Tale of Discovery

"Are you ready to leave? Though I suppose there isn't much preparation to make," I say as I step back into the room.

The vampire in question has a nonchalant look on her face as she gazes at me without bothering to say anything in response.

Ah… I guess what happened earlier has impacted our relationship one way or another. If only we weren't interrupted…

Releasing a small sigh, I shut the door behind me as I walk toward the center of the room while establishing a mental connection with Satoru.

[You devil!!!]

A little startled by the sudden outburst, my movement comes to a halt as I wonder what could've possibly angered the man to such an extent.

'Is something wrong?' I question curiously.

[You… So, you're just going to act like you have done nothing, huh?!]

'I genuinely have no idea about what could be troubling you.'

[Forget it! You're a monster that wouldn't understand even if I explained it to you.]

Ugh. How irritating. You wouldn't know that I won't understand until you tell me. Well, I actually have a certain guess as to what's causing him to act like this: My actions of 'sealing' him away for a long period.

'Sorry, you must've been bored.'

[Boredom is the last thing that I felt! In fact, I have never felt so life-like. The problem is that I almost no longer felt my life!]

'I hope you're not going to be like this every single time I establish a connection with you…'

[You! Just how selfish and apathetic are you?!]

Am I really like that? I don't think so. Perhaps, he is spouting nonsense as a result of having been under mental pressure for so long? That does seem like a plausible scenario.

[So? What have you called me out for?]

Finally. About time this fellow calmed down and began to act more rationally.

'I require your aid in a certain matter.'

[As I said, you're a selfish monster. You only contact me when there is a need to do so.]

'Wouldn't it be a waste of time otherwise?'

[A waste of time for you and a waste of life for me!]

'You're dead anyway.'

[Thanks to a certain someone chopping my head off!]

'Satoru, I don't know if you've been told this before, but, frankly, you're quite annoying.'

[Thanks for the compliment. It sure means a lot to be recognized as annoying by none other than you.]

'Look, this isn't the time to make sarcastic remarks. Waste any more time and I will sever the connection.'

[Won't you do so anyway once you're done with me?]

'No. At least, not right away.'

[Oh, is that so?]

Sensing the clear disbelief in his voice, I release a small sigh as I ruminate over whether my choice of establishing the mental connection was truly a good one.

In the first place, I wouldn't have done so if I had a solid idea of how to leave the village in accordance with the background I have set for myself.

Earlier, I had claimed that my men will be coming for me, but such people don't exist in the first place unless I get some of the residents from Nazarick to come over, but that's out of the question.

Who knows what will be the fate of those that irk any of those monsters…

And so, I am left with no choice other than burrowing the experience of someone who might have a clue about what to do in this situation.

It takes me a few minutes to explain the whole thing to Satoru, who upon hearing the whole thing came to a conclusion: There is no way out of this.

[If you don't have anyone from Nazarick come over, then you can't do anything.]

'Is that so…'

This is a difficult matter that I hadn't looked into as much as I should've while laying out my background.

[Hold on.]

Hearing Satoru's voice suddenly in my head, my hope gets rekindled.

[How about you head into the forest and rendezvous with your 'men', away from the eyes of everyone.]

'Oho. That's certainly a neat idea.'

[Of course. Now, since I've helped you, I deserve a reward, don't I?]

Hm? How amusing. Is he going to ask me to keep the connection between us active?

[Create a body for me.]

Hearing his request, I am a little stunned as I think about a few possibilities before ultimately mentally saying, 'Nora, would it be possible to place Satoru inside a physical body?'

{Affirmative. Once Father has a proper vessel, that would be possible.}

A proper vessel… 'What defines how proper a vessel is?'

{Racial similarity and elemental affinity.}

'So, no gender and age?'

{Such properties are of no importance.}

Good…

Now, now, I am not planning to turn Satoru into a girl – but, I am not planning to give him a male body either.

Indeed, a genderless body is what would be the most suitable in the long run.

Setting that aside, judging from what Nora stated, as long as the vessel is close to human-like, it's going to be suitable. As for the thing about elemental affinity… What would Satoru's affinity be? Darkness? That seems like a highly likely one.

'Alright, I will see to it if it's possible.'

[What? You agreed to it just like that?]

'Why not? You appear to have a misconception of me being selfish despite me being selfless.'

[Bullshit!]

How rude. My benignity is wasted on such an ungrateful individual.

"Victor," Aletia's voice suddenly reverberates within my ears, causing me to snap back to reality and look over at the vampire sitting on the bed.

"What are you doing?" she asks with a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

"Having a mental conversation with a foolish boor."

[You're the boor, you pervert! What is such a little girl doing with you and why is she wearing those clothes?!]

'Huh? You're the pervert here. She's the wearing those clothes because those were the only relatively normal ones in this damned inventory.'

This shameless imbecile.

[Who is she anyway, and why is she here with you?]

'Just an adorable vampire I picked up in the labyrinth.'

[What?! You encountered a vampire in a labyrinth, and instead of eliminating her, you 'picked her up' instead?!]

'Is something wrong with that?'

[Of course! Who the hell picks up girls in dungeons and labyrinths?!]

Deciding to ignore his blabbering, I shift my focus back to Aletia who is giving me an odd look.

"What?"

"We're not leaving?"

"We are. Are you ready?"

Aletia nods her once as confirmation, following which I expand my senses to check on the state of the village and its residents.

Upon doing that, I notice that a certain is making his way over to this house.

"Come on, get up," I beckon to Aletia as I turn and walk toward the door.

Shortly, Aletia gets off the bed and reaches my side with a composed look on her delicate face.

Finding her current appearance adorable, I raise my left hand and pat her head for a few seconds before opening the door and exiting alongside her.

Once the two of us exit the house, we directly encounter Emmot, who has a look of concern on his face.

"What's wrong?" I question the uneasy man.

"You're leaving?" he asks somewhat nervously.

"That's right," I respond bluntly.

Hearing my response, his uneasiness quickly disappears as he relaxes his shoulders.

Hey now, am I really that scary that you have to be this distressed?

I reckon that he heard something from the village chief or Gazef that has made him like so.

"Well then, if you don't have anything to state, my men are waiting for me in the forest."

"In the forest?"

"That's right. It turns out that they had followed after my tracks instead of looking around for residencies. Currently, they have established a small camp deep in the forest."

"Impossible. The monsters deep in the forest aren't anything that ordinary soldiers can handle without proper preparation."

"Is that so? But that's the point, my men are anything but ordinary. The weakest of them is at the same level if not higher than Gazef Stronoff."

In response to my 'absurd' claim, Emmot's eyes widen like saucers as he struggles to say anything as a rebuke.

"Now then, excuse us, but we must leave," I state calmly as I proceed to grab Aletia's small hand and pull her along as I walk toward the section of the forest I came here from the first time.

---

"Alright, this should be far enough," I say as I expand my senses to cover as much distance as possible to check for the presence of any sentient creatures nearby.

Aside from numerous birds and some wildlife, I don't find anything else, which is rather strange considering what most of those I've met have said about the forest and the danger that lies within.

"Aletia," I say as I abjure my senses back to a comparatively small area around myself, covering everything within a ten-meter radius.

"Hm?" Aletia mutters in response while fixating her gaze on my face.

"Remember the appearance I had when I first met you? I will have to switch back to that."

"Okay."

"Listen, none of my subordinates are aware that I can take this 'human' form. So, I need to refrain from mentioning it to them."

"Understood."

"Good girl," I praise her as I raise my hand to pat her hand.

After a few seconds, I retract my hand and focus my thoughts on the profile and change back to Overlord.

The next moment, my appearance changes from the handsome male 'human' to a skeleton that appears to be the embodiment of death itself.

<Gate>

Following the spell I cast, a small circular portal appears before expanding just enough for me to fit through perfectly.

"For a few reasons, I can't open a gate that directly leads to the throne room," I explain to Aletia, who is keenly inspecting the portal in front of us, "So, we're going to be walking for a short distance."

"That's fine," she merely says as a response, to which I nod my head once before walking forth into the portal.

Following this, my vision warps for a brief moment before the scenery of the forest changes to that of Nazarick's long and wide hallways.

The portal behind me remains active as Aletia soon emerges within it, only for her eyes to widen as she catches sight of the place.

"Where is this?"

"My home," I reply nonchalantly as I cancel the gate spell.

"Follow me."

With Aletia in tow, I begin to slowly walk in the direction of the throne room while making use of my enhanced senses to check for anyone that I might encounter on the way.

As it turns out, three maids are walking in our direction – not battle maids, but just ordinary ones.

"A few of my servants are ahead, relax and remain calm no matter what happens," I say in a firm tone after considering the possibility of the residents lashing out at an outsider.

Although, I suspect that the chances of that happening are utterly low, since I, their sovereign, will be accompanying said outsider.

Shortly, the maids appear within my vision as we do in theirs, after which they all lower their heads slightly and the liveliness they had a moment prior vanishes.

After walking a little more, the distance between us and the maids closes up.

Once they're a few meters away from us, the maids further lower their heads as they collectively say, "We pay respect to the Supreme Leader."

"Hm," I merely hum coldly as a response, trying my best to maintain the image of a powerful leader detached from worldly matters.

Up until today, I have only experienced the royal structure of human kingdoms and have never got to do so with one composed of monsters. For that reason, my idea of methods to rule over literal monsters is severely limited to 'the strong rule the weak'.

Naturally, I have quite a bit of confidence in my powers, but that doesn't mean that I could leisurely show a 'weak' side of myself off.

Even if it's possible to easily deal with troublesome fellows that wish to boast their strength in hopes of obtaining a higher rank in the hierarchy, it would be better to not have to do so in the first place.

For that very reason, I have decided to take on the role of a cold and cunning leader that would ward off troublemakers.

[Uwaaa… Talk about getting caught up in role-playing.]

'Shut up.'

[You could've at least greeted them. I mean, just what kind of man are you to treat these beautiful women in such a manner? Speaking of their beauty, they can easily outdo the most beautiful of women on Earth!]

He has a point. I hadn't noticed it earlier since I am already used to interacting with stunning women, but the maids from earlier all had appearances that far surpassed the average.

Nevertheless, 'My women are much more beautiful.'

[Huh? Women?]

'That's right. Plural form of a woman – women. I have many partners outside this world.'

[Cheh, a playboy, huh?]

'I treat them all with the affection they deserve.'

[That doesn't matter. What are you trying to achieve anyway? Build a harem?]

'There isn't anything that I particularly want to do.'

[Are you some rich second generation outside or something?]

'Hm… Monetary value has little meaning to me.'

[There it is! A typical line uttered by the rich.]

'Whatever…'

Shortly, Aletia and I reach the giant double doors that lead to the throne room. In front of the doors, two maids stand with a composed look on their faces.

"We pay respect to the Supreme Leader," the two of them greet with their heads lowered before each one extends an arm to either of the double doors and pushes it open.

Upon nodding once, I walk past them into the throne hall, which seems to be even larger from my current perspective.

Soon, I notice that there is someone present, who is standing right beside the throne.

"Lord Victor," an enchanting voice reaches my ears once I step onto the higher platform upon which rests the throne.

"It's been a while, Albedo," I say while examining her exquisite figure and face.

While doing so, the two white horns protruding from her head caught my attention, tempting me to reach out and stroke them.

"Excuse my rudeness Lord Victor," Albedo says in a more frigid tone as she raises her head, "Might I ask who this is?"

The atmosphere seems to become tense as Albedo uses her fierce golden eyes to examine Aletia from head to toe.

"Her name is Aletia. She is going to be a new member of Nazarick henceforth. Any comments?"

"Of course, not, Lord Victor!" she directly exclaims a little too passionately as she focuses on me wholly, "Your decisions aren't things that we can hope to interfere with."

"That's not good either," I state as I make my to my throne and take a seat, "I desire thinkers, not dolls that only do as they're told."

"Lord Victor!" Albedo suddenly exclaims with her hands clasped together with stars in her eyes.

For some reason, I feel like there has been a major misunderstanding, but from the looks of it, it's not a detrimental one, so I will let it be.

"Where are the rest?" I ask after a moment of deliberation.

"All the Floor Guardians except those in charge of the fourth and eighth floor will be here shortly."

So, everyone apart from Victim and the giant stone golem, Gargantua, huh?

"Good. I will be sharing with you the information I have obtained and my plans once they arrive."

"Understood."

"Meanwhile, assign a maid to Aletia and get a prepared a room for her on this floor."

Hearing this, Albedo's expression stiffens for a brief moment before she smiles and says, "As you wish, Lord Victor."

As expected, they don't take kindly to outsiders…