Harbingers of Change

Chapter 7

A wise man had once said that you could give the devil a finger, and he will take the whole hand. Buku thought fondly of this phrase before settling back into the dark reality that she had unknowingly placed herself in.

Momonga seemingly was more than happy to gradually dump more work on her. Not that the Overlord wasn't busy himself, but it was obvious he didn't want to deal with anything related to foreign affairs. In the end, he had placed so much trust in Buku that she was essentially given free rein on this matter.

As Buku's luck cruelly betrayed her, she had to deal with one of the most grueling tasks imaginable; sitting through candidate applications without any breaks whatsoever.

In particular, the applications originated from people of differing races, all of whom wished to join the Tempest Hegemony. Momonga was rather vague about what it entailed, but even his skeletal face looked relieved when he gleefully dumped this task on Buku as soon as she expressed the slightest interest in checking it out.

'I just know this is going to suck.' Buku lamented her choice of being the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

She didn't even know how she got elevated into this extremely important role so quickly. Unfortunately, she had already gone through the tedious process of being inducted as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Chickening out right now would not only be a waste of time to her, but to Momonga as well.

Squashing the queasiness in her stomach, Buku sat on her throne in the council building's main hall with a polite smile. She silently observed the newcomers who wished to join Tempest. Since some people were still entering the building, she at least had some time to herself to gather the rest of her thoughts.

Not long after though, the shuffling of steps had finally grinded to a halt, resulting in an uneasy silence throughout the main hall. Buku casually swept her gaze over the first group who expressed their desire to join, and she quickly identified them as members of several rabbitmen tribes.

As one of the weakest lycanthrope races, the only option left they could resort to for survival was either hide or become subservient before someone who could easily trample over them. Buku could see about twenty of their leaders now standing, waiting for permission to speak.

When she got a closer look, she realized that most of the rabbitmen looked like regular humans, but with long bunny ears. She could also tell that the groups were split into two distinct factions, separated on the basis of how their ears were structured, or at least that was how it looked.

While one group was composed of people with straight ears that had very timid looks on their faces, the other group were lop-eared and showed more determination. Despite the clear differences, the majority of the rabbitmen were short and petite, with a few odd ones showing variations in their heights, plumpness, curvature, and several other insignificant details.

To her disappointment, none of them exuded anything resembling power. At best, some of them had only managed to reach rank C, but that was only in a terribly small minority. Buku guessed that the residents in Tempest who weren't combat oriented could probably put up more of a fight compared to the average rabbitman.

What did bewilder Buku was that every single one of the elves looked like they were in their early twenties at the most, with many having the appearance of teenagers. Even their elder was a man who, despite having more wisdom and experience than the rest, looked like a nervous college student that was about to give his first presentation.

The other group present consisted of elves that were neither part of Sarion nor Dwargon. Their decision to come to Jura and live in the nation made Buku guess a myriad of reasons as to why they joined, ranging from forced migration to simply interest in checking out Tempest. Buku had at least done extensive research, unable to deny the fact that she was more interested in the elf race compared to other demihumans.

According to both research and scattered reports, both groups had fled their homes due to increasing hostilities between the Gozu, a race of bipedal bovines, and the Mezu, a bipedal horse race. Their war for dominance had raged for over a century with neither side gaining a noticeable advantage over the other.

Both the rabbit man and elves were caught in the growing crossfire, and they had quickly found themselves in an exorbitant amount of bloodshed and slaughter. The traumatizing events that followed the beginning of their unfortunate fate could not be so easily forgotten in each of their minds.

At their baseline, both of the species were considered to be at least on the level of the orcs, perhaps even at just the bare minimum standing on equal footing to an untrained human. And while they managed to successfully avoid the complete extinction of their race, the same could not be said for the others. A lot of weaker races had fled or perished after unfortunately being caught in the crossfire.

'I can only hope they are at least intelligent enough to be employed in the administration or the service industry. Otherwise, they will be less useful than base skeletons.' Buku motioned for the rabbitmen's leader to take the stage.

The timid man with graying hair and ears of the same color stepped forward and deeply bowed.

"Oh great Mistress of the Great Forest of Jura, we are humbly grateful to you for allowing us just a mere sliver of your time to bask in the presence of yours truly…"

The man started a long-winded speech about how great and mighty the leaders of Tempest were. After five minutes of listening to nothing but unsubstantiated praise, Buku felt something snap within herself.

"Enough!" She shouted, immediately silencing the rabbitman speaker whose face turned ghastly white.

'Well, shit! No wonder Momo hates coming here. How the hell does he even do it? If I had to listen to this spiel every single day, I'm pretty sure I would strangle someone. And that's putting it nicely.'

"W-we did not mean to anger you, oh great Lord! P-please spare us." He whimpered weakly.

The poor rabbitman instantly prostrated before Buku with the rest of his kind doing the same. Before Buku could even let out a sigh, something unexpected happened.

A puddle started to grow underneath the prostrating rabbitman, and the stench of the liquid wafted under Buku's nose. The rest of his tribe looked appalled at their representative's actions, but above that was an expression of fear.

'Well that's just great. The last thing I need is someone soiling themself. I even made sure everything was clean since I wanted to make a good first impression. This is just depressing to see…'

Buku did her best to remain calm despite wanting to tell off the rabbitman for his actions. She also silently thanked herself for not openly reacting once she recognized the putrid smell.

Long before becoming the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Buku was well aware of the rule where the weak following the strong rule assured guaranteed subservience from the weaker races. In other words, they would not try anything to draw the ire of their superiors.

What frustrated Buku was seeing the bar set even lower for the weaker races. It seemed that all it took was for her to raise her voice a bit in order to send someone into a state of total breakdown.

At the very least, she acknowledged that being pushed to the extreme may cause others to react in a way that would be considered unexpected. Today's events proved that, but instead of feeling sympathy or pity, all Buku could feel was second-hand embarrassment at the sorry sight in front of her.

"Listen here, and listen well. I have no time for pointless babble. There are plenty of other matters today that I have to deal with, so either explain how your people plan to contribute, or leave Tempest's lands immediately." Buku stated, leaving no room for arguing.

'Nazarick alone has enough people that turned ass-kissing into an art form. I'm pretty sure that adding more would not help anyone, especially Momo. That poor guy is on the receiving end most often.'

It looked like her outburst had rendered the man useless, and all he could do was continue whimpering incoherently while prostrating. Buku began to think about dismissing the rabbitmen, seeing that things were going nowhere.

Surprisingly enough, she saw that one of the younger rabbitmen near the leader stood up, which immediately gained her undivided attention.

'Oh? She doesn't look to be any older than someone in her late teens, yet she's brave enough to volunteer herself as the representative. Let's see where this goes.'

By the looks of it, the standing rabbitman was closely related to the leader in terms of appearance. Not only did they both have straight ears, but they also had the same brown color in their eyes and hair.

Her grass-weaved clothing was more intricately designed compared to her brethren. In addition, she sported elbow and knee guards that looked to be made out of rather hard-looking leather-like material. Buku guessed this was not easy for the race to acquire as they most likely sustained themselves with farming and foraging.

"Lady Bukubukuchagama. I know you may not see us as a strong race, but we are a hard-working people. We know how to farm, forage, and make simple but easily tradable goods. We have been doing this for generations upon generations, and it allowed us to survive all the way up until now. Please, just give us a chance and we will show you our worth." The girl spoke with more determination in her voice as she desperately tried to make Buku see her race in a different light.

"Some of us know how to read and write. We know how to be polite and not draw anger from the strong. We can be of great help in those wonderful places that serve food and drink we saw on our way here. This may not sound like a good reason to keep us here but you can be assured that we would be willing to fulfill even basic roles, such as that which most people bat an eye at." She continued speaking in a passionate tone as her ears shook uncontrollably, clearly out of unneeded stress that continued to perturb her.

'She is right about her and the rabbitmen's abilities not being terribly impressive, but I can see that she's speaking out of her heart. At the very least, that girl is someone with enough guts to stand up and speak. I like seeing that quality in someone.' Buku shifted in the throne silently as the girl gulped and waited for her response.

"I have heard your people's pleas. Your people will have a chance to prove their worth and live in Tempest as citizens. From now on, you are the one representing your people. Report to Rigurd for further instructions."

Initially, shock plastered the rabbitman's face along with everyone else from her tribe. The speaking rabbitman, who had now been chosen as the official representative for her people, seemingly tried her best not to burst into tears upon hearing Buku's acceptance of the rabbitmen tribe into Tempest.

"T-thank you so much, my lord! I promise that every single one of us will be at our best to serve our new nation!" She bowed deeply, with her voice cracking halfway through.

"Of course. Please make yourselves at home, both you and your people." Buku replied with a small smile that made the rabbitman flustered.

After signaling for a nearby guard to go and clean up the mess that the previous rabbitman speaker had made, Buku waved the courageous girl off and motioned for the leader of the elves to present their case.

Naming the rabbitmen or leaving them as is was Momonga's decision. From now on their leader would be part of the council and thus answer to Albedo and ultimately to Momonga.

{ Hey Momo, I accepted the rabbitmen's plea. Wanna bet how many of them will be snatched up by the birdbrain? } She messaged Momonga with a little laughter at the end knowing that her brother, guided by his perverted sense, was likely already looking for Playboy bunny outfits.

{ That's great. What about the group of elves? } Momonga ignored her offer of careless gambling.

{ I will likely accept them as well. There is no real reason to turn them away. Even if they can't do anything useful, we can at least use them as advertisement eye candy. }

{ Advertisement eye candy, huh? That reminds me of the women hired by those mega-corporations who-}

{ Ah, wait, I don't want to hear it. I somehow know where you're going with this, and trust me, it won't be like that, Momo. }

Buku's voice was laced with worry when she remembered the poor women falling prey to expertly concealed advertisements. It was known that she, along with her brother and Momonga, utterly despised mega-corporations and their cruel employment tactics.

Back in the old world and its steadily crumbling global economy, employment was particularly worse for women. Some enjoyed secretarial roles, but others would have choice but to put their bodies on the line just to get the barest minimum wages. The ones who were not careful enough in their path to finding employment were put into dubious services that were hidden from the public eye.

What disturbed Buku and the others was that the majority of those women would never be heard of again, at least until they came up in the news in the form of being missing, or in worst cases, suicide.

{ I am not pointing fingers, Buku, but I believe this particular idea of yours needs to be kept on a tight leash. Having them as advertisement eye-candy is fine, but I will not have them exceed certain boundaries. Secured mutual contracts regarding the affirmation of their roles along with ensuring consent between both parties are a few of many regulations I can think of right now. Whether or not this idea gets through, make sure these statements are emphasized to Pero as well since I think this would fall within his jurisdiction. }

{ You got it. I'll make sure to let my brother know about this. }

{ That's good to hear. By the way, was there some sort of incident yesterday involving Eurazania's envoy? The report I received didn't really provide clear details. }

{ Oh, that? Don't worry about it. Lupus and Suphia had a tiny bit too much fun while partying, that's all. } Both Buku and Pero had avoided giving Momomga the full detail, knowing that the paranoid Overlord would over-prepare for a fallout that was unlikely to happen.

{ I see. I'll leave handling those matters to you then. }

Returning back to the present moment, Buku waited for the rabbitmen to depart and for the elves to speak.

It seemed that the elven leader had quickly adjusted his approach and right away started to list what sort of jobs his people could do. The man spoke with a soft and gentle voice but showed no signs of fear.

Considering that the average lifespan of an elf was five to eight hundred years, most of them had a wide array of practical knowledge. A nation that valued knowledge as much as raw power surely would want to add them to their numbers.

To his credit, the elf elder finished the whole speech within five minutes.

'This guy surely knows what he is doing. I should send him straight to Pero. But… ah fuck it, he'll get to them either way.' Buku resorted to not even bothering about her brother's collector habits.

After sending them off she could finally let out a sigh of relief. With Tempest's near-constant expansion, additional groups of people were bound to show up and ask to join the monster nation but that was a problem for another day.

X

Everyone wanted to be of use and make their beloved rulers' nation even better than it already was. Nigredo was no exception. She was well aware of her younger sisters being in high positions, with Albedo being Lord Momonga's head consort while Rubedo was his personal bodyguard. Because of this, she was hard-pressed to find an occupation that would benefit Tempest.

At first, there was nothing she could do that others didn't do better. But after having thoroughly inspected the workings of the monster nation, Nigredo had stumbled upon a problem no one else considered up until now. With most of Tempest's adult citizens working long hours, children were usually left on their own with little to no supervision while their parents were off working.

While it was true that the more influential people left their kids in the care of servants and personal tutors, this was a luxury that the masses could not afford.

Having finally found a way to be useful, Nigredo excitedly presented a detailed plan to Lord Momonga about the creation of schools and daycare centers. To her delight, the plan was accepted; and it was surprisingly quick, at that.

Now she and Lord Momonga were standing in front of the first daycare center for preschool-age children of all races. Many others were close to completion all over the Hegemony.

The school system was almost finished as well with administration sparing no expense. The children were the nation's future after all and every decent ruler invested in education to properly prepare the next generations.

Considering that there were almost no racial tensions to speak of, there was no need to separate children by race. After all, none of the lords would tolerate open discrimination against their subjects.

"Lord Momonga, I am thankful for this opportunity," Nigredo said as she put on her porcelain mask before entering the building.

Momonga turned to look at her quizzingly. At no point anyone had told her to wear a mask. In fact, Albedo had chided her for her actions since hiding her face would imply that she was made imperfect and needed to hide her appearance.

"I wouldn't want to scare the little ones." She explained.

"Are they afraid of you?" Momonga asked, genuinely curious. He began to think about the implications of Nigredo's actions, especially how they would affect him.

'If that is the case, what does that say about me? Wouldn't children cry upon seeing someone like me? Or maybe not considering that the others were probably doing their best to make them see me as someone who is not scary. Still, maybe I should put on a more child-friendly appearance, just in case.'

Since he didn't interact with children often and the few times he did they were stiff as blocks of wood, there likely was some merit to Nigredo's actions. He searched through his inventory and looked for any sort of mask, though he did well to avoid the cursed item that was given to him and Players on one Christmas Eve.

"My Lord, I didn't mean to imply." Nigredo gasped, realizing to her horror at what she had made her master do. Before Momonga could even reply, the woman had quickly torn her mask off and snapped it in half in her hands.

"Ah, you…didn't need to do that, Nigredo. But what were you implying exactly?" Momonga slowly said, making sure not to enter any more misunderstandings that could occur within the next few seconds.

"W-well, you see, I didn't mean to imply that your appearance is unsightly. Please forgive me for my insolence" She whimpered. She was close to the verge of tears which made Momonga slightly uncomfortable.

Her creator intended her as a terrifying monster whose sole task was to shock unaware intruders, so logically she considered her appearance frightful. But only now had it occurred to her that she may have been too hasty to assume everyone would see her that way.

Going by this logic, then Lord Momonga would be even more terrifying than her, and such thoughts were simply unforgivable.

'Oh, but my skeletal form is a bit frightening. Not that anyone from Nazarick would think so. She seems genuinely upset.' He noticed that she was trembling and on the verge of tears.

"In that case, we both should wear our faces proudly," Momonga said in hopes of resolving the situation once and for all.

"Understood, Lord Momonga! From now on, I too will show my inner self if you are doing the same." She quickly parted her hair revealing her skinless face. Though she didn't have lips by the way she twisted her cheek muscles it seemed that she was smiling, which made Momonga soften.

With her striking blue eyes shining more brilliantly than usual, she led him inside the building for a brief tour, though her walking gradually turned into a happy skip.

The daycare center, while keeping education in mind, was also meant to create a homey atmosphere for the children. Since the activities were designed to not just educate the children, but also train them, Nigredo emphasized the childrens' need to live in a place that is comfortable for them. Momonga understood her sentiments as he did not want the daycare center to be akin to a harsh boot camp.

But in order to better fit with Tempest's rapid growth, Nigredo accounted for the various professions that children should start learning, as it would be better to do so at an early age. As soon as they could stand up, they would train with weapons made out of soft, foam-like material. Basic crafting professions were taught to them in the form of encouraging children to make their own toys.

Of course, a lot of time was allocated for public reading where various fairy tales or the adventures of the Supreme Beings were retold with great passion. Momonga felt a little embarrassed when he was made aware of this particular part of the curriculum within the daycare center.

At the same time, he also felt prideful that the legacy of his friends would be able to live through the growing minds of the children. He also thought that the various contents in those stories could possibly lead to more diversity in creativity and free thinking as the stories would no doubt be filled with unimaginable scenarios.

'Ehh, I wonder what they would do regarding tales about Ulbert, though. Hopefully they don't lead to anything horrifying. That being said, I shouldn't have Demiurge be a tutor in this place whatsoever!'

"Well, how about we enter this room, Nigredo?" Momonga said, washing away the disturbing thoughts of the archdevil teaching "history lessons" to the children.

"I will follow wherever you go, my lord," Nigredo succinctly replied. Momonga only nodded as he made his way towards a nearby classroom, its door being half-opened.

As soon as he entered, his eyes swept over the interior of the room. If he surmised correctly, the room was more oriented towards lecture-based activities due to its presence of small tables attached with chairs.

Without warning, the barely audible whispers between the children and the teacher's lecturing voice had come to a complete halt. There was only silence, and Momonga could swear he heard someone gulp.

The staff, which practically froze up in the presence of Momonga, consisted mainly of goblinas. Occasionally he spotted different races throughout the group such as kijin, rabbitmen, and elves among them as well.

Since the facility was opened a few days ago, there weren't that many children at the moment. The few who were present froze up just like their attendants like deers encountering a car's headlights.

One would think that small children would not be fully aware of the importance of the guest, yet that clearly was not the case. Their small frames were so rigid as if they were part of a military parade.

'This… is awkward. I should try to ease them up somehow. Yamaiko told me one time that sweets will easily win over any kid. She was right in the end as Buku's kids often forget all manners when I give them candy.' Momonga mused to himself, smiling upon remembering the teacher's advice.

As if he practiced this many times, the undead casually pulled out a crate with various sweets. Everyone else in the room apart from Nigredo felt their eyes bulge, not knowing where or how the crate came into existence.

"Please, be at ease. Come, pick whatever you like." Momonga then redirected his eyes to one of the goblina staff who let out a small yelp. "I apologize for interrupting your lesson all of a sudden. I came here only for a short visit."

"Ah, er, it is… It is fine, Lord Momonga! We do not mind your being here at all, isn't that right?!" The addressed goblina quickly spoke out, followed by hasty nods from the other staff. "Kids, this is a special occasion. You don't often see our lord come here, so please listen to whatever he says!"

Whether that was a light request or forcefully asking them, Momonga could not figure it out immediately. His attention immediately turned towards the sound of footsteps as one of the children got out of their chairs.

One by one, the children approached him carefully picking the colorful packets with starry eyes. It was as if God had personally come down from the heavens to bestow them with divine artifacts.

Momonga was about to place the crate full of goodies down on the ground, but he already saw some of the smaller children tiptoeing, their hands stretching up into the sky as though to grab something.

"If it is not too much to ask, my lord, but may I stay here for a little longer? I would like to watch what is happening here. I also do not mind handing them candy in your stead," Nigredo said, watching the actions of his lord.

"Indeed, I would appreciate it, Nigredo. And as for your other request, you do not need to obtain my permission to do so. Please stay as long as you would like to. Since you have this under control, I will be departing now," Momonga replied.

"Thank you for taking the time to come here in-person, Lord Momonga!" All the goblinas chirped in unison, deeply bowing with reverence shown on their faces.

The children saw what the staff were doing, and they tried imitating their postures, though it ended up somewhat sloppy. One of them ended up bowing too deeply, and they fell face first on the ground. Momonga chuckled as one of the goblinas hurried over to the child.

Once he had finished sightseeing and left the building, he couldn't help but overhear two children speaking in cheerful loud voices.

"Hah! Big sister won't believe I got this from Lord Momonga."

"You aren't going to eat it?"

"Are you crazy? I'm keeping this for the rest of my life!"

'Honestly, I think they venerate me too much. It's just a bar of chocolate that I wanted them to eat, but it looks like whatever I give them, they'll treat it like it's the greatest treasure they ever held in their hands…'

Momonga sighed as he turned around to have a last look at the daycare center. He was unsure if he found the idea of someone carrying a mummified piece of chocolate for all his life hilarious or disturbing.

'That was a nice and fulfilling visit, though. Approving Nigredo's plan is something that I don't regret. Education in my old world was just plain terrible, and I don't want to see that scenario repeated here. Though that makes me wonder… What would Yamaiko have thought about this?' He thought to himself for a bit before shaking his head.

After remembering a fond memory of the kind teacher, Momonga thought about having Yuri Alpha visit the daycare center in her free time. It only made sense that the NPC, created by the one who emphasized the importance of education, should visit a place that would likely represent both of their ideals. He would have to ask her later though as he had to move on and proceed with the next task that was at hand.

Edited by Zirmeister.

Proofreading by Ethal07, SwissChocolatess, Kazuma, Visur Nyxan, and Alassandro.

AN: Thank you for reading the story, and if you have caught up to the latest chapter, you can check out my other work or join my discord server (Link is in my profile) where additional chapters are available or if you are interested in becoming a beta reader (gives access to chapters months ahead of regular readers).