King of the Lufelon Holy Kingdom is hiding among the envoy~”

“That is what the contents of the letter suggested.”

“Could their aim be~ to borrow the power of Einheria… no~, of Fels-sama~?”

“Perhaps. It seems that the Lufelon Holy Kingdom has power struggles of a different sort from those of the Kingdom of Lumoria. Still, they seem to have investigated us properly, so compared to the other neighboring nations, they appear more sensible, don’t they?”

If the three countries that attacked us had known about the dragon, they probably would not have attacked in the first place.

“Rather than sensible~, it may simply be that the other countries were far too hopeless~”

“That is certainly true.”

I agreed with Ilmitt, who spoke with an exasperated look.

As for the dragon, while we had not publicly trumpeted the matter to other nations as a country, we had, for a time, displayed the frozen dragon’s head in the former royal capital.

It had caused a huge stir in the royal capital, and anyone who did even the slightest bit of investigation should have easily heard about it… yet they neglected even that and bit at the bait right in front of them, which was being faithful to instinct to an absurd degree. Honestly, it had felt even easier than reeling in fish.

“We can make various predictions, but let us enjoy seeing how the other side chooses to play this.”

No, that was a lie, I was miserable just thinking about what they might say….

“That’s true~. No matter what they say~, it will probably only work to our advantage~”

I hoped so….

“Lynferia. Trouble would be bothersome, so protect not only us, but our guests as well if the moment comes.”

“Yes, sir! As you command!”

So long as Lynferia was here, the defense of this room was perfect.

All that remained was what sort of discussion they would bring… but my defenses on that side might be full of holes… I needed to brace myself.

“Fels-sama. Kiriku has arrived with the guests.”

“Have them enter.”

Obeying my order, Kiriku entered the conference room with two women.

One was Count Heldio, whom I had spoken with earlier in the Audience Chamber.

The other was a young girl whose face was stiff with nervousness… well, without question, she was the Holy King of the Lufelon Holy Kingdom, Efaria-Falk-Lufelon.