AN: This chapter came out a lot longer than expected but I decided to keep it as a whole and not split it apart. The planned chapter length still is 2-4k words.
Editor: I regret nothing.
What should have been common sense for any superior, regardless of the company's size and social ladder, was inspecting everything with their own eyes from time to time. No matter how detailed and trustworthy the reports were, having higher-ups visit the area of interest in-person was a good sign of leadership, or at least that was what Momonga thought.
If he understood this correctly, he and his friends would have to set the correct precedent for how things should operate around here. He was well aware that history may inevitably repeat itself, and that goes without saying for the turning gears of society.
Back in his old world, there were more than enough CEOs that abandoned their employees in favor of churning out more profits for the company. He would not repeat the same mistakes in this world, where higher management was still considered to be in its infancy stages.
Without the help of remarkable people like Albedo and Demiurge, Momonga would have struggled to maintain Tempest, even with the help of his friends who were not so adequate in national affairs back then. Generally, he wanted to avoid the overreliance on the floor guardians and take charge where he could.
That being said, Momonga had never once doubted Albedo's and Demiurges' remarkable abilities when it came to their respective fields. But what stopped him from rating the two floor guardians as shining beacons of proper leadership was the fact that they considered those who did not come from Nazarick so beneath them that they were not worth consideration.
It was barely noticeable when it came to those, not of Nazarick origin but named by him or his friends, but a mild prejudice still existed. Naturally spawned homunculus maids for example protested against the possibility to be employed by Rigurd or other Tempest leaders, preferring to stay in Nazarick even if the new position would offer more prestige.
At the very least, there were already bridges being made between people who did and did not come from Nazarick. The goblins were the first to join their infant nation, followed by the ogres, lizardmen, orcs, and many more monster races who continue to increase Tempest's numbers.
An influx of citizens was expected, but the nation's rapid growth has been reaching unprecedented levels as more autonomy was given to the people. In return, higher management was being bolstered with the ones deemed fit to be in their respective roles.
If one asked at this point if Tempest was constantly breaking track records in employment, Momonga would be compelled to agree.
Some problems did continue to stay, but it was only a matter of time before they would become nearly unnoticeable by the public eye. On his own end, he was keen to increase communication between the higher-ups and the rest of Tempest's workforce.
It may not seem like a lot at first, but Momonga considered these to be stepping stones towards ensuring harmonization across all of the monster nation's people.
Of course, Pero and Buku were on-board with Momonga's ideas too, having already familiarized themselves with how black companies work. Knowing how many of their guild members and friends were treated at workplaces, all three of them mutually agreed that no one should have to go through a scenario that their poor friend had gone through not so long ago.
There was more time to dwell on the constant happenings throughout the nation though.
Not long after he finished his thoughts, he received the go-ahead to teleport to the first location of interest. This was already planned not long ago, so he had been waiting until he actually received a confirmation in the form of [Message].
After doing so, he vanished without a trace, and a moment later found himself in the eighth floor of Nazarick. He turned his head to the left upon hearing footsteps, and he recognized two familiar faces.
"Pero, Buku, good to see you're here," Momonga said with his usual baritone voice. It emitted ghastly echoes that made him reel back with momentary shock, and it soon dawned up on him just how spacious the eighth floor was.
"Good to see you too, Momo. By the way, where're the others?" Buku asked.
"Ah, they should be here any minute now."
As though they were expecting to be called, the trio heard simultaneous sounds of momentary whirring, indicating that someone had teleported near their location.
The arrivers were Demiurge, Cocytus, and Benimaru, the last one following protocol by lining up as last out of the three heading towards Momonga's position.
The latter group had already taken the positions that were within Tempest's high military command. For this occasion however, they would only serve as guides, not wanting to get in the way of the Supreme Beings' intentions.
Demiurge was the high commander of all military forces if none of the Supreme Beings were involved in these affairs directly, otherwise he would oversee the entirety of military matters.
Cocytus was the designated field commander and would be the spearhead of the currently on-going military expansion. His role was that of a field presence if neither Momonga nor the other two Supreme Beings were personally present.
Benimaru was the lowest in the rank of the three, but he was nonetheless one of the leaders of Tempest's forces. In addition, he was Demiurge's second in command when it came to overseeing the military operations behind the line.
It should not be forgotten by anyone within Tempest that, as Momonga's semi-official adopted son, Benimaru's status was greatly elevated above most of Nazarick's non-natives. This had earned him respect equal to that of one of Nazarick's area guardians.
"My lords, it is a pleasure to see your divine forms as always," Demiurge said with a slightly faster manner of speaking. "I humbly apologize for all three of us not being able to arrive before our lords."
"IT IS AN ERRONEOUS DISPLAY TO THE SUPREME BEINGS. FORGIVE OUR INABILITY TO PROPERLY SHOW OURSELVES." Cocytus rumbled.
"No worries, you two. Let us just move on with the task at hand. There are urgent things we must get rid of post-haste, yes?" Momonga curtly replied.
On a side-note, Momonga found it interesting at seeing both Demiurge and Cocytus's tails swinging in sync, not to mention how fast they were moving. It was amusing for him to think that they were swinging their appendages excitedly, but controlled enough so as not to hit Benimaru, who was currently trying his best not to get in the danger zone.
"Indeed! Then, if you may allow me to take the lead, I will briefly give an explanation for our fellow friend here as he is not well versed with this particular floor of Nazarick."
"Thank you for allowing time for someone such as myself, Lord Demiurge," Benimaru said, not missing a beat.
"You're alright, man. I wouldn't mind hearing another summary about the eighth floor. Ain't that right, 'sis?" Pero said in a louder voice than usual.
"Yep! We don't mind. Not at all," Buku replied quickly. Both her and Pero exchanged a small laugh that almost sounded frantic to the undead, making him slightly suspicious.
'That's odd. Why are they so eager this time around? To be honest, I thought they would express some sort of disapproval since they aren't keen to listen to Demiurge most of the time.'
Wondering about that, he soon dropped that matter after seeing Demiurge's face contort into a certain look. Based on past experiences, Momonga determined this to be a strong indicator that the floor guardian was about to go into a long explanation.
As the least populated, the eighth floor was used as the army storage place for troops who did not require any upkeep. The sandy plains were able to provide plenty of space for the constantly spawning armies of Nazarick.
With each bump up in power, the rate at which Nazarick spawned pop monsters only increased. The added side effect was that a lot of weaker troops evolved at a staggering rate. The only downside compared to pure spawning was that if the old guard evolved into an elite guard, their equipment didn't change, making them subpar to the directly spawned ones.
As positive as the situation was looking, a new problem began to arise in Nazarick's forces. It was not the quality of the troops, but the quantity which seemed to grow larger as each day passed. The first three floors in particular spawned so many new undead that catacombs started to be overfilled with them.
Of course, the rest of the floors had similar problems. After the addition of the elementals serving under Buku, new ones started to spawn a lot more often on the fourth floor.
The fifth floor had even witnessed an unprecedented event. The emergence of a new frost virgin surprised pretty much everyone within Nazarick, especially Cocytus. It was later reported to Momonga by the fifth floor guardian that the frost virgin was the most powerful entity to just pop up.
There were smaller variations in the type of monster race being spawned throughout Nazarick. For instance, a new homunculus maid was continuing to appear every other day, giving the head maid Pestonya a larger headache on what tasks to give to the excessively bloated maid force. The crafting and alchemical departments were experiencing workforce stress as well, with Pero receiving more reports from Kaijin regarding the unusually high amount of workers lately.
The list went on and on, but judging by the irregular body movement and facial expressions in two out of the three lords, Demiurge knew that this was the time to wrap up this discussion and move on to the real meat of the matter. Keeping his words clear and simple was a point that the Supreme Beings had heavily emphasized in the past.
"As you can see the undead do not require much room and can be kept permanently standing upright. I ran some tests to provide the necessary amount of entertainment for the stationed troops, but the skeletal undead up to elite guard showed no apparent change in morale. For all intents and purposes, it is more practical to just let them wait for assignments."
Momonga only nodded in response, observing the rows of unmoving skeletal figures that laid before him. Clattering noises were heard in unison from them, possibly due to the detection of himself as his undead status had no doubt some sort of influence on Nazarick's undead summons.
He, along with his group, had been moving throughout the eighth floor in a somewhat linear pattern, making sure to avoid large congregations whenever possible. He did not feel the need to disturb its inhabitants, and after notifying Demiurge about his personal concerns, the floor guardian took it upon himself to follow a path where they gained higher vantage points in the form of occasional checkpoints.
"I see. Would putting them on rotation for patrol duty be more viable in the long run?" Momonga asked.
"Theoretically, yes. The rotation of forces would solve a problem with employing liches who could do the menial task of organizing the troops." Demiurge agreed.
The next stop was a small valley occupied by the countless liches who had not been assigned to any position. The majority seemed to be busy with creating raw materials.
'So many of them...' Momonga observed the scene with increasing worry. 'I need to figure out how to adjust spawning rates. Some already seem a lot more powerful than the regular elder liches. I guess the high amount of magicules in the air has something to do with how they would evolve.'
"I'll take a few dozen liches off your hands to expand the finance department but that won't solve the problem by any means," Pero spoke up, observing the horde of restless undead who yearned for being of any sort of use for their masters.
"Take as many as you like. Buku, do you need any?" Momonga asked, hoping she would be of assistance.
"Mmm, liches aren't the best when it comes to using them as couriers. Even lycanthropes start to get jittery around them."
Buku pondered for a moment and then added, "You know I could take a few for more office-related tasks. Not that it will solve the problem by any means. Otherwise, I can't come up with anything on the spot on how to deal with this mess."
"Office-related tasks, huh?" Momonga wondered out loud. "We might be able to expand on that, but I'd have to get reports from the heads who could man those departments before rushing into things… Unless?"
"Unless…?" Buku questioned. A figurative light bulb appeared above her head, and a devilish smile appeared on her face. "Ohh… I see what you mean…"
Both Momonga and Buku turned their heads to Pero in unison, causing the avian to take a step back.
"H-hey, what's the matter with you guys? Don't look at me for someone who you can dump all of the new freshies onto! Kaijin is already stressed out from the influx of people as it is. And lately he's been drinking so much that I was able to stack his bottles up in miniature pyramids."
"If this goes on, this will most likely come back to bite us. Share some of the burden, brother," Buku said, resorting to her innocent tone.
"Don't use that tone with me; it creeps me out. And it's starting to get on my nerves too. He can't exactly line the pop monsters against the wall and shoot them, you know?"
"Then do you have anything remotely helpful?" Buku asked, slightly irritated now. Pero slumped his shoulders in response.
"Nope. You don't have anything better to think of too, right? This shit needs to be resolved and fast."
Pero turned to Momonga and crossed his arms, sighing. "Look, I'll try to help you out as much as I can, but please don't dump everything on me," he said.
"I understand. Let's just move on with the inspection," Momonga said, lowering his voice. "I have a lot on my plate to deal with, it seems…"
Pero and Buku only exchanged worried glances at each other when they heard their friend's despondent tone. Even for someone as monotone as the undead, they preferred not having to hear him so depressed like this.
"Let's just continue the inspections, alright, Momo?" Buku said with a lower voice as well. Pero hastily replied with a similar statement when the undead briefly turned towards them and gave an affirmative nod.
After finishing up the last round of inspections on the eighth floor, they moved to the seventh floor which was Demiurge's domain.
As expected, it was crawling with various demons and fire elementals. Naturally, Momonga and the others did not feel the scorching heat that would have melted off an average human's skin the longer they would stay here.
'The pop monster spawning is clearly a problem that needs to be solved fast. I'll have to set everything else aside and look into it right after the tour.'
The next few floors were no better as the same issue was repeating itself, sometimes on a worser scale. The sixth floor was teaming with various beast-type monsters, causing difficulties for not only the twins, but the few dryads who had decided to move there permanently as well.
There were a few packs of direwolves that undertook the role of an apex predator, culling the numbers of lesser creatures under control that became rampant in their population growth. There were stronger monsters however who regularly got into fights the moment Aura was not around.
The fifth floor was packed to the brim with water elementals and various monsters suited for the arctic environment.
The fourth floor was the least affected, but even there, there were some slowly growing problems. The number of elemental spirits was steadily rising and they needed golem bodies.
And then there were the first three floors.
By the presented numbers alone, it was clear that the floor was getting overpopulated, but none of the three players could have imagined that the situation was this bad.
"Now I see why Shalltear only invites me to hang out when she is on the ninth floor. Come to think of it, hasn't she pretty much moved in with you, Momo?" Pero said out loud upon seeing the state the first three floors were in.
"Essentially, yes. At least now I know the underlying factor behind Shalltear's adamance at staying away from her own floors beyond doing daily patrols." Momonga said. "Interesting how she never brings it up past the reason of just wanting to stay with me…I'll have to talk to her later about it when I get the chance."
The breath of a fresh, lightened tone in Momonga's voice made both Pero and Buku slightly relieved. They were somewhat hoping to change the depressing atmosphere surrounding their friend, and a change in topic seemed to have uplifted the undead's mood to a certain degree.
Other than that, it was increasingly obvious that every nook and cranny was filled with the spawned undead. The simple skeletons were even put in gradually growing piles as standing shoulder to shoulder was becoming more difficult for the summons.
'Not only do I need to figure out how to adjust spawn rates, but how to rearrange and expand upon Nazarick's layout.' Momonga realized that he had ignored a problem for far too long and it needed to be solved months ago.
"While stopping the spawning remains paramount, we also need to clear this up posthaste."
"We are at your beck and call, my lords," Demiurge said, followed by Cocytus and Benimaru chirping similar statements.
"Very well. Demiurge, you can accelerate expansion plans until Nazarick is freed up from the pop monsters. Make sure the administration can keep up, but do not stress them out greatly."
"Understood. Then, with your permission, we can start the expansion towards Sarion and Fulbrosia within a week," Demiurge replied with audible enthusiasm.
'While the window of opportunity is slim, it is imperative that test subjects are obtained during our little incursion. Still, I can at least look forward to the fact that some of these lesser creatures will show enough resistance to warrant a harsh retaliation.'
A small and gentle smile appeared on his face as Demiurge started to conjure up cruel scenarios in his head.
However, knowing that the plans of the Supreme Beings always came first, Demiurge quickly squashed these thoughts. Instead, he began to envision the most optimal expansion routes for Tempest.
The most pressing issue in that whole region was the wolflike Tengu, the strongest unclaimed race within the whole Great Forest of Jura. Not much was known about them yet, but after careful consideration, the demon knew that it was better for the Tengu to be totally subjugated or eliminated before they ended up becoming a nuisance towards Tempest's expansion.
"Permission granted," Momonga said to the enthusiastic demon. Cocytus and Benimaru seemed to perk up as well. 'They are too eager to prove themselves. I better follow the expansion carefully before they go overboard.'
"Just don't cross any borders for now. I'm sure I could fix any border disputes easily, but I prefer not to rile up our neighbors for no good reason." Buku warned the warmongering trio.
"I will exercise utmost caution to not cause any diplomatic incident, Lady Buku. The maps we currently have indicate borders of Sarion and Fulbrosia within a meter precision." Demiurge bowed towards her.
Their next stop was the goblin raider force led by Rigur.
Now numbering in the thousands, it was the main police force of Tempest hegemony.
With rigorous training, a slow influx of power through the |Nazarick| skill, and unique grade equipment produced by Kurobe and his assistants, the average goblin raider was well within A rank with few outliers like Rigur and Gobta reaching Special A.
Such a force alone was enough to scare weaker nations into full submission. Rigur led the group through the saluting rows of hobgoblins standing beside their wolves, who had raised their right paws in a similar gesture of respect.
It wasn't particularly hard to raise the wolves as all one needed to do was to assure that newborn pups were named and that they got to eat fresh meat for a job well done. Of course, none of them needed to eat in a magicule rich environment, but it served as a payment and extra motivation to be at their best.
The rest of the police force consisted of the undead with old guards and death knights patrolling the cities and coming to assist goblin raiders when needed. On the other hand, small noncriminal offenses were handled by elder liches who issued either monetary fines or required unpaid labor.
Tempest's subjects rarely broke laws on purpose, knowing that it would simply be a waste of their precious time. However, the Free Guild members and traveling merchants with their guards did cause occasional trouble.
As a result, some disputes ranging from minor felonies to property destruction had occurred from time to time. Of course, it took just one public beating for even the haughtiest of merchants to start following laws to the tee.
While they walked, Ranga used the opportunity to jump out of Momonga's shadow and walk beside him to inspect the wolves under his command.
{ Ranga. Are you here to check on your comrades as well? }
{ Yes, master! I can assure you that there are no problems with the pack. I, along with the rest of the alphas, are carefully monitoring our numbers as we speak. We will increase our efforts if you demand it, } Ranga reported, proudly wagging his tail.
"I know I can rely on you, but don't overexert yourself too much. That sort of task is left up to someone like me and my friends," Momonga said half-jokingly.
Before he could even think about it, his hand instinctively moved to pat his trusty pet's head.
The wolf let out a low rumble while wagging his tail more aggressively. This quickly caught the attention of the siblings, who moved towards Ranga as though they were being gravitationally pulled in by him.
"Being able to pet you makes my day a little better, Ranga. Who's a good boy? I know you are," Buku said, automatically switching to a cooing voice upon seeing the wolf.
As usual, Ranga managed to steal the hearts of the siblings, who started to give him pets as well. Momonga also had to agree that the wolf was helpful for reducing stress.
"You're not wrong about that," Pero remarked, covertly feeding the wolf snacks while the others weren't looking.
As the prime alpha, the leadership of all wolves was his responsibility so he was leading this part of the inspection.
Ranga himself, due to sleeping in his master's shadow for most of each day, had grown beyond the limits that any of his brethren could dream to reach. But such a privilege came with the territory of being Momonga's pet.
And even though the Overlord had said more than once he would not spoil his pet, he indulged in said spoiling far too often even for Ranga's liking.
And he wasn't the only one. Momonga's three consorts were just as guilty of spoiling the fluffy beast that freely offered the service of being a warm pillow. At first, there was a certain amount of animosity between him and them but soon enough when the misunderstandings were cleared out he quickly became a family pet.
The next group to inspect was the regular ground forces commanded by Benimaru or one of his lieutenants in his absence. Numbering around one hundred and fifteen thousand, the bulk of this force was high orcs and the old guard.
They of course had a sizable force of dragonewts, the elite guard, and about two hundred kijin as well.
While about half were gathered in one of the largest military bases for inspection, the rest were organized into rapid deployment forces that were spread throughout various strategic locations within Tempest in case of an unexpected invasion.
Geared in rare to special grade equipment depending on their individual rank, this army alone could make the neighboring countries break out in cold sweat.
Despite this overwhelming military might, this was only a fraction of what Tempest was now truly capable of.
Yoseijoo's sprite force was not as impressive since most of her flyers were ranked only C to B, but it was about fifteen thousand strong and growing thanks to new sprites spawning periodically.
Their main strength was the shock trooper tactics they employed. It was even easier to break enemy resolve with how cannibalistic and vicious the fighters were. If the thousands of sprites descending upon them from the sky was not enough to instill fear into soldiers, their bloodlust that would drive them to eat them alive would surely shake them to the core.
The constant spawning of sprites didn't sit particularly well with Pero, who had to name them, not to mention all the newborn ones as the sprite procreation rate even after naming was rather high.
The Sprite Queen presented her forces while beaming with pride. Most were dressed in special-grade leather outfits and armed with bows of the same quality with only squad leaders sporting better equipment.
Yoseijoo herself had received relic-tier light armor and a legendary tier bow from her lover and was using every opportunity to show it.
The final and most impressive force was the insectars led by Apito and Zegion, with the wasp commanding the flying forces and the black carapace-clad battle beetle commanding the ground forces.
Even after slowing down their natural reproduction, new bugs spawned at a concerning rate and a new army of unnamed ones were waiting to receive the blessing of the Supreme ones.
This time it was only ten thousand but even that number was not easy to deal with. Shalltear helped a little by continuing the naming of mosquito-type insectars, but it was a minuscule part of the greater whole.
"Would you be interested in naming the flyers? Your personal force is a bit lacking." Momonga asked Pero while staring at the unnamed mass.
"What the hell did I do to deserve this from you?" Pero quietly hissed back.
"I can help you with naming the ground forces if you like, Momo. You are busy as is and I can spend a few hours giving names to them." Buku poured even more salt in the avian's wounds by volunteering to help with the tedious process.
Pero first glared at Buku for such a blatant betrayal and then looked away with a defeated sigh. "I guess I can help as well."
{ You see, it's not that hard to not be a lazy shit. } Buku didn't stop tearing into her brother.
{ Let's see what you will say after naming a few thousand. I think I'll prepare a recorder for all your bitching and moaning. } Pero shot back.
{ I appreciate you both helping me with this. } Momonga joined in to stop them from bickering. { There are a few things I need to settle on my end, but for now we can end the round of inspections here. Make sure to update your respective groups on the situation. By the way, I'd appreciate it next time that you two save your arguing for another time; otherwise I may need help with naming several thousand summons sometime later this week. }
"S-several thousands?!" Pero and Buku both let out quiet shrieks in unison.
They began to shudder at Momonga's cold attitude. Not wanting anymore part of this ordeal, they furiously nodded and gave their own goodbyes.
"Then if there's nothing else, I'll see you around!"
"Mhm! Catch you later, Momo!"
Before Momonga could even open his mouth, Pero and Buku were gone like the wind.
'Those guys… If they spent half their time arguing with each other towards actual discussions on Tempest's affairs, I'd imagine we'd be somewhat better off than where we're at right now."
Even if both backed out after a few sessions, even a little bit would help. And while leaving the naming to his friends was still only a temporary solution, Momonga could at least concentrate on other tasks for the time being.
Edited by Zirmeister
Proofreading by Alassandro, Tophrel, Kazuma, Visur Nyxan, SwissChocolatess, Sad_Smiles, and Ethal07.