Overlord of biblical proportions: The new Three-Sided War (9) (Patreon)

The information that the Hanzo had found on Katase and Murayama had pleased and reassured Momonga for about two seconds. Just enough time for Momonga to compare the information he was receiving with the manner in which Hanzo had delivered it to him. The Hanzo had spoken of Katase and Murayama with a kind of worship, as if the Hanzo was respecting them for some reason?

While Momonga was generally fine with the creatures of Nazarick finding some sort of contact with beings from the outside world and with the humans. As long as it didn't affect the performance of their duties, that is.

And with the way the Hanzo spoke about the two, Momonga clearly realized that this was not the case at all.

And if there was one small mistake, then Momonga's thoughts would primarily be directed towards unintended consequences and danger. The inevitability of which Momonga had already been taught many times in the past.

That is, his mistake, since there is no way for the NPCs to commit a mistake without him instigating it somehow. And plus, as a good boss, a mistake of the subordinate was the mistake of the boss, and therefore he needs to get to the bottom of things.

And so, Momonga did not even sigh, what was the point of that if, despite all his sighs, such events continued to happen? Instead, he turned to the Hanzo to ask for clarification. "Hanzo, why do you speak of them in that tone of voice?"

"Lord Momonga, a thousand apologies! Please execute this lowly servant for his carelessness!"

The Hanzo suddenly went on a dogeza, changed the atmosphere completely, which just a second ago was light and almost joking in nature.

"For failing to show the sufficient deference to your chosen women with my tone of voice, I ask only for permission to perform a dignified suicide for the glory of Great Lord Momonga, the Great Tomb of Nazarick, and the Forty-One Supreme Beings!"

Suppression of emotions was the only thing stopping Momonga from doing anything drastic. Like tackling the Hanzo from committing with his planned suicide.

“No, I do not authorize any kind of suicide, dignified or not!” Raising his voice in a panic, Momonga realized that him panicking as well, would probably not help things. Sitting back down, and with a fake cough to hide his embarrassment, Momonga continued his questioning of the Hanzo.

“Kehem, I mean that you are forgiven for what happened. I only ask for an answer—why do you speak of the girls with such… worship?”

Momonga swallowed another anguished sigh, inwardly wondering what the limit of his suppressed emotions was. Would that work for Momonga's endless frustration and utter helplessness plaguing him at the moment, for example? And then there were the Hanzo mentioning something like ‘chosen women’…? Where is that coming from!?

First Miki noted some sort of ‘seal of choice’ on them, and now the Hanzo had called them the ‘chosen ones’, when had he done such a thing…?

Why was it that everything in this world somehow came down to his actions somehow, but he was the last to be informed of what was going on?

"Because Miss Raynare has notified me that you have chosen one of the girls to be the Blessed Maiden, and so naturally, I must show the highest respect to that one as your chosen one, and to also her friend as part of her retinue!" The Hanzo answered instantly, not even surprised by such a question. Perhaps he thought that the questioning was a test, explaining it to himself as a check on the Hanzo, or a check on Raynare, or a check on information transfer or who knows what else.

"Umu, a Blessed Maiden, I see." Momonga didn't even bother asking any further questions, and finally just waved his hand at the Hanzo.

"In that case, keep watching them, yes… And… Provide protection for the girls, I guess."

Receiving the Hanzo's confirmation, Momonga ceased the [Message] with him before covering his eyes and resting his head against the nearest cold surface. Which, in the case of Momonga's current location in Miki's house, meant the refrigerator, before slowly exhaling all the air in his lungs.

The Chosen, the Blessed Maiden, the seal of his choice, demons, the school, money, Nazarick, fallen angels, the church… So many things to think about.

Formless words danced and went in circles around Momonga's head, not even giving him a chance to focus on one of the problems in front of him. A million thoughts, a million problems, and what was most important, all of these problems were literally growing one by one like mushrooms after rain!

Momonga didn't want much, really! Get information about this new world, to become a little better at his job after gaining knowledge from his schooling, to make money, and to keep a low profile.

That is, strictly speaking, Momonga came to the human world with the purpose of improving Nazarick's situation and determining Nazarick's future path, to better prepare himself to solve problems… Not to create new problems at every step, and all out of nothing!

Of course, Momonga had some petty personal reasons for integrating into the human world. He didn't want to be in Nazarick, not because he had suddenly grown to dislike it! He couldn’t even let such thoughts enter his mind lest he let it slip somehow, he really doesn’t want to know how the NPCs would react to it.

It is just that, in Nazarick, in the Tomb, he couldn't even leave his room without running into someone kneeling down and expressing their endless love and loyalty to him. Moreover, Momonga was simply curious, he wanted to see this new world before him in person, not just reading it on a report or behind the Mirror of Remote Viewing.

After Sebas' report that a representative of the Great Red Dragons dwelt in this world, Momonga even felt some interest in possibly exploring this new world, as if for a moment he had plunged back into Yggdrasil. After all, the Great Red Dragon was in this world, who knows, maybe this world held new dungeons, new NPCs, new quests!?

Could Momonga then believe that the unknown force that had brought him to this world was punishing him for his moment of personal weakness and self-interest?

The pleasant chill spreading from the refrigerator pleasantly cooled Momonga's mind as well, serving as a kind of anchor in his current state, his head a bubbling cauldron of thoughts. The chill allows him to slowly breathe in and out.

For a few seconds, it allowed him the chance to cut off all of his body's higher cognitive capabilities and leave his mind calm, feeling only the cold metal on his forehead and the reflexive act of breathing. All he had to do was feel and be silent…

Unfortunately, Momonga's brief moment of Nirvana was interrupted a few seconds later when his body tore his forehead away from the refrigerator and forced him back to reality.

‘It didn't even cause me to suppress my emotions… Does that mean that I've begun to gradually adapt to the madness happening constantly in my life? And should I rejoice at the fact that I have begun to adapt to such an apparently quite common problem. Or worry that this problem has turned out to be so common that I have begun to adapt, beyond my own will?’ Momonga thought about it for a few seconds before discarding the useless thought and finally coming back to reality.

Nodding to himself, as if coming to terms with yet another incredible event in his life, putting another small brick in the gradually growing wall separating Momonga's mind and the outside world.

‘So, okay, so Katase and Murayama have once again been seen as something special because of my actions, and from the looks of it, word of that has already spread to the Fallen Angels and even to the Hanzo. Of course, I'd really like to know about what exactly they're up to regarding the girls, or excuse me, what this mysterious figure Momonga wanted from them. But from the looks of things, at this point, trying to find out would just look weird…’ Momonga crossed his arms over his chest, then began to think again, taking in the new fact that had appeared in his life.

Not that he could do anything else at the moment.

‘It's a big enough problem, but probably not too important? The Hanzo has already received orders to focus on watching them, and apparently, in this case, that also includes protecting the two girls. Something that he wanted to do in the first place, seeing that Miki had divulged some rather sensitive secrets to them. Okay, so in the future, I guess I could probably use the surveillance reports on those to learn about how other Nazarick beings perceive the two girls? And hopefully, even what I shouldn't do in the future to avoid creating such problems out of thin air…’

For a moment, Momonga thought about how he could find out this information in other ways…

For example, like in the case of Raynare and Demiurge a bit earlier. Using the win-win trick of ‘I understand the situation perfectly well, but could you please explain it to the rest of the people around here, who might not understand’.

True, this trick hadn't worked as effectively last time as Momonga had hoped it would, but he wasn't about to give up on such an indispensable tool so easily.

Unfortunately, Momonga couldn't use that trick at the moment, noting it for the future and putting the Katase and Murayama problem aside for a while… Because he himself was completely unaware of what he should do with them anyway, Momonga went back to solving other problems, ones that he could solve… Maybe. At least for the time being, his time is better used somewhere else.

Shalltear had returned from her trip to Kyoto. Her mission to capture members of Kyoto's paranormal world, those whose absence would not be noticed too quickly, criminals and mafia, had ended with success. Shalltear had already handed them over to Demiurge, who had decided to use the materials he had been given to gather information.

As for the information gathering itself? Momonga wasn't worried at all; Demiurge was a professional created as an archetype of an ‘evil genius’, and apparently seemed to fit that description to a T.

So, most of the information about the abilities and vulnerabilities of various paranormal beings, as well as about the local world and the various factions in it, would be obtained soon enough without the immediate need for Momonga's own intervention. Well, Shalltear, having returned to Nazarick, received, in addition to Demiurge himself, a World Class Item of her own just in case, and was now ready for her next mission…

However, Momonga could not find a mission for Shalltear. After all, she was a very strong warrior, but let’s just say that she isn’t delicate enough for introduction into the human world. Given just horrifying ‘school’ would be, one that she needs to attend thanks to her youthful looks, she might just end up killing everyone out of frustrations!

Momonga still could not get over the fact that most of the people in the world had to attend it, for years even.

After Demiurge's left the church to extract what information the captured Kyoto youkais have, he left the running of his church to Albedo. That is, in Momonga’s opinion, the best option, after all, she was superior in terms of financial and administrative management, which meant Momonga didn't have to worry about his growing business… I mean, religion.

Also, Momonga had already spent all the available uses of the [Create Undead] that were available to him, as well as the Pandora's Actor that took his form for a moment, so most of the created bodies were now just waiting to be used in Nazarick. He couldn’t wait to start testing what kind of undead could be created permanently. For now, it appeared that the bodies of the fallen angels that he had already used could support creatures of level forty at most, how the other bodies would fare required further research…

‘And now there are two girls in Albedo’s Church who were deemed important by my followers…’ Momonga sighed slowly before shaking his head. ‘Alright, Albedo doesn't seem to mind this kind of situation, judging by the lack of reports, so at least I don't have to worry about her losing her temper… Which isn't so bad under the current circumstances.’

Putting the church aside, there was one other good news, though tainted a bit,

‘The school was also destroyed!... But unfortunately, Miki has already informed me that the students, which sadly still include me, will be sent to other schools in the next few days,’

Momonga cringed at that thought like a toothache, as if facing an invincible opponent whose skills make no sense. He had destroyed it once, but it had cost the enemy nothing; he had just moved into a new body. Victory was impossible without fulfilling special conditions, it was as if he was facing a World Enemy again!

In addition to the problem that is school, of course, Momonga was facing the problem of demons, the paranormal world, and infiltration into the surrounding world. At least at the moment, they were not so pressing.

The demons, of course, had halted their negotiations with Momonga, which is not so great, but that also meant that for a while, Momonga doesn’t need to worry about it, at least. Besides, Momonga dared to hope that the next time the demons came to talk to him, he himself would be placed in a better negotiating position with the information that Demiurge extracted from the Yokai.

All in all, the most urgent problem at the moment for Momonga was school, which he had to deal with soon. Other than that…

Other than that, Momonga realized with surprise, for a brief moment, that he was free without anything pressing to do. And considering his cursed luck, Momonga could consider it purely a blessing.

Of course, it didn't mean Momonga should relax; the threat of demons and the constant need for resources still hung over his head. But, for a brief moment, Momonga could afford to think about the more distant plans.

Or to be even more specific, to ponder what exactly those plans were supposed to be.

The initial contact with the human world had not been without problems and unexpected twists and turns, but in general, Momonga could consider it to be successful. Still he was lacking important information that would allow him to more freely act, a clearer picture of the Players of the world is still incomplete.

In both senses of the word.

The first thing he had searched in this world was the existence of the other members of Ainz Ooal Gown, if his friends are here as well. But, seeing that the creation of YGGDRASIL, if it were ever to be created, is still years, decades in the future. Expectedly, he had found no information about it.

Though, calling it a search was perhaps a bit hyperbolic, he had just used the Internet to search, it had barely taken him a minute to do so.

Of course, that didn't completely negate the possibility that his friends from the guild were in this world, it was not like his search was anything conclusive. Perhaps they were hiding or were in this world not as their in-game avatars but as ordinary people. But even so, they must have left some hint of their existence, perhaps for those who might also be in this world besides them…

Perhaps they would appear in this world later, and Momonga was only the first to arrive.

And also, the possibility that his friends from Ainz Ooal Gown might not be the only ones to end up in this world should not be discounted. Momonga was not the only Player who was online at the end of Yggdrasil, it was quite possible that Momonga was not the only one to end up in this world as well.

Plus, given the abundance of other dimensions in this world, easily dwarfing Yggdrasil’s nine, it was quite possible that other players had ended up in one of them. One, two, ten, or perhaps even a hundred players!

He would need to prepare Nazarick for the eventuality… Which is what he’s already doing to be honest, and even if there are other Players around, unless they had arrived in this world earlier than Momonga, would be facing the same problem he did. The lack of information.

Still, for a moment, he stopped looking at the dangers and problems that might threaten Nazarick's survival in this world and thought specifically about what he plans to do…

Momonga folded his hands in front of him, resting his chin on them, and turned his gaze inward.

This new world was… strange. Perhaps that was the most apt description for the world around Momonga himself.

Strange people living by laws, unaccustomed to Momonga and paranormal creatures one step away from them. There is still wildlife existing normally rather than in special enclosures to be enjoyed by the wealthy and the connected, with people freely traveling the streets without respirators. It was a world that he wanted to show off to his friends…

"I want to… save this world," Momonga eventually nodded slowly before immediately correcting his thoughts internally. "No, I want to make this world a better place."

Momonga viewed the people around him as beings whose lives and deaths caused him no emotion whatsoever. The mere existence of people certainly evoked emotions in him, faint responses like annoyance or interest, but a million dead or a million saved? To him, those were mere statistics.

And yet, Momonga remembered how he had once been human, and so on some very small level, he sympathized with them.

He remembered how his mother had died. He remembered working day after day at a job he didn't like. He remembered running across the streets, trying to hold his leaky respirator tightly to his face, fearful of his imminent death should it fail. He remembered the envy and anger he felt every time he saw the face of a rich heir to a megacorporation appearing at a company’s function, created specifically so that the higher-ups could show off, with a couple of beautiful women whose appearance had been modified by the best scientists on Earth. He remembered the joy he felt when he had been rescued by his first fiend, Touch Me. He remembered the greed with which he had felt as he gazed, at the untouched forests of the distant, unreal world that flashed before his eyes…

This world was not yet devoid of such wonders. Momonga could walk the streets, look at the plants, see the animals, a privilege afforded to very few in his time….

Did Momonga plan to follow some kind of inner compass, some kind of morality, with regard to people, wanting to preserve and increase such wealth for their sake? For the sake of the millions of people who lived at this moment in this world? Of course not.

As has been said, if all of human civilization were to die out tomorrow, then surely Momonga would resent the loss of humanity's vast potential, but in terms of emotion, he wouldn't even shed a tear. And not just because he could no longer do so in his Undead body.

However, for himself, for Nazarick, for his…

His family, perhaps?

His family deserved to live in a beautiful world, still full of life and wonder, not one that is stagnant and dead like his old one.

In other words, if Momonga tried to envision some final goal, a larger goal toward which Momonga himself had to move and toward which he planned to direct Nazarick's movement? A kind of ‘plan maxima’, Momonga would phrase it as ‘to preserve the world and make it a better place’.

Of course, Momonga primarily viewed the improvement of this world in terms of his own and Nazarick's desires, and it was by focusing on those that Momonga planned to choose for in the event of possible conflicts of interest. However, if, as a result of creating a world that was more pleasant for Nazarick, he would create conditions that would also be more pleasant for other people, then there would be nothing wrong with that either.

On the contrary, even if the aspirations of the other people of this world were completely secondary to Nazarick's needs and desires, making life better for people outside of Nazarick had a rational point. After all, it was much easier to rule those who did not wish to rebel than those who sought to constantly rebel.

Easier to attract flies with honey than vinegar, as Punitto Moe liked to say.

Having come to this conclusion, Momonga nodded to himself, before exhaling sharply and clapping his hands together as if putting an invisible seal on the internal files in his head, after which he began planning on the logistics to achieve it.

Of course, even after deciding on the final plan, Momonga himself would not deviate from Nazarick's current actions, Momonga's immediate need for gathering information and resources were not changing at all. Moreover, rather, they were becoming even more important.

In order to effectively influence at least some part of this world to fit into his vision, a large amount of replenishable resources and as much information about the world around him as possible were required. Beyond that, however…

Momonga thought for a moment, realizing that he already had one such tool that he could use to complete his ultimate plan. Religion could serve to spread his influence, but he was lacking critical manpower if he wanted to accomplish such a thing. He rather doubts that the Undead could be used for such a thing, which is a shame, he has plenty of those.

No, if he was planning to use religion for his plans, then it required a whole network of agents. While Nazarick could provide numerous high-level experts even by Yggdrasil's standards, a few hundred beings within hundreds of worlds was a drop in the ocean. Not to mention the existing barrier of knowledge between Nazarick's beings that prevent them from optimally interacting with the various worlds.

Using faulty intelligence is perhaps even worse than acting on none at all.

Such knowledge required agents from this world, but Momonga, quite logically, feared both the spreading of Nazarick's existence, and the loyalty of his recruited agents. These two concerns were even more important than the effectiveness of the agents themselves. Even a useless agent could serve his purpose, at least as an experimental model for Demiurge, while a disloyal agent was dangerous whether he was useful or not.

Moreover, a disloyal but professional agent was far more dangerous than a disloyal fool.

However, where could Momonga easily find many loyal, yet discrete agents in this world?

Momonga pondered for a moment before, even when straining all his wits, he was forced to surrender to the pressure of reality and instead contact Albedo for it.

Relaying instructions to her to start looking out for the local inhabitants. Albedo, of course, instantly responded with, "As expected, Lord Momonga, you showed up just when I needed your words."

But Momonga had already automatically filtered such information past his ears.

No matter what he did, the residents of Nazarick always instantly began to praise him for how he had ‘unbelievably’ solved a problem he didn't even know existed. Sometimes the problem didn't even need to exist for Nazarick’s residents to start praising his ‘solution’ to the ‘problem’.

In any case, he had accomplished the most important thing of all, he had decided on Nazarick's overall mission and made the decision to begin his gradual introduction into these new worlds he had coincidentally found himself in. So now there were only two minor problems facing Momonga, school and the two girls he had unexpectedly dragged into the world of the paranormal…

Momonga thought for a moment, then tried to look inside himself. Maybe he had forgotten to deal with some other random and important problem? He really rather not deal with those two headache inducing issues right now…

***

Johan slowly unclenched his hand, letting his phone fall to the table in front of him, before he exhaled, trying to calm his racing heart. The answer he had just received from the Church of Fallen Angels had determined his fate.

That was it, there was no going back. He had finally and irrevocably removed himself from under the wing of the Devils to the wing of…

Johan didn't even know which faction he had joined, except for the fact that Satoru was clearly a god of some kind. And judging by the fact that he had managed to speak directly with the Satans, while simultaneously organizing the murder of a full-fledged, and extremely powerful, head of a Devil family by using the hands of the Fallen? He was not only extremely powerful, but adroit as well.

The insanity of planning the death of the Father of the Strongest Satan, one he was in a meeting with. And not only being able to get away with it unscathed, he also did so without anyone knowing that it was his plan. It was… Frightening.

Johan could easily see where the wind was blowing.

Kalawarner, one of the Fallen Angels, would arrive shortly to talk to him about the information he could provide, and it was the kind of conversation where questions were answered long before they were asked. Johan's prospects looked vague, and uncertain, Johan was aware that he was not an important link or influential person, the information he could give was limited at best.

The first hint of disloyalty, the first hint of incompetence, and he would definitely be thrown to the sharks. Johan had no doubt that a god who could manipulate an entire faction of the Fallen and had the audacity to swat away Leviathan like a pesky fly would easily be able to make Johan’s life a living hell.

However, Johan had definitely also seen the second part of such a phrase, having the audacity and influence to reach for it.

Johan was not a coward, nor is he traitorous, always looking, reaching, to be in the ‘winning’ side. Rather, his betrayal… His ‘job change’ was due to his ambition.

Johan was a very talented mage, but he was not a unique talent born once in a millennium, like the Walburga or Le Fay. There were dozens of ‘very talented’ mages like him in the world. His place under the patronage of the Gremory family was definitely very ‘stable’ and very lucrative, as long as it existed, of course, but without any prospect of ‘career advancement’ at all.

Even when he was under Zeoticus' auspices, Johan knew he lacked many things to even be considered for a reincarnation to be a Devil. He was simply a dime a dozen, easily replaceable, not worthy to be added to a Peerage. And now, with the death of Zeoticus, Johan was literally washed ashore by a wave of events.

And Johan was not happy with that.

If Johan could reach the top through Satoru's patronage, then his ‘betrayal’ was not in vain. Though, could it even be called that when he was already cut loose from the death of his previous patron? Even a bond like marriage does not last after death, so why should his employment be the case as well?

But still, even if he was offered the same job he had before by another Devil, he would probably reject it. He knows full well that if he did so, he would have stagnated at the same level he did with Zeoticus.

Even if, with Satoru, he still was employed at the same level of ‘stable work’ as before, then his switching of employers would not be in vain. And if he died a horrible death… Well, the ambition of mages was often the cause of their demise. Not that such a way of thinking was good for him, but he had found that a healthy dose of fatalism allowed him to retain the remnants of his prudence. Especially after the choices he had already made.

And while Johan was still alive, which in itself was worth a lot in the current struggle between a god and the Devil, where Johan had already been instructed to continue his ‘dialogue’ with Satoru's emissary from among the Fallen, it appeared that his death was not planned in the near future. At least, Johan himself reasoned that way, considering the fact that he had been ordered to make contact with his own agents in the human world.

Not that Johan was overly influential, but what decent mage of his caliber didn't have a couple of lucrative connections among old colleagues or criminal elements around the world? Who knows when he could use a couple of fake Latin American passports or a small homemade pipe bomb?

However, despite the fact that Johan did have such contacts, the number was less than a couple of dozen, not to mention that they were just his ‘contacts’, specialized suppliers or acquaintances, not anyone under his command at all. He could only count on a couple of familiars for something like that.

If Johan were the kind of person capable of building a full-fledged network of agents like the spider's web that sprawled around him, he would hardly have been in the service of Zeoticus Gremory.

However, as he had been correctly informed by an unknown, apparently local overseer of the Church of the Fallen with the signature ‘A’, Johan already unknowingly stumbled on a rather large potential pool of possible recruits within walking distance. The students of Kuoh's academy.

Johan didn’t need to worry about any conflicting loyalties, simply from the fact that the students under his nominal control, as the Principal of Kuoh Academy, don't know of the paranormal world.

And, if Johan simply worded his recruitment as a chance for those same students to touch upon the Unseen World, for a chance for them to get their own strength, after all what high-school students don't like magic? And if he limits them from taking dangerous undertakings, even his shriveled morals should be satisfied.

Johan himself could see the positive side to such an action. After all, given that the two heiresses of Devil houses were also enrolled at the school in question, no one untrustworthy could get close to the two girls… At least not until Satoru himself snuck into the Devils' territory.

Moreover, from the looks of it, Satoru had already put his hands into that recruiting as well. The Perverted Trio, Katase and Murayama, even at this moment, Johan had been ordered to become the official guardian of the Saji family that Satoru had apparently gotten in touch with a little earlier.

In that case, was it safe to assume that the urgent evacuation of Devil personnel from Kuoh was not only for the purpose of keeping the two heiresses safe, but also according to Satoru's plan? Without their eyes and ears in Kuoh, it would blind the Devils of the goings-on in Kuoh, allowing Satoru the capability to operate freely, right under the noses of the Devils.

And if that was the case, then Johan could only congratulate himself on the fact that, despite being absolutely not a coward and completely disinclined to betray, this time he actually managed to jump on the train of the winning team just in time.