Shopping is a sinister activity invented by mankind.
This procedure haunts the unfortunate victims of endless multi-choice forever, and personally it is difficult for me to give preference to one of the two options: "I don't like it" and "complete class incompatibility". Equipment in Yggdrasil was tied to race and characteristics, but there was a nameless one - a universal option. But as it turned out, the treasury of Nazarick could not satisfy some of my requests in this area.
Absolutely all top and useful equipment - exclusively with binding. The same Touch Me armor was created specifically for the "World Champion" class. The equipment of our strongest warrior truly suits the hero, but it's a pity that it can only be equipped through consumables for real money. Donator goodies ... they are not endless, and the most useful of them are best saved for the onset of dark times.
"It's extremely unfortunate: the plan completely failed at the preparation stage. All equipment worthy of the title of hero is incompatible with my classes and cannot be used," I summed up the results of the audit of the deepest part of the treasury in the voice of a hundred-year-old researcher.
The defective variants do not provide adequate compensation for the weaknesses of my race and are also brushed aside. It turns out that nothing can be done about the equipment of the Lord of Dawn, which frightens ordinary people, and it is simply unwise to deprive yourself of a helmet that saves you from most problems. What is left then? Few options, really. To brighten up the image of a villain with good manners, and as for the appearance, we must look for a solution further.
After spending a couple more minutes sifting out useless things, an interesting amulet was discovered in the heaps of artifacts, imitating the bright aura of a noble saint. The natives of this world are capable of confusing my helmet with a knight's helmet, let's say, of a knight from a distant country, and activating the noble aura will give the opportunity to throw dust in the eyes of enemies without changing equipment.
Overall, a decent compromise.
Initially, I wanted to dress up in shining armor, change my appearance to a harmless guy and blend in with the crowd. But in reality, everything is not as usual; the way you want can only happen when the stars in the sky come together, and the parade of planets looms on the horizon.
It's awkward, but one thing is good: Pandora's Actor will quickly understand what has changed in me. More precisely, he will come up with an excuse from the category: "the great darkness hides the fears instilled in people of difference; before and after." Or he will consider the addition of one thing as a change of the entire equipment. It is still difficult for me to imagine what the revived NPCs are thinking about.
Having additionally moved the world items to the inventory, and grabbed a couple of personal artifacts for ganking players: allowing you to track the owners of the PMK, it was time to notify Albedo about the preparations for the award ceremony.
*
Once again the throne room, as always the guards bowing before me, but this time there were some differences from the last meeting. For example, Albedo, who was next to the throne. Judging by her contented look and the relaxed pose of a loyal follower, the only thing she lacks for complete happiness is a second throne, which is appropriate for the ruler's eldest wife.
It's funny, he acts like we've been married for a hundred years.
There were other unusual things besides the guard general who decided to approach me. So, not far from the floor guards, there were girls of amazing beauty by the standards of the human world standing obediently. The maids lined up, holding world-class items in their hands; priceless artifacts, waiting for their new owners.
Six guardians - six gifts - six world objects.
How fortunately the sixes coincided to form the number of the devil.
- Welcome, - I was glad to see everyone in good health. - I would like to immediately address everyone present with good news - it is indeed much more comfortable to talk to "people" while sitting. - The interrogation of the prisoners showed that the defense capability of this world is severely limited, and this information was confirmed by another influential figure, - looking at the demon, who briefly reported on the progress of the investigation with the "Message" spell, I nodded slightly, giving him the floor.
— It's just as the wise Lord of Dawn said, who managed to lure and capture alive the most valuable assets of several countries at once in one move — a coincidence mixed with truth. — In the current state of affairs, only a few countries raise doubts about the efforts that would be required to enslave them — as the captives claimed — the Agrande Union is ruled by five dragons. Ants often exaggerate the strength of a giant, so we prepared a special squad to properly scout everything there. — Also, the captured leader of the Light Scripture piously assured that his country has a secret trump card, known among the cardinals of the church as the strongest warrior of humanity — the Slane Theocracy attempted to sabotage a new war between the two countries by assassinating Gazef Stronoff. For now, I have completely entrusted Demiurge with the captain's life; how he disposes of it is entirely his will. I was more interested in something else: in what order to put the Theocracy so that the expansion of the base would go without a hitch.
"We have a weak world, but with its own secrets. In this regard, Cocytus, Sebas, Aura, Demiurge, and Pandora's Actor, you are all required to decide within one day which World Item suits you best. Shalltear, this also applies to you, but do not forget about your punishment. I am still waiting for a detailed report on the failure of the infiltration and reconnaissance mission." The request for an explanation, surprisingly, came out as ordinary, without a hint of hatred and disappointment in the voice.
"I offer my deepest apologies, this will not happen again, I will remove witnesses to my shame more carefully," the vampire repented, biting her lip, her face reddened with shame.
"Mr. Bondrewd," Albedo intervened. "I suggest that we lock the guards of the first three floors and not let that trash out for at least a month," jealousy was dripping from her voice. It seemed that news of my night with the necrophiliac had spread like wildfire throughout Nazarick.
— Another six days of punishment. She has time to think about the problem of keeping her bloodlust in check, so your proposal cannot be implemented. But it can be considered in the event of a similar failure in a short period of time — endless indulgences are harmful to development, and as a chimerologist, I want to observe only progress, albeit perverted.
- What passions, they boil like magma erupting from a volcano and falling into the cold waters of Niflheim! Mademoiselles, you... - lifting his cap with his long fingers, the new participant of the meeting decided to demonstrate all his talent in irritating my fans.
A fun atmosphere, that's all.
"Madmu… azelies," the succubus asked again with a twitching eyebrow, glaring at the doppelganger with hatred.
"Pandora's Actor has a specific sense of humor, speech, and manners. However, one should not forget the full range of his capabilities, as well as the versatility of his maneuvers during the execution of Nazarick's secret operations," without losing anything, I tried to dot the i's in the quick squabble, so that my new subordinate would integrate into our closed society as quickly as possible.
"Forgive me, Lord of Dawn," lowering her head, the succubus was little satisfied with my explanations, but did not object any further.
"Demiurge, from this day forward, you are appointed my trusted deputy in the matter of expanding the influence of the Nazarick base to all nearby countries. Remember, the losses during the expansion process must not exceed thirty percent among the civilian population, and eighty percent among the military. Otherwise, we will have to rule the desert for a very long time," people breed like rabbits, but I cannot be called a supporter of mass genocide.
The priority is to leave some of the military power of the enemies in order to study their accumulated military experience for the future, and also to use it for supervision and regulation of local conflicts. The civilian population is capable of supporting many processes of society; without a good reason, erasing settlements of intelligent beings from the world map does not make sense.
Nazarick is not a decoration, but a small country that needs resources to support chimeras, undead, laboratory workers, demons and other races. Someone will still have to work - for the common good. Perhaps it will be possible to organize decent relations with the captured inhabitants of this world soon. Let's say, provide them with brainless undead for dangerous production and protection in exchange for millet, as well as other useful resources.
Protection fee, well, that sounds good.
Especially considering that we will have to protect them, in many ways, from ourselves.
"As you wish," smiling contentedly, the Demiurge quickly took my order into consideration.
The guards did not challenge my decision, as the demon had secured a solid share of authority. From what I saw, he quickly makes friends due to his unique character traits - support and understanding. If he sees Mare in women's clothing, he does not condemn, but on the contrary, supports the choice of his creator. According to the Sous-Chef, even the local cleaner with a dream of an extraordinary promotion to the role of the Overlord is received very warmly by him.
- Kurumi, the day after tomorrow you will act as my escort, but before that we will have a general meeting of the guardians in the round table hall - two owners of world items on the surface are better than one. And it would not be superfluous to hold a meeting on reconnaissance using remote viewing artifacts. Each guardian will have the opportunity to share observations and opinions or gain wisdom from others. And after that, Kurumi and I will get down to business, and I did not choose the escort by chance.
The girl can seriously freeze an entire area of space like that, and thanks to my ignoring negative effects, there is an option to quickly erase all unwanted targets in the area. If the plan to pose as a hero fails, then I will move on to plan "B", as it was with Shalltear. However, I am not particularly confident in its operation. A giant Chimera, the size of a city, should attract so many observers that it is better to set the right priorities and properly prepare for the mission.
- Well, well... If this is the will of the creator, then how can I refuse, - frivolously, but at the same time naturally, Kurumi played a minimum of hesitation before agreeing. Judging by Pandora's Actor's reaction, he could even choke on his tea, if he had tea in his hands and a human mouth on his face.
"I'll leave you with that," I said goodbye and moved to the ninth underground floor, and my path led straight to my room, where, on my orders, the maids had left a luxurious mirror.
The thing is that in the shortest possible time, something needs to be done with the emotions on the human face template. At least try to adjust the facial expressions to a normal person. So, using metamorphosis, the appearance began to look more like a human, but only at first glance.
The oil painting was spoiled by the eyes of a dead fish and a brick face - this is bad from the point of view of a smooth immersion in a new society. It's one thing if you have to play a seasoned mafia member, but it's much more difficult with a hastily invented legend. A story about the unexpected appearance of a life explorer in the kingdom, accompanied by his cute assistant. Sounds good, but there are plenty of blank spots in the legend, and a good smile can cover up at least a small part of the flaws.
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step," I continued my experiments, looking in the mirror with inner sadness at my first attempt to give myself a good smile.
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