Harbingers of Change

Following another night spent reading and practicing, he was ready for another day. The maid had already arrived and brought coffee and morning snacks. At this point, he was done trying to convince them that there was no point in doing that since he couldn't eat. At least it smelled nice and the maids seemed happy when he lifted the cup and smelled it.

{ Lord Momonga, we have a situation in the throne room! } Albedo's message interrupted his calm morning.

The momentary panic was suppressed, as usual, and he could spend at least a second in accelerated thinking mode before engaging whatever was happening in the throne room.

It likely wasn't an invasion, but with new worlds and new rules, it might have been possible for the enemy to teleport inside Nazarick, although he knew everything happening inside the Great Tomb was at least run in the background by |Dark Sage|. There were no hostiles in the throne room. Besides the elemental guardians on the ceiling and the Guardian Overseer, there was just one more entity. A friend? That couldn't be!

He teleported to the throne room and was met with an unexpected sight. Albedo was pointing her bardiche at someone who looked human. At least two meters tall, the blonde man had lightly tanned skin, dressed only in black pants and cloak leaving his muscular torso bare. The man was standing with his hands up, as if trying to calm down the furious succubus who threatened to impale him.

He knew who that was, but simply didn't want to believe it.

"Veldora!? How?!"

"Hey, chief! I thought we were friends now, but she seems angry to see me."

"Albedo, please put the weapon away for now."

"But Lord Momonga, he might be a threat."

"You can remain on guard, but don't attack."

"As you command, my Lord." Albedo said and reluctantly pulled back the impressive weapon, holding it by her side while glaring at the dragon turned man.

"Veldora, can you explain yourself, please?"

"I'm here because of your skill, |Nazarick|. I didn't notice it at first but once I examined the new skill I acquired after the naming I detected a small thread connecting me and this place. I may not have my awesome power at my disposal, but at least I can be around my buddies."

"So this is just a manifestation and you are still imprisoned?"

"Unfortunately, yes, but I think it will take just a few decades to make some wiggle room that's wide enough to bring my core through. Then I'm fully here, chief. You don't mind having your buddy here, do you?"

Before Momonga could answer, a low growl from Albedo prompted Veldora to jump behind him, saying,

"Why do you surround yourself with these scary women?"

The Guardian Overseer was clearly not happy about the dragon's presence inside the Tomb. Veldora's manifestation evidently was not a threat at this point and if it could take decades for him to get out of his imprisonment, then there was a lot of time to prepare contingencies in case he turned against Nazarick. He felt it was not needed as the naming had created a connection not only between him Buku, and Pero, but Veldora as well. The paranoid side however wanted to make preparations in the unlikely event that his newfound feelings of connection were misplaced.

{ Pero, I need you in the throne room ASAP! }

{ Huh? What's going on? }

{ Veldora is going on. }

{ What!? I'll be there in a second. }

"Albedo, please consider Veldora our guest now. We became friends, after all."

"Of course, my Lord." Albedo said, putting away her weapon and bowing, "Welcome to the Great Tomb of Nazarick, Lord Veldora."

There was noticeable disdain in her voice. There certainly was a need to speak with her in private. For now, he could make Veldora Pero's problem and recall the vampire bride, Rima, assigned to Veldora for additional distraction.

"By the way, where is that…" Just as Veldora asked, Pero teleported to the throne room and blinked, surprised. Instead of an enormous dragon, there was a man hiding from Albedo behind Momonga.

"There you are. Ready to be plucked?" Veldora asked with his signature laughter, stepping out of the Overlord's shadow with a boisterous posture.

"What's with the male stripper look?"

"The what now?"

"Never mind. Momo, just give me the short version." Pero said.

"I can manifest inside this place, so you are showing me around," Veldora said and approached Pero with a confident stride.

"Sure… Momo, you ok with this?"

"Yes. He is just a manifestation for now."

"Ok, well, let's show you around then."

Using the opportunity, Momonga teleported Rima to him and sent her after the two departing figures.

"My Lord, is it wise to let him roam around?" Albedo asked.

"We accepted him as a friend, so for now at least put up a courteous appearance. We will prepare contingency measures in case we need to stop him but I trust it won't be necessary."

"Understood, Lord Momonga. Should I inform the staff to treat Veldora as an honored guest?" Albedo said with a smile. Of course a Supreme Being knew better than her how to handle the situation, how blasphemous of her to consider another option.

"Yes, arrange a guest room for him. If he is not deceiving us then we have gained a valuable ally."

Albedo bowed and carried out the order. She would have to discuss it with Demiurge and come up with a contingency plan. No doubt Lord Momonga had already thought about all the possible outcomes and prepared accordingly, but that didn't mean she couldn't do some planning on her own and at least show off her own abilities. The vague feeling of Veldora being connected to |Nazarick| was there but better safe than sorry.

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Everything was going according to plan. The base foundations of the castle were already put in place after a few days of hard work. The castle itself would take a long time to build, but his master deserved nothing less than the best his servants could offer. The steady progress gave Rigurd a sense of satisfaction. His life now had goals beyond base survival and every small step taken towards those goals brought him great joy.

For now, the hobgoblins and wolves shared tents made of animal skins and, for the warm season, it was enough. The housing and clothing problems still were not solved, but at least Ezanima provided solutions. The previously very crude grass weaving was improved to a noticeable degree and, combined with leather, gave sturdy, if somewhat uncomfortable, clothing. As for long-term housing, the plan was to build wood houses on stone foundations.

The lich had already laid out the groundwork for farming and a team was assigned to survey local flora for plants to cultivate. One of the top priorities was to find a cotton-type plant for better clothing.

The armor and weapon problem also was slowly being solved. The first steps in metallurgy were made and some of the newly trained blacksmiths had made the first sets of spears and steel arrowheads, giving the hobgoblins a much-needed upgrade in weaponry. The melee warriors also received plate-covered leather armor. Combined with tempest wolves as mounts, armed and armored hobgoblins were a dangerous foe to an unprepared enemy.

As Rigurd and Ezanima looked over plans for the day, the Goblin Lord noticed a familiar horse-pulled cart bumping over the uneven dirt road with three figures riding it.

The small kobold sitting in the cart's front was holding the reins of the horses. The dog-like creature with large, droopy ears was the smallest of the three. On his right sat a rather large lizardman in heavy armor, holding a spear in his hand. On the opposite side of him sat a goblina dressed in tight leather armor, with a bow on her shoulder.

"Koby!" Rigurd shouted and waved.

"Elder?"

"A lot has changed since last we met."

Koby looked around, observing the extensive construction work, and replied,

"Indeed, a lot. Elder, what happened to you? I already met the wolf riders at the border of your territory. Luckily, they recognized me and let me pass."

"My master named me Rigurd." The hobgoblin said proudly.

"What is your business in Tempest?" Ezanima asked, interrupting the reunion.

The pale, dead-looking monster was frightening enough for Koby to take a step back and for his two bodyguards to get between him and the monster.

"Easy Ezanima. Koby is a friend. He has traded with us in the past when no one else did."

"So you are a merchant, then?" The lich asked in a more polite tone.

"Y-yes. I just stopped by to see if the goblins have any gear to sell that they can't use themselves. I do not wish to cause any trouble. If I'm not welcomed anymore, I'll be on my way."

"My apologies for sounding rude before. My Master, Lord Momonga, wishes to talk with you." Ezanima said with a bow.

Koby let out the breath he had held in. As skilled as both of his guards were, there was no chance any of them would survive the conflict with numerous hobgoblins and immense wolves roaming around. His best course of action was to play along and hope to get away with his skin intact.

"Of course! It would be rude of me to deny the request of the one who rules over these lands."

He didn't need to wait for long as various majins arrived after a few minutes. Even with his rather limited knowledge of high-grade equipment, Koby could see that all of them were dressed in gear worth a kingdom. But the most unnerving thing was the complete lack of aura from them.

A kobold, like him, had to be smart in order to survive in the world where might makes right. A monster who hid his aura rarely did it because he was weak. In the very few cases he had seen, the majins were both powerful and smart. And if one of them was so powerful as to turn an entire tribe of goblins into hobgoblins by himself, he could be on sub demon lord level.

With the hobgoblins kneeling, he did the same.

"Ah, you must be Koby, the merchant that worked with my servants in the past." The undead addressed him.

The dark robe with wide shoulder plates and the golden staff in his hand made the undead look majestic. His merchant sense tingled as he quickly glanced at the jeweled staff. That alone could set someone for a life of luxury. A fair guess was that this was Lord Momonga, but it was dangerous to just assume.

"Yes, my Lord."

"Rise. If you don't mind, my friend and I would like to ask you a few questions."

Kobold slowly got back on his feet and said,

"Please ask as many questions as you like, my Lord."

The undead quickly introduced himself and the majins around him. Koby's suspicion was true, and he was Lord Momonga.

"What can you tell me about this?" Lord Peroroncino, standing beside Lord Momonga, asked, and showed a sizable chunk of light blue ore.

Of course, he recognized the immediately valuable ore right away, but why did they ask him about it? No doubt they would know its value. His best guess was that they were testing him, and he had to be as honest as possible.

"That looks like magical ore. I'm sorry, but I can't appraise its precise value, my Lord."

"Can you give me an estimate?" Lord Peroroncino asked again.

"Magical ore is worth close to its weight in gold. If I had to guess on the spot, at least a hundred gold coins."

Momonga silently stood and listened. Once magical ore was mentioned, |Dark Sage| provided a lot more information. It essentially was iron ore enriched with magicules and, considering that all samples were found near Veldora's prison, and that there was none anywhere else in Tempest territory, it was safe to assume it was rather rare. The kobold saying that it was worth the same amount as gold didn't sound too surprising.

"What about this?" Pero asked as he took out one herb found in the cave and showed it to the kobold.

As an experienced trader, Koby knew the herb as well. It was a fine day when you found a hipokute herb in the wilderness. The fact that Lord Peroroncino asked about two different items with high magical concentration raised a lot of questions, but he didn't feel he could just ask them in the current situation.

"That is a hipokute herb. They go from seventy silver to one gold, depending on the weight."

For now, there was no reason to assume the kobold was lying about prices, as it was rather noticeable that he could barely keep composure. Following Demiurge's suggestion, Momonga assigned a shadow demon to follow the merchant and figure out more about trading routes.

With local resources tested, now was the time to see what this creature would say about Yggdrasil items and resources, many of which could be replicated in Nazarick and in various quantities, depending on the rarity.

Momonga took out one of the mid-class swords that were one of the lowest tiers available in Yggdrasil and rarely used by anyone beyond level fifteen. The kobold eyed the sword for a moment and then said.

"I'm sorry, but I can't appraise this sword. It is clearly at least a special grade item."

"Where could we appraise such an item?"

The last thing the poor kobold wanted was to take the sword with him just to appraise it and he could guess that the sword was expensive, but that's about it.

"Perhaps merchants from the Dwargon would be interested in it."

"Hmm, then I have one last item to show and a deal in mind." Momonga said, and took a small chunk of dark ore out of his inventory. "Do you know what this is?"

Beliat was a mid-tier ore, but mixed with mithril, it made adamast, a material that the Pleiades maid uniforms were made from. No doubt this world had its own set of ores and it may not have even been usable here. But considering that he himself could produce it with his |Creation| skill without spending too much energy, it wasn't that valuable to him.

Koby curiously observed the small chunk of material he hadn't seen before and replied,

"No Lord Momonga, but I am just a humble merchant and such a question is better asked to a smith."

"Then I propose a deal. You find someone who can appraise the sword and the chunk of ore, and sell them, and you can keep twenty percent from the trade with the agreement that you return within a month."

Twenty percent to just find a buyer and sell it? But what if he sells them cheaper than this Majin expected? Was he even in a position to refuse? The ominous-looking, undead Majin clearly wasn't someone a simple creature like him wanted to make angry.

"I-I accept. I will be back within a month with the payment."

"Good." Momonga said and waved his hand over Koby's head, saying, "I marked you so I will know where you are at all times." It was a bluff, of course, as the real tracker was the shadow demon that already resided in kobolds shadow, but some extra caution and a red herring wouldn't hurt.

As Koby's cart slowly bumped away from Tempest, he couldn't help but feel like being watched. Whatever magic that Majin used, he couldn't escape it.

"Boss, was it smart to make a deal with them?" The lizardman asked after a while.

"I don't think I had a choice. You saw what was going on there. An entire tribe was named and evolved to hobgoblins at that."

"I have never heard about an entire tribe evolving before." the Goblina said, "That named Goblin Lord surely looked strong."

"Looks like someone wants to get the big guy for herself," The lizardman teased.

"Oh, shut up. I didn't mean it in that way." she spat back.

Usually, Koby would get them both to stop bickering, but today he had a much bigger problem to worry about. The trip to the dwarven capital would take almost two weeks, only giving him a few days to sell it. He already had a merchant in mind. The renowned blacksmith Kajin would surely give him a good deal.

Edited by Edgy.