Chapter 14

It was only the second day under the rule of Lord Momonga, but the outlines of the houses the newly evolved kijin would live in were already taking shape. True to his word, Benimuaru's new master didn't oppress those under his rule.

The army of skeletal deadmen working tirelessly was a weird sight, but the hobgoblin named Rigurd had assured him that they are constructs made by the Overlord himself and have no need for sleep, rest, or any sort of relief from the endless work. In fact, their greatest joy in life came from serving their creator.

As for now, Benimaru hadn't received any direct orders from his superiors, besides settling in and getting his people up to speed on how Tempest is organized. The one thing that truly bugged him was an almost open refusal from everyone to say anything about this mysterious Nazarick that was both a skill he had received in the form of a |Servant of Nazarick| and a place the leaders of Tempest and their closest aides lived in.

The only thing that he did find out was that very few had the honor to enter it and see the truly divine realm for themselves.

"Brother, look!" A cheerful shout from his sister interrupted his contemplation. Benimaru turned to see his sister running towards him, dressed in a red and white kimono and holding folded-up red clothes in her hands.

"Did something…"

"I made you this!" she said, practically shaking with excitement and pushing the clothes into his hands.

"What is this?"

"They have so many wonderful materials here. I started with our new sets of clothing. Try it on, please."

"Sure." Beriumaru responded. He had to admit the clothes felt very soft and radiated a certain amount of magic, enough to be felt by touch alone. Such clothes were usually meant for powerful majin and other monsters way up the power ladder.

Then again, he had evolved into a kijin and by all means was way within the majin category, if not close to a demon lord candidate. At least that was his rough estimate. The constant feeling that now he could split mountains apart, if he so desired, had not left since he received a name.

Beriumaru quickly retreated to his tent and put on the new clothes, a red kimono that quickly grew more intensely red to match his fiery aura perfectly. Although his previous set of leather clothing was designed in a standard and reliable manner, it was not even comparable in quality.

He quickly walked out to show his sister how it looked. She gazed at him for a brief moment and then clapped her hands with a wide smile. "I knew this would be perfect for you!"

"I have to admit, Shuna, you have done a wonderful job, but are you not overworking yourself?" Benimaru asked.

"No, not at all. I have many helpers. I just wanted to make a few new sets for us, Soei, and Shion. Hakurou and Kurobe already picked the ones that were available and didn't want to wait for me to make them."

"Remember to rest as well." Benimaru said half seriously, knowing full well how it would irk his sister.

"I will." Shuna said with a small pout at her brother's overbearing attitude and walked off.

With no other tasks present, Benimaru made another circle around the two dozen houses the kijin would inhabit, including the larger one for him and his closest people, to see if any oversight was needed. This proved not to be the case, so he returned to his tent, took out a sheet of paper, and started to write down a report for the Guardian Overseer, who had requested daily reports on everything he and the people under him had accomplished, or if there were requests logistics-wise.

The beautiful demoness, by all accounts he had heard, was not one to be trifled with, and her patience was much shorter than her masters. As he carefully put all the gathered information on the sheet of paper with the cleanest handwriting he could muster, someone entered his tent. Benimaru looked up to see a strange figure with three dark holes for a face, dressed in a very intricately made yellow uniform.

With his first instinct practically screaming at him to show this being the utmost respect, he quickly stood up and bowed lightly, enough to politely greet but not to show subservience.

"I would like to have ein paar minuten to carRY OUT my father's will."

"Your fathers?" Benimaru carefully asked. The overly expressive nature of this being threw him off badly.

"Of course, I am Pandora's ACtor, a proud creation of the highest of the supreME ONEs, the great Lord MOMOnga himself."

'Son of Lord Momonga!' Benimaru froze up for a moment, but quickly found a resolve to carry out the conversation without changing his tone. "Of course, anything my master desires."

"Wunderbar!" Pandora exclaimed and took out a book from his inventory. "AS I understand, all kijin are trained in combat, yes?"

"Yes, if need be all my people are trained for combat in some manner, but only twenty-five could be considered warriors."

"That's good enough. I would like to have a list of ones who would benefit from combat-oriented skills and what sort of occupation would benefit the rest."

'Is he testing me somehow?' Him suddenly speaking with a completely normal tone threw Benimaru off again. "Y-yes. I can provide a detailed report."

"Sehr Gut. I would also like to request a few of your people to join my Spezialkräfte."

'A what? Can I even tell him no?'

"Only if they agree to join themselves. If possible, I would like to know more."

"Verstanden. Father has permitted me to make my own military unit. A great career choice for warriors who want a professional work environment."

At this point, Berimuaru was rather convinced that this had to be some sort of test of loyalty. "If it's Lord Momonga's will… I will permit it. Please choose whichever warriors you would like to join your unit."

"Thank you for your time. If you forgive me, I'm on enger zeitplan." Pandora did a quick salute and promptly left the tent.

'On what?' The confused kijin just stared at the entrance of the tent for a good minute. 'I better finish the report before more tests are thrown my way.' he finally decided and quickly sat down to resume the task.

‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›

"Put all of it in that pile!" Souka said to a group of skeletal deadmen carrying planks. Thanks to the faint, glowing outline, it was easy to see that the wood was magically enchanted. Although no details were given, it was rather clear the enchant was against rotting.

Her people were building their new home together with Tempest's forces by the small artificial lake that was taking form rapidly. One of the direct servants of her new lord, a very pretty young elf boy, came and made the necessary hollow with a swipe of his hand and departed without saying much.

The numerous deadmen called liches were constantly creating water and numerous regulating enchants that would let the lake be relatively clean without any moving water. Even though the water level had not reached the needed level, some fish had already begun swimming around.

As more and more building material was getting delivered, she started to get somewhat overwhelmed. As one of the liches had pointed out, she needed to show her ability to the Supreme Being, otherwise he would have to choose another leader of the lizardmen and assign her tasks more suited for her talents. 'Maybe I just needed to resign immediately? But who would lead the rest then?'

Being stuck in the current predicament was not yet overwhelming, but that point was not that far off either.

"Captain, are these measurements right?" Hakusho, her current second in command, asked as he approached her with a stack of blueprints.

"Huh?" she blinked in surprise.

"The measurements for the houses? Do we need that much space?"

'How should I know that? It does look spacious, but is it too much for three hundred? Maybe Lord Momonga is planning for the future? Most females and males are of fertile age.'

"Let's trust the planning Tempest provided."

"As you say, captain!" Hakuso replied and walked towards the pile of planks nearby.

'Maybe… It wouldn't hurt to offer… right?'

"Hakuso, wait for a minute."

"Captain?"

"Would you be up to the task to oversee the construction?"

"I guess, but I wouldn't want to overstep my station."

Souka sighed. "I am a soldier, not an administrator. Can I trust you with this?"

"I mean, sure, Captain, but we followed you here… "

"I know, and I will take the duty of a leader if I must, but you seem better suited to oversee the living arrangements."

Hokusou straightened out, saluted, and said "Thank you, captain. I will not let you down."

'Now I just need to figure out who to report this to.'

"That won't be necessary." A pleasant voice said. Souka turned around, startled, only to see Demiurge, one of the two archdemons who served as a direct advisor to Lord Momonga. She immediately dropped to one knee. "Lord Demiurge."

"Let's skip the formalities."

"Of course." Souka hastily responded and stood up. "I was about to make a report…"

"There is no need. Hakusou will be tasked with reporting the developments from now on." Demiurge said with a smirk, towering over the practically shivering girl with his sheer presence.

"O-of c-course."

"I will get right to the point. I am tasked with overseeing all of the military operations of Tempest. Gather those who are more suited for military duty and report to Cocytus in the arena. Do not make him wait."

Souka gulped, saluted, and said with determination. "As you command, Lord Demiurge. I will not let you down."

"I know you won't. You would not dare to betray the trust our master put into you by extending his own power to name you." Demiurge said.

"I will prove Lord Momonga's generosity was not misplaced." Souka said with a loud, clear voice.

"As is expected of you. Now hurry, we will find the best way to utilize your talents." Demiurge said and teleported away.

'There is no way in hell I am failing that demon's expectations.' Souka grimly mused. The way the archdemon chose his words shook her to the core.

‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›

Despite orcs, on average, being taller than hobgoblins, most could occupy the houses that were built in expectation of population growth. That, of course, didn't mean they could slack off.

Geld held great pride in the fact that most of his clan were eagerly volunteering for the hardest jobs. If there was one thing his people were known for, it was their sturdiness and work ethic. Although he too enjoyed hard physical labor from time to time, as it helped take his mind off the difficulties of life he and his kind had endured, he now was mostly dealing with management.

The small office space given to him was almost comically small, but there was a promise of a more appropriate workspace once the new block of the city was built with the combined effort of Tempest's construction force, whose efficiency was greatly improved with a large bulk of orcs taking part in it. Especially helpful was their shared inventory space, which had skyrocketed the material transportation speed.

'Hmm, this should be enough for the third squad. I think I will request additional clothing for the seventh squad.' He silently worked through the pile of requests and reports coming in at a rapid pace.

A familiar massive hobgoblin came into his office with a knock. "Geld, I looked over the numbers, they seem off."

"I could swear I double-checked everything. What seems off?"

"Food amounts. They seem way too low. I have to warn you, Lady Albedo dislikes any independent actions of resource acquisition." Rigurd said, putting a sheet of paper on the table.

"No, these should be correct. We can survive on those amounts indefinitely." Geld replied quickly, glancing over the tables with numbers.

"Aren't these too low for an orc? I mean, my wife eats that much and she is half of my size." Rigurd said, looking curiously at Geld and then as if a lightbulb went off in his head, added, "Your people don't need to starve under Lord Momonga's rule. He would feel insulted if anyone even suggested that."

'Have I insulted my master by asking for too little? Is he that generous towards his people? I better correct my mistake before Lady Albedo finds out.' The two meetings he had with the demoness were stressful to say the least. She never stopped smiling, but the tone she used with him… Geld shuddered.

"One minute." He said and grabbed a pencil to correct the numbers. Just in case, he set the food requirements in the middle of how much an orc would eat when there was plenty of food.

"Now that sounds more believable," Rigurd remarked. Then shifted around in the small office and added, "We need to get you a bigger office. The two of us can barely fit here."

"That we can agree upon." Geld chuckled. Surely from the outside, the scene would seem comical, as if someone found it funny to shove both massive men in the tiniest office they could find; this world's version of a clown car. "Is there anything else?"

"Not at the moment. Lord Demiurge will come to request the list of people who would like to join the military, but he is busy sorting out the other two."

"Compared to them, we can't offer that much. Master did make us more powerful, but even now the ogres might as well use us as target dummies."

"Still, better prepare a list, just in case." Rigurd leaned in and whispered. "Between you and me, Albedo is the less scary of the two."

'Less scary one?' Geld gulped. "Thanks for the advice. I'll look at it when I have finished with the daily reports."

"Good luck." Rigurd said with a smile and left Geld's office.

'I guess I'm going to need some luck to deal with master's advisors.'

Edited by Edgy.

Proofreading by placid_void, Eris_Luuvan, and kamijazz.