Overlord (LN)

***

The leader of the Theocracy — the Pontifex Maximus.

Those that held the greatest authority in their sects — the Six Cardinals.

The heads of the Judiciary, the Legislature, and the Executive branch.

The Director of the Research Institute — responsible for magic research and development.

The Commander in Chief — also known as the Grand Marshal.

Gathered here were the twelve members that made up the supreme executive body of the Theocracy. This was where those with the highest authority in the Theocracy congregated, where they set out the general roadmap for the country.

It was neither spacious nor opulent, and none of those in attendance were without a somber expression.

Not many people would be joyous given the occasion of course. The assembly was composed of people who would consider each other comrades, and they were familiar enough with one another to allow for some occasional humor. That is to say, the mood among them was once a lot more light-hearted, but not at this time. The air in the room felt as though it had frozen solid.

“The Sorcerer Kingdom has begun their invasion of the Kingdom, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it had started long before now. The Sorcerer Kingdom is truly terrifying, the Kingdom never had an inkling of their plans for an entire month. They have suppressed the Windflower and Clearwater scriptures, which had served as our eyes and ears. Had it not been for the Thousand Leagues Astrologer, we might have discovered it even later… It is fair to conclude that the Kingdom’s fate is sealed. We don’t have much time on our hands, so we should start recruiting adventurers as soon as possible.”

“We’ve already begun recruiting in earnest,” replied the Cardinal of Earth, Raymond Zarg Lauransan.

“Isn’t it a waste to just allow the Sorcerer Kingdom to plunder that country’s magic items? Can’t we get our hands on them somehow? Especially the treasures of the Kingdom. The Amulet of Immortality, Guardian Armor, Gauntlets of Vitality, and…” The Research Director said as he counted up with his fingers as if to emphasize the importance of the last item, “…Razor Edge.”

“No, there’s nothing we can do about that. The number of people we can deploy is limited. Even our own people within the Kingdom will not be able to make it out alive.”

“…The Sorcerer Kingdom will be at our doorsteps soon. Ever since that Warrior-Captain died in battle, his replacement, the one called… Ung-lo? Is the one with the items now, right?” The Grand Marshal asked, to which the Research Director answered, “Brain, correct? Yes, if we could extract him along with those items it would be for the best. He shouldn’t be the type to run towards his own death, right? We might anger him at first but he’ll soon be grateful to us.”

“According to our investigation, he’s not someone who would do that.” The Cardinal of Fire, Berenice Nagua Santini, was one of the only two women within the executive body. “Your opinion of him is quite high,” the other woman, the head of the Judiciary, said with a smile.

“Indeed. We Cardinals do evaluate him highly, but we know he’s not the type of person to accept our invitation. That’s why we gave the order not to contact him.”

“So he’s the same as that Warrior-Captain… Well, we fundamentally cannot understand the thoughts of people who don’t look at the bigger picture and allow themselves to be controlled by such irrational emotions.”

A few people glared at the head of the Legislature as he spoke, so he felt the need to backtrack. “My apologies, perhaps that was a bit too harsh. Still, in my opinion — taking into consideration the future of mankind, such reckless disregard for life is a terrible mentality to have. I will stand by my point no matter who stands against it.”

“I won’t deny that.” The one who uttered those words was Dominic Ihre Partouche, the Cardinal of Wind and one of the people who glared earlier. “However, just as we have lines we would never cross, so does he.”

“Does Guelfi-sensei agree?” The Research Director asked, not fully convinced.

Ginedine Delan Guelfi, the Cardinal of Water — an elderly man whose appearance was akin to that of a dried log — nodded in confirmation. “I shall not ask further on this matter then.”

“While I’m glad so many talents have come to join our nation, what is their condition?”

Many adventurer teams were already on their way to the Theocracy. Most were Mythril rank or higher, but they were also using the Clearwater Scripture’s intelligence to invite people with potential.

“Not very goo— no, it’s just bad” The one in charge of receiving the adventurers, Yvon Jasna Dracowa, the Cardinal of light, chimed in.

“We may have convinced them to come, but the fact that they had to abandon so many people has left a thorn in their hearts— Or in other words, they’re wimps.”

One of the participants spoke in a way that let everyone know that the conversation didn’t need to be so formal. But in response, Yvon gave a stern reply: “You should always be formal in front of your bosses.”

He became flustered. “I mean, superiors,” he corrected himself.

It was true that in a meeting strictly between cardinals even Yvon was informal from time to time. But that was only possible because all six of them were close.

“So… we think we should get rid of this ‘thorn’ as soon as possible.”

“But how?” the head of the Judiciary asked. Raymond replied, “Well, if the ‘thorn’ set in because they couldn’t save people, then it can be healed by saving people. We’ll send them to the Draconic Kingdom first. We’ll have them fight the beastmen there.”

“Ah, I see,” those around him said out loud.

Their intelligence indicated that the Draconic Kingdom had become diplomatically closer to the Sorcerer Kingdom and had even purchased undead from them. Terribly powerful undead at that.

If they allowed this to continue, the Theocracy’s influence within the Draconic Kingdom would diminish while the Sorcerer Kingdom would only gain more sway. As a preventive measure, this proposal could be a good move. However, someone was still worried:

“If we send the adventurers we recruited somewhere beyond our surveillance they could leak our secret operations during the war. Would that not expose our covert actions to the Sorcerer Kingdom? Would it not be safer to keep them within our borders for now?”

“That’s likely not a problem. They know the situation in the Kingdom. They regret leaving all those people behind. It’s unlikely that people like that would ever work with such a cruel nation. Though there is the possibility of them obtaining the information through mind-controlling magic.”

“Hold on, compared to that, wouldn’t it be more of a problem should the Sorcerer Kingdom discover that our country has magic casters capable of using teleportation magic?”

“Indeed, that’s true.”

“We’ve always pretended to use magic items to teleport people but some adventurers might have seen through our ruse. Even if we were to impose a gag order on them, there’s no way to know where and how information could leak. Maybe we should avoid revealing we have that card in our hand.”

Ginedine Delan Guelfi, the Cardinal of Water, coughed a few times before he spoke. “Hm, excuse me. While I understand your thought process, is it not true that revealing our hand to our opponent can make them more cautious about acting recklessly? This move could also work to restrain our opponents. At least that’s what I think.”

“I agree with Sensei’s idea. …the Tri-Arts Magic Caster is a great example of someone who’s capable of teleportation. We don’t need to be so nervous.”

“Hmm. But how many would know about that? ‘What kind of magic is the great magic caster of the Empire capable of’ is a question that even we don’t have a definite answer for, is it not?”

“Someone like that wouldn’t care much for intelligence on teleportation magic anyway.”

All sorts of ideas were suggested. The Pontifex Maximus felt that they would not be able to reach a decision if this continued on, so he decided on a simple vote. And so, it was decided that they would deploy the adventurers to provide support to the Draconic Kingdom.

That said, the recruited adventurers were no different from mercenaries in the eyes of the Theocracy. They weren’t expecting any loyalty out of them. Thus, the leaders of the Theocracy gathered here didn’t mind even if they chose to stay in the Draconic Kingdom. After all, rescuing them from the Kingdom wasn’t to strengthen the Theocracy, but to avoid the possibility of strong humans dying in vain.

“If we manage to develop the technique to create spell scrolls of the fifth tier and above, even something like teleportation magic will become easily available.”

“But even though we have worked on it for centuries, nothing came of it, not even the smallest bit of progress.”

One of the Theocracy’s secret technologies was the manufacturing method for scrolls up to the fourth tier. This was something the surrounding countries did not have. The Theocracy possesses many other secret technologies such as this. After all, they’ve been developing them for hundreds of years—all to protect humanity from the races surpassing them.

For example, they also succeeded in creating the potion known as “God’s blood.” However, its cost-effectiveness was terrible, so research continued to this day.

“Still, why would the Sorcerer King order such massacres? Even if supplies en route to the Holy Kingdom were robbed, this was still an overreaction. What does the military make of it?”

“The first reason is for it to act as a show of strength.”

The Grand Marshal raised one finger. Multiple heads nodded in agreement.

“Second, the Sorcerer King is an undead after all.”

“‘There’s a deep-seated hatred for the living in him, and he is controlled by that hatred.’ Perhaps some may hold that belief, but I disagree. Even if we assume he has been waiting for an opportune time to go to war, if we take into account his previous actions, this incident still feels strange.”

“That’s right. Even us from the military believe that line of thought leads to nowhere,” said the Grand Marshal with a stern face. But then other voices arose in protest saying things like: “then just say that without posturing,” or “you just wanted to copy Raymond,” or “you need to consider time and place before you speak.”

“Ehem… And lastly the most probable one, reason number three:” he said as he raised his third finger, “to create a natural spawning area for the undead, like the Katze Plains.”

“That is possible,” someone murmured.

The Slaine Theocracy was a country that boasted an abundance of divine magic casters, so the highest echelon in attendance fully understood what the Grand Marshal meant.

The Sorcerer King’s plan was to probably expand that unholy land endlessly and then absorb any undead that spawned there into his kingdom. Such a thing was normally impossible, but the Sorcerer King, being an undead himself, was an exception.

They had heard that he had assumed control of the Katze Plains. Perhaps he had obtained something from there that would prompt him to do something like this.

“If that’s the case, we can anticipate their next move.”

“Why are you so certain of that?”

“He created those unholy lands to serve as a buffer between him and the Council State. That way, the unholy lands will help protect his country from the Council state, then—”

“—He’ll be able to turn his attention towards the Theocracy, huh.”

The room fell into silence. All members present compared the Sorcerer Kingdom to their own country, especially in terms of military power.

Everyone bore pained expressions. No one could maintain composure.

The reaction was understandable, as they were reminded of the intel they had received regarding the Sorcerer Kingdom during their last meeting. The Sorcerer Kingdom’s battle against the Kingdom on the Katze Plains displayed their undeniably overwhelming and malevolent power.

The Sorcerer Kingdom was extremely tricky to deal with, even for the trump card of the Theocracy, the Black Scripture and its God-kin members. Moreover, the true power of the Sorcerer Kingdom remained unknown. The more they investigated, the more it felt like staring into a dark, bottomless abyss.

“No number of troops would be enough. So we have to form a comprehensive alliance with the Council State, huh…”

“That’s right. Then whenever we’re in a pinch, we will be able to receive reinforcements!”

Everyone smiled sarcastically.

Reinforcements powerful enough to save the Theocracy would never be sent. That much was plain to see.

True cooperation is impossible for states with completely different goals and ideals. Some reinforcement could be expected if an alliance was formed, but there was no way that the Platinum Dragon Lord himself would come to their aid.

If either the Theocracy or the Council State fell, then the full might of the Sorcerer Kingdom would come to bear on the nation not yet affected. To avoid that, the correct move would be full cooperation: to pool their strengths together against the Sorcerer Kingdom. However, hypothetically, if the alliance were to invade the Sorcerer Kingdom and win, what would happen afterward? Naturally, the two countries would return to seeing each other as potential enemies.

They just needed to think a bit about the future and they’d realize it was in their best interests to let the other country’s soldiers fall to the Sorcerer Kingdom. Plus, if they establish an alliance, people will flow between their nations and that would make the intelligence warfare between them even more intense.

Complete and mutual trust was never going to happen, even if an alliance was formed.

It was more realistic to think of winning with only the Theocracy’s troops.

And besides, even if war broke out with the Sorcerer Kingdom, both parties would avoid total war so they don’t destroy each other. If they didn’t, the only winner would be the Council State.

The ideal situation would be a three-way deadlock, but that would require a more equal power balance.

“Submitting to the Sorcerer Kingdom would not be a bad thing. We could work behind the scenes for decades or centuries until we make them crumble from the inside. It would also grant us a clearer picture of the Sorcerer Kingdom’s internal affairs.”

“The Empire became a vassal too, so it isn’t completely unfeasible. Also, judging by how the Empire was treated, it is not that bad of an option.”

“But if we do that, will we be able to convince our citizens?”

“It would be very difficult. Normal citizens won’t ever be convinced. And if we handle it poorly, riots could break out.”

“Just brand them as fools.”

“Oy, that’s a bit too extreme. Save that as the last resort. First things first, unlike us, citizens don’t have access to all this information.”

“Then, should we make everything we know about the Sorcerer Kingdom public? Aren’t we keeping it a secret right now precisely because it led to unrest in the past?”

“Stop arguing. Even if the Sorcerer Kingdom took the Kingdom’s capital, they wouldn’t have time to pacify the population and administer the new territory. We still have some time to think about such things—”

“—No, we can’t say that for certain. After all, the Sorcerer Kingdom already destroyed multiple cities and villages. There’s no guarantee they won’t do the same to the capital.”

The capital was very populous. Killing all those people seemed a bit unrealistic but the Sorcerer Kingdom might be capable of doing it.

“An undead, full of hatred of the living, huh.”

“We let our guard down because there was no unnecessary killing at E-Rantel, didn’t we?”

“The Empire is now a vassal, they have intervened with matters within the Holy Kingdom and the Draconic Kingdom, and now they are trampling over the Kingdom. Next is our turn, I’m sure. ‘Submit or die.’ There’s nothing more clichéd than that but even so, I’m sure the Sorcerer Kingdom will eventually force us to make that decision. If we want to avoid that we’ll need to solve one of our problems while confronting the Sorcerer Kingdom.”

“Indeed. We should annihilate that rotten Elf as soon as possible. Although our future relationship with the Sorcerer Kingdom is not yet clear, battling on two fronts would be foolish.”

A huge amount of effort was put into exterminating the Elven country, even before the Sorcerer Kingdom was established. That was also why they couldn’t dedicate their full attention to the Sorcerer Kingdom.

“Direct confrontation with the Sorcerer Kingdom is the worst-case scenario, considering their overwhelming military power. Still, it is our duty to make plans with the worst case in mind, and I’m sure they’d prefer to end everything in a short time.”

“The Sorcerer Kingdom probably won’t intervene while their army is in the Kingdom, but it’s possible they’ll try to prevent us from responding to this sudden turn of events. For example, they could make undead appear at our borders as a distraction while pretending that they naturally appeared. We must take some steps to prepare for that possibility.”

“Yes… at the same time, we must work to give humanity a chance, even if it’s a small one.”

A few of them nodded faithfully.

“We’ll evacuate some of the citizens. To the land of hope. No, to the ends of despair”

They may call it an ‘evacuation,’ but the Theocracy didn’t know of any other country that’d take their citizens in. Therefore, they weren’t planning to make them refugees.

The Theocracy had a single shelter outside its borders. You could call it a hidden village, but originally— 600 years ago, it was where humans lived when they only knew fear and flight.

It was guarded by one of the Six Scriptures, the Ashendust Scripture.

“If we’re going to evacuate them we should start preparing right now. Who are we choosing?”

“We can’t choose randomly. We’ll obviously stay behind. As for the rest of the citizens, how about we make them elect a representative and make that person choose?”

“No, Lauransan-sama should go.”

“What?”

“In the unlikely event that we’re annihilated, only a former member of the Black Scripture like you would be able to protect and teach those who are left, right?”

“I’m not as strong as before. And besides, the heads of the organization are the ones who should remain no matter what happens. If they were to disappear, people would lose faith in the organization. ”

“But—”

“No—”

“I was thinking—”

As the discussion grew heated, the Pontifex Maximus finally spoke, “Getting heated about this is pointless. It is an important matter, but let’s postpone it for now.”

No one objected.

“Right. Then, let us talk about the most important issue. The Elves. It’s fine if the rest of the Elves run away, but we can’t let the Elven King go. We have to corner that fucker no matter wha— ”

The Pontifex Maximus was like a completely different person, with palpable hatred on his face. Raymond nodded in agreement.

“This will give Certain Death a chance to choose.”

“Indeed. Even if the Platinum Dragon Lord sensed her leaving the country, he is unlikely to pursue the matter strongly given the current situation. Personally, I think we should give the Elven King a taste of all the suffering in the world and then kill him, but that girl’s happiness takes priority. I’m counting on you all.

“Understood.”