Tale of Discovery

Chapter 330: Assignments ; Reconnaissance

[Lord Momonga.]

A serene voice that belongs to that of a young woman resounds within my head as I deliberate on what task to assign to the Floor Guardians.

What is this now? Some method of communication?

"What is it?" I mutter in a solemn tone, hoping that my voice will reach the other party.

[All of the Great Tomb of Nazarick's floors have been checked apart from the eighth floor.]

"Well done. What are the results?" I probe, realizing that the one speaking should be one of the Pleiades that I had sent out to check on the state of the tomb.

[No disturbances were found. Currently, we've all regrouped on the sixth floor. Do you have any further orders?]

"Yes," I respond, "First, my name is no longer Momonga, but Victor. So, you are to call me as such. Aside from that, all the Pleiades are to return to the ninth floor."

[Understood, Lord Victor.]

Following her words, I feel the connection that abruptly came into existence get cut off.

Shifting my focus back to the Floor Guardians, I notice that two of them are keenly gazing at me while kneeling. One is Albedo, while the other is Demiurge.

Compared to Albedo's gaze that is filled with passion, Demiurge's gaze is one that holds both curiosity and reverence.

For some reason, he appears to be the type that's glad to do any work as long as it's for his lord.

"Listen up," I state in a firm tone, "For various reasons, I have decided to conduct an investigation on my own."

Hearing my words, Albedo's smile becomes somewhat stiff as she frowns a little, while the rest keenly listen on.

"For the brief period I am away, Albedo shall remain here and oversee the state of Nazarick."

This time, Albedo's expression relaxes as she opens her mouth and says, "Understood, Lord Victor. I will make sure to look after the Great Tomb of Nazarick to the best of my abilities."

Nodding my head, I shift my sight over to Demiurge before saying, "Demiurge, you shall be in charge of researching the creatures of this world and their abilities.

"As for the specimen required for the research, they will be provided by Aura and Mare, who will be exploring the region close to the tomb."

I claim that it's for research, but in reality, I simply want the two to complete a part of my current objective, which is securing the territory surrounding my base.

"Keep in mind that all specimens must be kept alive," I state after a moment of deliberation, "And in case of encountering humans, deal with them silently without attracting any attention."

"Yes, Lord Victor," resounds the voices of the three at once as they lower their heads further.

"Cocytus and Shalltear," I say, causing the latter to flinch slightly, "You two are to return to the floors that you've been assigned to and stand guard."

Similar to the rest, they affirm my commands respectfully.

Now then, that just leaves Victim... But I am unsure of what task to give him since Satoru didn't say much about him. Though, the Pleiades did say they didn't check the floor he belongs to. In that case...

"Lastly, Victim, you are to head to the eighth floor and check on the situation there."

".rotciV droL ,dootsrednU"

"Very well, Floor Guardian's, you're dismissed," I utter conclusively.

Following this, all the kneeling Floor Guardians rise to their feet and turn around to exit the throne room, apart from Albedo, who instead walks up the stairs and gets back to my side.

Ignoring the beautiful lass, for now, I look down at Sebas, who is still kneeling.

"Sebas," I say, "The Pleiades whom I had sent out to check on the state of Nazarick should be here soon as per my orders. You will be in charge of them and their conduct.

"Your tasks are simple: In case the twin guardians of the sixth-floor encounter any trouble outside that they are unable to deal with, you are to provide assistance until I can personally appear and take care of the situation."

"I understand, Lord Victor," the man says in a calm tone.

"You're excused," I state as I step back and take a seat on the throne.

Once Sebas has left the throne hall, I shift my sight over to Albedo and ask, "Albedo, in the case of any unexpected happenings, you are to contact me immediately."

"Of course," she responds nigh-instantly with a bright smile covering her lips.

"Well then," I say, "I shall take my leave now. Take care of Nazarick while I am away, Albedo."

"Yes!" she responds with utter delight.

Frankly, I don't and shouldn't trust her with such a task. However, I don't really have much choice in the matter. She is the only one that fits this role perfectly, so I can only do this if I want to do some personal investigation.

Basically, this is a gamble. I've made many gambles before, but this one is tricky. For all I know, I could be trying to regain my authority over this place in a day or two after a coup occurred or something.

Putting such thoughts to the back of my mind, I rise to my feet and cast a spell, "Gate."

While casting the spell, I had been thinking of an area of the forest close to the village I saw earlier.

Following my actions, a giant circular dark violet portal appears in front of me.

"I'm off," I say as I step forth into the portal.

--

As I appear at the other side of the portal, the spell cancels out, and the portal closes up.

Currently, I am standing in the middle of a forest, surrounded by complete nature.

Anyway, the village should be close-by. Still, I can't just head over there while looking like a skeleton. I am sure that they would immediately take me as a walking disaster and try their best to take me down.

And so, I think of the profiles introduced earlier, and will for a switch to "Origo".

The next moment, a bright light briefly covers my body before fading abruptly.

Looking down at myself, I notice two important things.

First, my body is no longer that of a skeleton, but the one that I am most familiar with. It's unfortunate that I can't use Clairvoyance or any skill for that matter to check my appearance out.

Anyway, the second thing that I noticed is that I am completely naked, with the only things remaining being the rings on my fingers, which somehow fit perfectly. I mean, this does allow me to take a proper look at my body, but at the same time, it has caused me an annoying problem.

"Damn it," I curse in an irritated tone as I begin to ruminate over what to do.

In my 'Overlord' profile, I couldn't walk into the village because I would most likely be taken as a monster. But now, if I were to go, I would be taken for a pervert instead, which is arguably worse.

All of a sudden, the sound of rustling grass reaches my ears from quite a distance to my left.

Turning my head, I am unable to see the source of the noise due to the trees and bushes in between us.

Due to my enhanced hearing, I can hear a multitude of noises all around me, but I find the sound of the rustling grass odd.

Releasing a small sigh, I begin walking in the direction the noise came from, only to reach out to a tree nearby soon after, and clutching it.

True to my expectations, the tree is unable to cope with the force behind my grip, resulting in it getting effortlessly crushed.

A small smile covers my lips as I continue to walk toward the source of the noise.

"Are you sure that there is a village here?" the rough voice of a middle-aged man reaches my ears.

"Of course! How could we make a mistake as simple as not pinpointing the location of a small village?" comes the voice of a younger man as a response.

The owner of the first voice sigh audibly before saying, "Why are we here anyway? What could there be in a mere village for us to perform reconnaissance?"

"You can't say that Mr. Aubert (Aubert-san). What if a group of adventurers is coincidentally staying in the village?"

"Che! In that case, we would just kill them!" comes a disdainful response.

Intriguing. The village that I found is being targeted by some force. But why? What exactly would they want from a village? Or, could it be that this kingdom or country is being conquered, which is being done slowly, starting with the villages?

Either way, I suppose I have found a solution to my current predicament.

Picking up the pace, I swiftly pass through the forest and reach the location the two men are at.

As I take cover behind a tree, I start examining them up close: Both men are dressed in clothes similar in quality to those the villagers were wearing. The younger of the two is carrying a medium-sized leather bag.

Alright, time to see how capable I am over here in comparison to the residents of this 'game' world.

With that thought in mind, I place my palms against the tree I am hiding behind and clench my fists, resulting in the wood getting crushed easily.

Looking over at the two men who are currently taking a rest, I clutch the splinters of wood in my hand and dash toward them.

Similar to what occurred in Platform: Agnetem, the world seems to slow down by quite a margin as I swiftly reach behind the man and casually puncture their napes using the wood.

The older one immediately drops dead to the ground, while the other one gurgles out blood as his eyes become bloodshot and start anxiously shooting around.

Shaking my head wryly, I reach my hand out to his neck and gently squeeze it, causing it to crack and practically render the suffering fellow deceased.

As I am about to strip the dead man of his clothes, AI's voice suddenly resounds within my head, startling me a little.

{Tip: There exists an inventory shared between all profiles.}

Wow. This really is starting to feel like a genuine game. Tips and inventory storage I never thought that I would get to experience them in such a manner.

Well then, hopefully, this saves me the trouble of having to put on the clothes worn by this man.

Having already gotten the hang of the way the system and whatnot work here, I will for my inventory to appear, but unexpectedly, nothing happens.

Hm? Could it be that I have to express what I want? Actually, is there even going to be anything in my inventory?

Repeating the same process, I will for clothes in my inventory as I reach my arm forth.

Somehow, this works, as the next thing I know, my hand disappears into a small black portal as various images appear in my head.

"Huh? What's with these clothes? Bunny-girl suit, 'skimpy-santa' suit, wedding dress What the heck?"

'Hey, Satoru, can you hear me?'

[Finally! I thought I would lose my mind in the darkness! Quick, let me see outside!]

Sensing how desperate his voice is, I comply with his request and allow him to see through my eyes.

[What the?! Are those dead humans? Did you kill them?]

Satoru sounds bewildered as the tone of his voice raises by an octave.

'Yes, they were indeed killed by me. Before you jump to conclusions, they are apparently spies sent to check on a village.'

[Spies sent to a village?]

'Right, I also find it a little absurd, but that's the truth of the matter from what I heard.'

[That's indeed weird Ah, forget that, they're NPC's anyway.]

'Are you sure? Because they feel a tad bit too real for them to be mere NPC like you claim.'

[What are you trying to imply? That they're actual humans not from a game world, but a real one?]

'That's exactly what I am saying.'

[If that's the case, don't you feel anything? You did kill these two men, didn't you?]

'Nope, I don't feel a thing. It's not like this is the first time I have killed humans.'

[Oi, oi, you're starting to sound a little creepy. Don't get too caught up in your role-playing.]

Heh. This guy thinks my 'oddity' stems from role-playing as a non-human, huh? I wonder how he will react when he discovers the truth

'Hah~ We are already going off-track. Listen up, I formed a link with you once again because I want to ask you about something.'

[What is it?]

'Why is there so much questionable attire in my inventory?'

[Oh. Ohhhh]

His voice trails off for a short while before he responds in a nervous tone.

[Those are just things I won in a roulette.]

'Why would there be these things in a 'roulette'?'

[Naturally, to put them on NPC's.]

'Oh, I see.'

Not caring about the matter anymore, I simply will for the link to close off as I begin looking through the clothing in my inventory once again.

After a short while, I finally come across something that could work out. It's a simple black tuxedo with a black tie. Heck, the set even has its own special underwear included.

Rejoicing at the discovery, I pull the clothes out of the black circle and immediately get dressed.

Once I am done, I look down at myself, only to realize that I feel a little restricted by being dressed so formally.

So, I take off the black jacket of the tuxedo and throw it back into the inventory, before rolling up the sleeves of my white shirt.

Now, if only I could take a look at myself

Right, the inventory. Accessing the inventory once again, I manage to find something that fits my needs.

A small golden mirror with an exquisite design.

With curiosity welling up within me, I look into the mirror.

Is this truly me?

If that is actually the case, hasn't the girls' reactions to my appearance altering been laughably moderate if I have changed this much?

Currently, I possess a face that I can't make the nationality of. Sharp eyes that send shivers down my own spine, sandy-colored hair with a lighter shade near the locks. As for my overall looks, I can only describe it as 'devilishly handsome'.

It might come out as me being narcissistic, but that's the truth of the matter.

Of all my changes, one of them stands out the most my eyes.

Along with how sharp they've become, there is also another change, which is their color. Upon close inspection, I find out that each of my irises is a combination of three different colors that are finely blending with each other to form a mesmerizing result.

Violet, red, and bits of a golden yellow.

Setting the matter with my eyes aside, there is something else that I have noticed.

I have no facial hair. Like, none at all. The only hair present on my face is from my eyebrows and eyelashes.

Apart from those, my face is smooth yet appears firm as if it's made of fine clay.

That's not the end of it, as I just recalled that while I was changing earlier, I did not have any body-hair either.

After a moment of deliberation, I conclude that my current body is what I would claim is 'sculpted to perfection'.

Releasing a sigh, I throw the mirror in my hand back into the inventory before looking down at my feet, or more accurately, at the bag beside them.

Reaching down to the leather bag, I open it up and look at the contents inside.

A small dagger, some basic food, and a rolled-up paper.

Grabbing the rolled-up paper, I take it out of the bag and open it up.

A map that's the first thought that crossed my mind as soon as I cast a glance at the drawings and writings on the paper.

Unfortunately, the map seems to be of a small region as it only shows the location of what I assume is a village as well as a forest with a huge 'X' mark on it.

"This should be the village those two men were supposed to spy on," I mutter to myself as I crunch the paper up before casually leaping into the sky.

The ground shakes as I find myself launching high up to the point that I am a few hundred meters above the forest top.

At this moment, time seems to slow down as I take this chance to look for the village and determining the path I would need to take to get there.

Oh, it's much closer than I thought. Seven hundred meters away at most.

Having confirmed my destination, time appears to return to normal as gravity works its wonders and drags my body down.

The next moment, I easily land on my feet and cast a glance at the two dead men.

There shouldn't be any problem with leaving them here, right?

Releasing a small sigh, I lean in the direction of the village before breaking into a dash.

With my absurd speed and perception, I easily make my way through the forest.

All of a sudden, I notice a small red figure to my left, which upon inspection turned out to be a little girl carrying a small basket.

Seeing that it's nothing to be wary of, I shift my attention back to my front, only to be startled by the sight of another girl of much older age, who is also holding a basket, standing in my way.

Alarmed, I quickly break my speed down forcefully, but still have just enough momentum to light push the girl down as she screams and the basket in her hand gets thrown into the distance.

"Ouch," the girl mutters with her eyes closed.

A few seconds pass by and the girl gradually opens her eyes, revealing a pair of yellow irises staring at my face.

As I remain on top of the clearly bewildered girl, the voice of a man that seems to be in his forties resounds within my ears, "Enri!"