Overlord: Advent of the New Gods

The sun had barely risen above the horizon and the throne room was already packed to the brim. Barbro was wolfing down his breakfast from a plate a maid held in front of him, having chosen to do away with the morning banquet to save time.

Nazarick's representative could arrive at any moment and he needed to be ready to face the toughest negotiations he had ever participated in, during either his father's reign or his own. There was no relying on his status or the born right to be king in the upcoming scene. To these creatures parading as Gods, such things meant nothing, they saw humans as below them. He had already seen how one of them reacted to his justified demand of submission.

Barbro was ready to swallow his pride and play along to lull these creatures into the false belief that he saw them as Gods. What they would demand, he was unsure as of now, but he wasn't about to leave everything to chance. Besides his guards, the remaining Blue Roses and Red Drop members were gathered in the throne room and instructed to protect him in case the so-called players turned hostile again, having been paid lavishly up front and would be paid even more if they succeeded. He had even ordered Renner to bring in her pet Gazef to do the same. The man was a thorn in the eye, but when cornered, any club would do for righteous self-defense, even a dirty thorn-covered one like the former warrior captain.

Barbro hastily swallowed the last pieces of pork chop, downed them with wine, and waved for the maid to leave. The girl gently wiped his mouth with a handkerchief and hastily departed, scurrying away and disappearing into the hallways.

"What is the status of the front?" He demanded from Boullope who had been going through the messages, standing beside him.

"Most of our men and the adventurers had their chance to rest. Shalltear Bloodfallen and her ilk kept the demons at bay throughout the night. We are still low on supplies but we should get enough food from nearby villages and we can start to spend the capital's reserve," His father-in-law reported.

"Don't touch our reserves for now. Raeven, are blank contracts prepared?" Barbro turned to his next advisor.

"Yes, Your Majesty." The noble responded with a stifled yawn.

With all the preparations on his end done, he could only wait. There was an option to call in the girl who contacted the players but Barbro preferred not to have any rogue elements near him at the moment. For all he knew, the players could potentially use the opportunity to usurp his rule, using her as a human figurehead as justification to legitimize their coup.

Minutes ticked by slowly and he absentmindedly slumped to one side, only partly listening to the nobles bickering about what the players could possibly demand. Two groups were forming, splitting the kingdom in two and yet unified as one. One believed that the players would demand worship by the masses and another believed that they would ask for an extortionate amount of money and lands. These inhuman entities knew that no King would want to lose his nation's capital and perhaps even more, so demanding a less important city or even cities, in return for their help, would be feasible which in turn would change the political climate as some nobles would lose all their influence. Either way, the nobles would suffer in national power, whether by the ease of manipulation of the peasants or by territory and wealth.

He cared little about the ambitions of his lessers. With the Eight Fingers in his pocket, they posed no threat to him.

Finally, the feared void appeared by the door, signaling the arrival of the representative of the players. Barbro straightened out, assuming a relaxed but authoritative expression.

Then a creature he could only describe as grotesque walked through, sending shivers down the spines of the lesser nobles. This bipedal goat was dressed like a royal, similar to the human they sent last time. Its muzzle was twisted in what he assumed was a smile as the creature gradually approached the throne, his walking stick tapping the polished, wooden floor.

"We meet again, Your Majesty. Let me start by congratulating you on your succession to the throne." The goatman spoke without as much as bowing his head.

'Again? Is this Ulbert… oh so that's how these bastards want to play? No matter, I will shake hands with a monster if that is what it takes to keep my kingdom.' Barbro casually slouched to his right side and put one leg over the other, replying in a casual tone and playing down his growing fear. "Lord Ulbert, you have changed a lot since we met?"

"Last time I wore a disguise, this time I am my natural self. We players can take any form we want, but we each have our natural one. But let's not dwell on pleasantries, we have a crisis to resolve after all." Ulbert tipped his hat while leaning on his walking stick.

"Indeed. But tell me first why, if you claim to be Gods, why haven't you resolved this invasion on your own?" Barbro inquired.

"Ah, yes, you think Gods should just do all the work. It's very simple: if Gods do something for free, the mortals grow a sense of entitlement, that it is given that the Gods will help them. If our help comes with a price, even if the price is trivial, then there are no such delusions cultivated. If you want us to just protect you, then you become our servants and worshipers. If you want to be an independent nation, then our interactions are transactional. It would be a lot easier for us to blow up the entire city and send a clear message to the six bastards who want to return by any means necessary and continue parading as Gods, which they aren't. Instead, we are willing to use a lot less harmful methods and give them an advantage to let the mortals know of the difference between us and them." Ulbert explained.

"How can you say they are false Gods!" Lakyus raised her voice.

Ulbert sharply turned his head and approached the young woman, his intense gaze never leaving her as his tapping cane echoed throughout the silent room. Lakyus shrunk and looked down, unable to meet his eyes.

"Because they never did the proper ritual to become one. Anyone with enough power can pretend to be one, but it takes a lot more to accept your role given by the universe itself. Has your God ever responded to you, do you feel his presence?"

"I…" Lakyus stammered as she stared at the floor.

"Exactly. You believe in them because some priest in a church told you to do so, not because they presented themselves to you. Perhaps it is time to examine your own beliefs." Ulbert loomed over her, his presence only growing.

"Mind me asking, what are you Gods of and how many of you there are?" Boullope spoke up. He wasn't a believer in such silly things as Gods, but he wasn't about to deny the power this creature and its subordinates possessed. And the more he knew, the better he could prepare for more such entities walking the world and possibly warring with one another. Regardless of whoever held the crown, the kingdom was still the kingdom.

"Six. Our leader Ainz Ooal Gown is the God of Life and Death. I am Ulbert Ooal Gown, the God of Diplomacy and Politics. There is Buku Ooal Gown, the Goddess of War, Pero Ooal Gown, the God of Murder, Tabula Ooal Gown, the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, and Albedo the Goddess of Love and Family." Ulbert gleefully revealed what the man wanted to know, flashing an eerie grin.

"War, murder, death, those are very negative aspects. How can you claim to be the good Gods if there are ones like that among you?" Boullope continued.

"Ahh, a good question indeed. We are but the reflections of mortal actions and their enablers and consequences. The nobles engage in politics, the adventurers standing among you murder those opposing the humans without a second thought and are seen as heroes, everything that is born will die. You love, hate, fight, and wage wars for what you want and believe. You think those aspects are evil, but they give you the choice. The light is the most insidious force of them all. It demands total obedience and that is why the creations of light, the angels, are like machines; they are built to obey, and even for us, it is hard to change them and give them the freedom of thought and choice. I am not here to enforce my will upon you, but to let you choose for yourselves. You can look outside your window and see what a worshiper of light is doing. Do you really believe demons are rushing to die of their own volition in droves?" Ulbert spoke slowly, deliberately driving each word home.

There was silence afterward. After about ten seconds of no one speaking, as Ulbert let his declaration sink in, the man representing the few priests remaining in Re-Estize spoke up. "But demons are evil."

"Not exactly. Demons are more chaotic and not bound by human morality, but they are their own. You don't think of wolves or bears as evil, do you? The bestial ones just follow their instincts like any animal and those capable of thought range in their moralities, just like humans. The ones attacking you are enslaved. If freed, a majority of them would rush back into the gate they spawned from, preferring their own familiar realms and individuals." Ulbert dropped a piece of information none knew or could even believe.

"That is all fine and good but it's not helping us at the moment. What is it that you demand and how do you plan to resolve this situation?" Barbro interrupted the philosophical lecture with a grunt.

"Ah yes, the main topic. Forgive me for steering away from it, Your Majesty. We do not demand much. First, you will recognize the forest of Tob as the territory belonging to the Empire of Nazarick, as it's already our domain." Ulbert returned full attention to the young King.

"The ntire forest of Tob? You can't demand-" Boullope protested.

"We are not demanding it. We already control it and it doesn't belong to any human nation." Ulbert cut him off. "Your adventurer guild can attest that there have been no monster attacks for the last month coming from the forest, that is our doing."

Barbro glanced at the guildmaster questingly.

"It is true, Your Majesty. The last wave of monsters from Tob came over a month ago." The woman confirmed Ulbert's claim.

"Very well. I will declare Tob as belonging to Nazarick. And what is your other demand?" Barbro asked, wanting to be done with the whole thing. Tob wasn't a territory humans would ever bother with anyway.

"We want this mostly uninhabited area east of Tob to be handed over to us as it contains unused farmlands we need for our people. By our survey, it only includes one human village with less than fifty people in it." Ulbert waved his hand and a translucent map of the region appeared in front of him with the area in question painted red.

Barbro fell silent. It was his lands but at the same time, they were basically uninhabited as Ulbert claimed. 'I would lose land but… I can take some away from the nobles who oppose me under the pretense that they didn't do enough to stop demons.' He reasoned. There was no point arguing over a useless piece of land that at best generated few gold pieces a year for his coffers and gave a few soldiers for his army. And that was before the Slane Theocracy burned down villages and killed all the men worth conscripting.

"Your terms are agreeable. How will you stop the demonic attack?" Barbro asked.

"The Goddess of War will clear the area of all hostile entities and kill the cardinal personally. The moment we sign the agreement, she will be ready to begin." Ulbert replied.

"Raeven, how long will it take to prepare the paperwork?" Barbro questioned, not wanting to waste any time, gears in his mind already turning in how to present himself as the hero of the people and steal the glory from under the self-proclaimed Goddess' nose.

"I can prepare everything within an hour," Raeven replied.

"Excellent. I will return in one hour to collect the contract and your capital will be yours again before sunset." Ulbert tipped his hat and disappeared through the gate, closing after his departure.

There was no time to waste, he needed to be ready to claim his glory as the king who saved the nation from the demons; the greatest king who ever lived. Barbro jumped up from his throne and ordered, "Prepare my horse and armor, I will join the battle and help the Goddess reach the mad cardinal."

"Your Majesty, it would be unwise for you to risk your life, especially without an heir." Boullope opposed his terrifyingly clever idea.

"I won't die! And do not lecture me about heirs!" He shouted in the man's face. The stunned noble took a step back. "I didn't mean to imply-"

"I know exactly what you meant! You are walking on thin ice here! Get out of my sight before I remove you from your position!" Barbro raised his voice even more.

"I apologize, Your Majesty." Boullope responded through gritted teeth with a bow and hastily left the throne room.

'I should get rid of him. That old bastard will try to usurp me the moment I knock up that daughter of his. I'll deal with that some other day, today glory awaits.' He quickly switched back to his clever plan. Today will be a glorious day and he was about to make sure he was celebrated for a long, long time.

Editing by aidan_lo.

Proofreading by Sluethen, IAMTHEPLOKOKIOPO, fvvck, Omnax, Stac, mfkz_rocker, x4x, and aidan_lo.

Link my discord server (https://discord.gg/WmGKVU3XG2)