Any proper leader should appear before his subjects from time to time, for a multitude of reasons. From what he found in the library, many feudal-era leaders did so and traveled around their domains regularly, and he would do the same. With that in mind, Ainz was ready to take a short tour around the newly acquired territories Cocytus had recently conquered under Buku's supervision. His friend had openly admitted that she didn't do anything besides experiment with Valkyries and Immortals while the Insectoid did all the work, and thus wanted to contribute more to Nazarick's gains.
Since he couldn't just go with Buku alone to tension-filled lands, Albedo had prepared a sizable escort with cooperation from Demiurge, and luckily most of it was hidden from plain view. His only visible guard would be Rubedo while Buku had her twins with her, as a show of force if need be. Additionally, multitudes of teams of eight edge assassins and hanzos would form a wide perimeter around the two guild members, infiltrating every last nook and cranny. Their task would be to ensure there were no ambushes and ensure only permitted persons approached the two.
After the stealth teams crossed the gate, Ainz stepped through it, followed by the two women. They arrived in the Lizardmen town square, decked out in splendor as their hidden guards surged around them. The rather spacious area was mostly paved with smooth stone blocks, and if it wasn't paved already it had fine sand laid out already. Skeletons and the reptilian creatures were some distance away, actively and methodically placing new stones. Instead of the wooden shacks, a more permanent stone building had been constructed as the foundation for a more advanced culture, closer to a human one. This architectural choice was made to ensure smoother incorporation.
Sooner or later, Nazarick would receive its first human citizens, and the near-impossible task of building and maintaining a more united civilization would start.
"My part is mostly done here," Buku stated once the gate closed behind them. "All who wanted to join the military already have, and the next recruitment wave will be in two years when the younger ones have grown up. I did ask Aura to fill the lake with fish, so there is no rush to make fisheries and other more permanent food sources for the time being."
"I think we can entrust Aura to periodically fill all freshwater sources with fish, for locals to use as a food source," Ainz commented. It wasn't easy to ignore the stench of musky swamp air, but for the sake of appearances, he had to do just that. If it was necessary, so be it.
'I'm getting used to luxury too fast. I wouldn't be bothered by such things a mere month ago,' He reprimanded himself for dwelling on such minor discomfort. Sure, he wasn't a reptilian-like entity like the residents of this area, but his natural undead form did nothing to lessen most of these sensations despite having no biological nose receptors.
"Not a bad idea. The more food there is found naturally, the easier it is to feed everyone." Buku agreed. "Maybe we should think of training more beast summoners and delegating such menial tasks to them."
"Mom, I can do it on my patrols!" Aura protested loudly at the possibility of being deprived of additional duties, which signaled her feared implied message that she wasn't worthy of them.
"Just because you can, doesn't mean you should do such a simple task when your skills can be used better and your time more efficiently. I can clean my living space just fine, but it would be a waste of time if I did so personally," Buku retorted before pausing. The delegation stopped before the assigned leader of all Lizardmen, Zaryusu Sasha.
Ainz resisted the urge to laugh at Buku's outrageous claim, remembering how often Pero described his older sister as a human pig who would rather die in the wallows than tidy up her living space. He quickly dismissed his amusement, instead switching attention to the crocodile-like figures vaguely resembling Aura's dragonoid summons before him.
From what Cocytus had reported, Zaryusu was promoted to be the leader not only for his bravery and sharp mind but also his experience with more advanced cultures and forward-thinking, serving as an example of what their new masters wanted to see in their kind. He was also quite experienced and sensitive in battle affairs, having survived the initial onslaught of Nazarick.
But the creature clad in brown scales wasn't as eye-catching as his companion who had white scales and red eyes: a clear display of albinism. With a shorter stature and more delicate features, there was no doubt that the albino lizard was a female and a rarity among her people, as he saw no other white-scaled creatures nearby. Both were kneeling with lowered heads, waiting for permission to speak to them.
"Rise and be at ease. I am here to see how my new subjects are faring." Ainz waved for them to stand up, only then noticing that everyone had stopped working, standing still like the wooden planks some were carrying. The two before him were no exception. The lizardmen pair shot up, assuming rigid postures, and spoke in synchronicity, their voices dripping with fake enthusiasm as if they were making a propaganda video for a ruthless tyrant who wanted to appear generous and good-natured. Which, to be fair, that was likely how they saw him, as anyone would of a new conqueror.
"Welcome to our humble village, most merciful of leaders, honorable Supreme Overlord Ainz Ooal Gown. We cannot be more thankful for being your loyal subjects."
Ainz glanced at Buku, who just shrugged at his silent question. 'Someone overdid preparing them to meet me, that's for sure.' He mused as the pair of reptilians glanced up at him, growing progressively more afraid at the sight of his silence.
"That's good to hear. I won't hold you for long. I see that the construction of the town is underway. Are the new accommodations suitable for your people? And please, be honest, I am not here to listen to unearned praise, instead, I want to make sure the needs of my people are not ignored. What is good for you is good for me. Zaryusu, as I understand, you have traveled the world and have experience with other cultures. Could you tell me what difficulties lizardmen would face while adapting to such radical changes?" Ainz spoke with natural grace while trying to give the impression of being personable and reasonable.
"It will take time for my kind to get used to the new circumstances, my Lord. Most were unaware of anything else but the gatherer lifestyle, and don't yet understand the benefits of fisheries and other more advanced additions to our lives. Everyone, even the elders, truly appreciates the peace you brought us. I will do my best to help my kind integrate into your Empire, Lord." Zaryusu replied, lowering his head once again alongside the female.
'He does sound sincere. It seems Cocytus has made the right choice in appointing him.' "Carry on then, and don't be afraid to communicate your ideas on how to improve the lives of your kind to your superiors. An improvement that goes unsuggested is an improvement that never occurs," Ainz stated, ready to move to the next settlement.
One quick gate later they were in a similarly half-built city. The only residents were in chains, working away with angry croaks. The frogmen were human-sized anthropomorphic frogs, whose colors ranged from simple green to bright red.
"These morons still don't realize their situation and need to be beaten into working and building a better settlement for themselves. If I knew there were more somewhere in the world, I would have completely wiped out the frogman population. It was a pain in the ass to find few with even half a brain and appoint leadership. At least they supposedly taste good," Buku commented as they stopped before a green frogman that was bigger than the rest, similarly kneeling before them.
"Krorax is the only clan leader to surrender after most of his clan warriors were killed." She continued as the frogman remained in a kneeling position, shivering.
"My people will come around, Lady Buku. Honorable Supreme Overlord Ainz Ooal Gown, I am grateful for your mercy. My kind had grown arrogant and beyond reason when they didn't immediately surrender before your endless might." The frogman leader croaked without daring to look up.
"I strongly believe that every species should have one chance to change their ways and adapt. Should your kind prove incapable of improving and integrating, only a few will be spared and kept as chained animals, the rest used to fertilize the fields," Ainz replied, displaying none of the kindness he expressed towards lizardmen.
With how much Buku had complained about the unreasonable beasts beforehand, he saw no reason to be lenient towards the frogmen either. They would either learn or be nearly wiped out to give space for more useful others to use their former lands and resources.
"We will show you that your kindness isn't misplaced. I will cull those of my kind who do not see reason and refuse to teach the next generation to be grateful. We reproduce fast, change takes little time to implement. Give us a chance and we will be the army at your disposal, my Lord." Krorax spoke eagerly, no doubt grimly aware that some Nazarick denizens now used his fallen brethren as food as their numbers dwindled by the hour.
"See that it is so," Ainz stated. 'At worst they can be raised as farm animals… Using sentient creatures as cattle… I need to be more mindful of my thought process, it seems. Such an idea came far too easily to me.'
It wasn't exactly news to him that his humanity was slipping, but new depths of inhumanity were reached on occasion, and he had to regulate those. Did he need to worry about what sort of God he would become, Ainz couldn't tell at the moment. That was a concern for the future. For now, there were a few smaller villages to visit. Although lizardmen and frogmen occupied the vast majority of the new territories, there were a few goblin and orc tribes as well on the list to visit today.
Zaryusu and his wife Crush Lulu rode his pet hydra Rororo towards the frogman town, to settle on the fishing spots and avoid conflicts. She slightly shivered in his lap, nervous about what had just occurred but confident in their abilities.
It was a mutual love at first sight when they had first met. He had never seen a woman so beautiful before, her exotic white color only enhancing her womanly charms. As things went, courting traditions weren't being dragged out among their kind, and not long after they had started their life together. She, as a former chieftain of a tribe, was a great help in managing the entirety of the lizardmen, experienced in internal politics and resource management.
Crush was sitting in front of him as he held her by the waist, while his loyal pet charged forward along the recently cleared forest path, prepared for the construction of a road. Stone would fill it soon and Rororo would no longer be able to rush willy-nilly, but that was for the future.
So much had changed in such a short period. Just weeks ago, he had been a marked outcast of his people for daring to leave his tribe and travel to the outside world, and now he was chosen to lead his people for his new masters who were living Gods, capable of impossible feats and glorious magics. Even the direct servants were beings whose power was beyond all comprehension, capable of killing armies without breaking a sweat. He had been right to make the choices he had.
But the Gods were merciful. Instead of enslaving his people, they offered safety and prosperity to those below them. A daughter of the intimidating Goddess of War had replenished the lake with so many fish that no one had to worry about food anymore, capable of feeding their entire population for years if managed properly. And his proposal to create and maintain sustainable fisheries was met with immediate approval, and the Gods supplied all the necessary resources to do so.
There were even talks of providing education and teaching everyone how to read and write, something his primitive kind could never dream of mastering on their own. After all, things that didn't directly contribute to their survival had been all but shunned before.
They reached their destination, entering Frogmen City without being stopped, as the undead guard recognized him and Rororo. Finding Krorax wasn't a difficult task either. The voice of the unreasonably loud beast could be heard from outside the city, bellowing at his subordinates to move faster and stop making mistakes.
Unlike the lizardmen, their old enemy hadn't accepted servitude gracefully when given the chance to do so, instead choosing to fight the army of the Goddess of War. Now the frogmen were cast in chains, driven by whips of pain, not promises of a better future. 'Serves them right, their kind couldn't be reasoned with from the start, though I'm surprised this one surrendered before his species went extinct,' Zaryusu mused, observing the undead driving the frogmen to work harder.
"It's you again. What do you want this time?" Krorax croaked, his vocal sack rapidly inflating.
"Reminding myself not to be as stupid as a frog." Zaryusu shot back with mocking laughter, his wife chuckling alongside him.
"Someone has a big mouth. If the masters didn't protect your scales, I would make a boat out of you and that white freak," Krorax retorted before glaring at one of his kind, spurring them to work faster.
"You can try. I am curious how frog legs taste. I heard they are delicacies among the children of the Gods. It took the Gods themselves to find some use of your kind. But enough pleasantries. I don't have all day. We'll need to rearrange the assigned fishing spots to avoid infighting," Zaryushu declared.
"What's wrong with the old borders? There are plenty of fish once again." Krorax asked.
"Most of the west coast is reserved for fisheries, which will feed this entire part of the Empire in the future. We need the spots up to your city while you take some of the east coast." He explained the plan.
"And why wasn't I informed? No matter, take them. We'll have enough at the current numbers. Don't expect more." The frog leader expanded his vocal sack even more, threatening to blow it up in their faces.
"If everything goes according to plan, we won't need to catch wild fish anymore. Maybe even have enough to give some fish guts to you as a gift." Zaryusu couldn't help but go for another jab. The animosity between their kinds' was unlikely to fade any time soon, animosity didn't disappear that quickly when under new management.
In response, Krorax croaked loudly and picked up a paving stone. Seeing that he had overstayed his welcome, Zaryusu patted Rororo and departed, the frog glaring as they disappeared into the distance.
Once they were a notable distance away from the city, Crush spoke her mind, slightly worried. "You should be more careful with those frogs. The Gods may get mad if we start a fight with them."
"I know. I won't be the first to throw a stone, that's for sure. Still, it would have been better if they killed all of those bastards." Zaryusu pulled her a bit closer.
"It's not for us to decide. Just stop provoking that fat frog. Nothing good can come of it, and we have a future to look forward to." Crush stared downward at her abdomen with a light smile.
"That we do." He smiled in response. It filled him with joy when he found out his wife was pregnant for the first time. As a former outcast, he hadn't planned to have kids, but fate had other plans. Grand plans, if the Gods were signs of what was to come.
Editing by aidan_lo.
Proofreading by x4x, aidan_lo, clagan, Squid, Sluethen, Milk, fvvck, and NuggetLover.
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