"No! I'm not going!"

I instantly draw him back into me. Before I noticed my fists slam the desk, worried I inspect the condition of the desk. It's fine… but there's a small dent. I'll need to replace it later.

"Master Verra, perhaps it is best if you go." So my secretary Stella advises me.

As I thought she is better than Rosey as an assistant. If it was Rosey she would have told me to send an NPC, and gotten depressed when I reject the idea.

I’m angry but at myself, or more accurately my clones. I have been trying over and over again since early morning, but they have refused my command.

"But was it not you that advised against it."

She and the other NPCs were against me going outside. Though we haven't found anything that could even put a scratch on me, they were still the ones against me going outside.

"Yes, I would very much rather have one of your clones go for your own safety, Master Verra, but it seems to be useless this time. I cannot fully comprehend your plans Master Verra, but I believe they are important to you. Thus in order to accomplish them, it seems for today you must act."

She’s speaking her mind, that’s good.

What’s in her settings? I wish I could remember them.

She has a point, but I don't want to go. That’s the problem in itself, my clones won't do anything I don't want to do. They are, after all, me.

I've become lazy, using them for everything since I came to this world. In the game, they merely served as supports for fights. I could use them to play, but I had to take control of them separately and was a pointless skill, used to walk through areas with possible traps. But in this world, I could command them to do things in my place... in theory.

“Haa~” I have to accept the outcome. "Very well, I'll go. Please prepare the appropriate clothes."

Without making a sound, the maid bowed to me and exited the room. Some of the maids, cooks, and butlers from the 3rd floor have started working in the Cave.

Somebody has to do all this paperwork. If another clone, refuses to do work I'll...

The clone forms in front of me with a mere thought, from dust to man.

"You'll be doing the paperwork today since you don't want to meet the Sorcerer."

He looks at me lazily for a while before giving his answer. "Fine."

Compared to adventuring and infiltrating a town or city, paperwork was the most boring thing, so it's usually easy to get them to do other work but today it seems that will not be the case.

The good thing with clones is that I don't need to explain anything; they have all my memories up to the point of creation. The only thing we don't share is HP, even MP is shared between the clones, and so if one uses it all, the rest of us lose all their MP too.

I let him take over and head to my room. Where the maid is waiting with my clothes. After changing I use one of the skills in the Powers of Hermes class to teleport to the hotel.

♦♦♦

"You can both leave."

The maid and Stella bow to me and exit my office. This is a lot of paperwork, he didn't laze around and leave everything to me, did he? Yes, yes he did, I have his memories. Fuck, well it's not about the quantity but quality. I should just do what I can and leave the rest to the original. What else can I do really?

That maid, her name was Zwanzig, I think, well they all look so similar.

That's my fault too, I got bored and just ended up copying and pasting their settings, slightly changing their design here and there. The only ones who would be clearly unique are probably Onn, Rant, Munn and probably a few others in the 384 maids I created over the 3 years after making my base.

I really did go insane in the game didn't I? Spending that much money. If you consider just the NPCs over 300 I have more than 4000 of them. The cost of NPCs didn't change with levels so I made as many NPCs as I could with the money I had. If you consider just the maid NPCs I must have spent more than 10,000 dollars. All together considering the 20,000 something NPCs I have in my base, I spend a lot of money.

I wanted to make an army of 100,000 to take over a certain kingdom, in the game, but that didn’t quite pan out. Clearly.

Thinking about it; I squandered all of my inheritance. Everything my parents and my grandparents worked hard for.

Thank god they're dead, ku ku ku.

Technically it wasn't a waste since this world became real, and even if it didn't I had enough to survive for another 3 years. Just enough time to work up the courage to kill myself, certainly not enough time to start changing my life and become a proper human being, ku ku ku.

I think it was either death or homelessness that awaited me back on earth.

I always hated that place, the feeling of powerlessness. You never get to own yourself for long, majority rules, individuality matters not, and you forget who your enemy is. God dammit, maybe it’s everyone. It's too fucking expensive to own yourself, at the same time it's cheap for others to own you. Pick which company you want to work for, pick who gets to own you that's all. You get to pick, aren't you happy? Why aren’t you happy? You should be happy.

“Ahe~”

I'm just a lazy stupid piece of shit, aren't I? I wouldn't have made it anyway.

It’s always just the emotionless indifference or painful sorrow, and sometimes the uncontrollable rage aimed at posters.

♦♦♦

"What’ll you be doing now?"

"If it's fine with you Madam Stella I would like to accompany you."

So she wants to follow me.

"I won't be staying in the cave, I have to make some errands."

Cave that's what the master called it, I would consider it a mansion but I suppose compared to his room in Data-House this can only be considered a Cave.

"That's fine if you're willing to have me, Madam."

"No problem then. And you can stop with the Madam."

She might look like that but she's level 101, none of the NPCs are below level 100. It reflects the Master's level when he created the base. It means she’s one of the oldest NPCs.

It seems the maid understood a bit too fast.

"If you're okay with it... Alright."

Is that her normal personality? It's like that dignified behavior was just an act, it disappeared instantly. She seems relaxed.

"Where are we going?"

"First we need to check with the cook."

This building has 4 floors, the highest section is the master's living space. His bedroom, library, office... he even has a kitchen. It truly bothered me when he refused to let the cooks in there saying it’s his personal area.

I walk in and immediately check the cupboard and fridge. We were able to reproduce all the magic technologies within Data-House here thanks to the engineers. That reminds me of the strange technologies they’re building in the labs. I must go talk to Gorgan when I have the time.

"Everything’s filled, Stella."

I see, yeah it does seem so. She’s helping me check but I rather she doesn’t, because it leaves a bad taste, when I don’t confirm it with my own eyes.

The cupboards, the fridge, everything is filled with food of all kinds. The supply here seems to be handled by the maids, then I only have to check the store room.

"Can you teleport?"

"No... A lot of my levels are in cooking, cleaning and other household tasks. I know some healing type magic and offensive divine magic."

My magic only has enough power to teleport myself, even carry too much equipment would be difficult for me.

"I see. Then we'll head for the teleportation gates."

There’s one in every section besides the stairs.

"I'm sorry."

"Think nothing of it."

I give her a smile, to ease the atmosphere. She’s my senior as an NPC, but that is precisely the reason why I’m stronger.

We teleport to the first floor since the maids and butlers assigned here are doing their tasks I can skip 2nd and 3rd.

"Stella, you know what Master Verra’s planning? I thought about it, but I can't figure it out."

It is none of your business what the Master is planning, a maid only needs to focus on her duties. That is how society works, by everyone doing their part.

I won’t say it since I did tell her she didn't have to act like a maid in front of me. She isn't even keeping her back completely straight anymore, it seems a bit hunched and when did she have pockets in her skirt.

I straighten my glasses to conceal the displeasure reaching the surface.

Perhaps it would have been best to walk in silence.

"I imagine he wishes to kill the player that rules Tengai. Anything further is beyond me."

"I see, so you went to battles with him before."

"No, I have never been to any battles with him..." The only ones who's done that are probably, the Seventy2. "I've read few of the reports and talked to the people working in the field, so I can tell."

"I've never been outside before, well expect here. is it fun?"

"It is work."

I answer curtly, maybe I should have kept the formality between coworkers. She is growing to be quite annoying.

When we reach the kitchen on the first floor, she jumps in front of me to open the door.

“Hmm.” Okay, that was not necessary.

Lam’s a level 10 Master Cook, he’s the head chef in this Cave.

"Been a while Stella."

He says barely giving me a glaze while pouring more liquor into the frying pan. He is well known for his meals containing a large amount of alcohol.

"Is that much necessary?"

"The flavor won't come out otherwise."

Well whatever, it's not like I'm interested in this man, or his job. I am only here to carry out necessary duties within this Cave to ensure that the Master’s life here is as comfortable as possible. And at times of ‘need’, offer him advice. That was his own request.

For the Master himself to ask me that, I must be more valuable than these other NPCs. I must still be cautious; Rosey was replaced without a second thought and thrown into some corner of the world with some filthy animals. If I want to secure a permanent place here I must make myself irreplaceable. Unlike this lowly cook or maid, my place is beside the Master.

"Where’s the report?"

"Ah~ isn't it due tomorrow, I'll get it done by then."

“Tic*...” I unconsciously clicked my tongue. "Don't you think you're cutting it a bit close? Very well tell me the amount now, so I can at least give him a rough report when he comes back."

"Well don’t really need anything right now... there’s plenty, but if you’re talking about how much we used up so far then it’s a lot."

It’s only been a few weeks since we started using this Cave, but everything needs to be checked weekly, if not daily, to ensure everything is at the best of standards for the Master.

I take out my pen and pad, he knows I’m dissatisfied but he ignores me and continues his cooking.

"Numbers." I must sound angry by this point.

"I'll have to check."

"What do you think you're doing without even knowing that much!?"

"Stella we have more than enough for the next month even if we don't replenish now."

That is true, thanks to preservation magic we can store a large amount of food without ever worrying about it rotting. Just like the rare herbs and such in the treasury.

But that isn’t the point, detail is everything, even a single misshapen apple needs to be checked and replaced.

"Are you using the older material first?"

I know it doesn't matter with preservation magic, but it is still common sense.

"Yes, yes. We make sure to put the new stuff at the back."

"Very well, I'll come tomorrow. Next time, don't be late on your report."

"I'm not late, you’re early!" Lam squawks behind me, as I leave his kitchen.

"Where now?" The maid’s still here.

"We're going out to the mines. We must check how the work is going there, and get the monthly report from Digbe."

"We're going outside." The maid asks, smiling.

That is not how a maid should be acting, but it’s my fault for giving her the permission. It was an absolute mistake, how enraging, I'll never be able to take it back.

♦♦♦

On my way to the sorcerer’s estate, which is some ways off from the main city streets, a coach started following me. I was walking at a leisurely pace, so a horse-drawn carriage should have passed me by, instead, it came beside me and matched my pace.

A black haired man wearing adventurer clothing parted the curtains from within the carriage. He looked out of place in that coach. The coach was fit more for a noble, the person inside looked like an adventure, a young one.

"Are you William the collector?"

He asks when our eyes meet. William the Collector, sounds like I collect souls.

"Yes, I'm William Shipudan."

"I was sent by the Core Sorcerer to get you."

"I see."

The carriage comes to a stop, the door opens, and the young man moved further away from me and into the carriage, to make room. I really wouldn't have minded getting their slowly, or not get there at all.

It’s all for the plan Verra.

Somewhere along the way, I notice he didn't take the easiest route to the sorcerer’s estate. But it could be just some other way I am not familiar with, so I stayed quiet. If he's trying to do something, I'll kill him. That's all there is to it.

▼▼▼

We’ve been going off route for a while now, and it's taking too long.

"Where are we going?"

I finally had to ask. I don't mind silence, I prefer it, but it’s always awkward to go back to silence after you’ve talked a bit.

"The NutCandy Cafe."

"Why?"

I would like to add where, but that clearly isn’t the sorcerer’s estate, so I would like to know why first.

"What!? Didn't he tell you...? I thought you knew... I see that makes sense." He seems to be thinking about how to explain this to me. I want to say ‘never mind I don’t care’ at this point. I suppose I’ll know when I get there. "It's where we always gather before he takes us to the other dimension. No one knows the location of that base except the sorcerer, and for all meetings concerning the king he teleports us there."

"Ah- I see."

We awkwardly go back to silence. After taking turns after turns we finally reach the NutCandy Cafe.

The cafe is quite empty, with just a handful of customers. And at the counter is a pale man with dark bags under his eyes. The brown haired adventurer I been traveling with, whispers a few words to him. He then leads me behind the counter.

We walk past the kitchen and behind a door that has a wobbly knob, and unoiled hinges; stairs lead down to the basement.

There are quite a few people down there, standing around, most seemed a bit too fat and rich, the nobles of the country perhaps. Sure there were some adventurers and other commoner looking people but...

"William you made it." Lagose Makotie the fat man with a jiggling belly emerged from the crowd and greeted me.

I knew, I knew his name, he's a merchant who lost out on business due to us. Since we conquered the whole forest and all the mines. His small business failed, but of course, he doesn't know me, he knows the guy I'm using as our figurehead: Evals Nekorb.

"Where's Danial?"

I want to finish this as fast as possible and go home.

"He's teleporting some others right now. He'll come back soon."

As he finished his sentence, a glow of pure white emerged at the center of the room. As the light died down, I could see the figure in the middle of it. He saw me right away as well and came to me.

"Our guest of honor has arrived! Everyone this is William Shipudan." He said making a large gesture to me like a magician unveiling his beautiful assistant. It almost made me take a large bow as if we were in a stage play, but of course, I didn't. I just stood there not knowing what to do. "Come, come. I'll transport you there right away."

He called to me, and some in the crowd seemed a bit disgruntled.

"I've been waiting for an hour!" One of the men displayed his anger, a noble dressed in what seemed like golden sweatpants and shirt. "I Rebme Dlog demand justice!"

"Rebme will you please..." Danial put his hand to his head in a pained manner as he spoke. "It's fine, he can take my place."

"Hum. Alright, then Lagose you can come the next time."

Then he told me and three others including Rebme to gather near him and activated the teleportation magic while holding all our hands.

He can't even take more than 4 people at a time, maybe I should just kill all of them, and take the books. The player isn't even that strong.

Where we teleported to was right back at his estate, his underground estate to be more precise. He left me and the three others in some conference room with a large round table.

After learning how to teleport here, I allowed some of the ninjas to map the entire area. The secret areas have all been mapped out, and I think I read about this area in the reports.

This estate is pretty cool, it's like two homes built on the same spot. Well with some pocket dimension magic you could probably make it literally in the same space, but for something built without magic it's amazing.

Maybe 'amazing' is too much for this sorcerer, 'interesting'.

▼▼▼

Hoooollly~ this is going on forever. How can they talk about this for hours without end?

What I learned from this meeting is that it’s quite easy to invade the castle walls since we’re already inside the country. We don't even have to break down the castle walls because about 40% of the soldiers working for the king are ready to betray him the moment they get a chance. 'Betray', might be a strong word, but from the contents of this meeting, it seems that they're not loyal.

The landscape itself protects this country from invading forces, the Beastman nation is separated by a mountain range which allows some protection, and Nolybab is separated by distance and rough terrain. They’re also allied with this country; well it was, now with the new king it’s probably on complicated status.

There are no sewer pipes or tunnels to sneak into the castle because the technology hasn't gotten there but it still shouldn't be that hard to invade. We just need one person on the inside on our side. They open the gates, then all outside forces and the betraying-inside forces would dominate the rest of the castle guards.

The only problem is the king himself. When it came to him they tossed a lot of doubt my way, but I assured them it was fine. Other than some unknown possibilities that always exists, to the best of my knowledge, it should be fine. From all the reports I’ve read from the spies, it's clear that he will lose against my Golem and he has no friends or anything like that here. At least none he's been meeting with.

Really, the major problem will be the other players, when they get wind of this.

I know there's an adventurer who was a player, somewhere on this continent. Then there’s Cobalt; we have eyes on him and we have made contact indirectly so it will be interesting to see what he'll do. According to the NPCs, his level should be somewhere between 200 and 250. That's the discrepancy when you send NPCs who don’t have God’s Eye, but even 250 is nothing. Other than the adventurer player that I don’t know the level of, I seem to be lucky tossed into a continent will low level players. There might be other players but I hope not, we'll know after this blows up, I suppose. I don't really like dealing with it as it comes, but they still won't be able to pinpoint me. All they'll know is that there might be a player here that killed another player. Without knowing why, or how and other such details they won't move...

So when they’re searching around, it’ll be the best time to act. It's just a matter of who kills who first. I rather eliminate all the players in one swoop, but that's dangerously impossible.

Come on let's wrap this up, people. This room uses candles for lighting, it's making me sleepy.

"William... so how long will it take to transport the Golem?"

Oh- did they reach some kind of conclusion.

"About 3 weeks." I can bring it over right now, but 3 weeks seem like a good amount of distance. Just in case 3 weeks are too small an amount. “It’s already being transported.”

"Um. Then it should be fine, in a month we will launch a full attack on the castle." Danial said appraising everyone’s reaction and nodding in satisfaction.

Some of them were even cheering. All this because someone took away their slaves. And I'm their ally in this farce, ku ku ku.

They said a bunch of dates and stuff, but all I remembered was when I needed to meet Danial at his estate with the Golem. Which we discussed quite a bit. All in all, I'm not really doing much other than giving temporary command over the Golem to Danial.

The Golem's programming won't allow it to harm me, or the NPCs. So I have nothing to worry about, hopefully.

All I know is that I get a month off, almost a month. Thank the lords!