บท 15: THE MAN WITH NO PLAN

(AN: Thank you for your concern and prayers. My friend is okay.)

Genie-Verse, the Nether, outskirts of the Tomb of Nazarick.

Momonga and Demiurge walked along red rocky blocks of the Nether with curiosity. When Demiurge had reported to him about the unusual nature of their surroundings, he wanted to investigate it himself. Unfortunately for him, Demiurge insisted that he should come with him. Even going so far as bowing to him, in order to allow him to accompany him.

Being the salaryman in his past life, Momonga couldn't help but think about how a good boss should interact with his employees often. He remembered working long hours for a manager who he had almost never seen in person. Thinking of this, he wanted to be the kind of boss who interacted often with his employees. It would promote a sense of ease among the different levels of the company, allowing employees to have significant ease when requesting time off or approaching difficult topics with their manager.

Thus, here he was. Momonga stood among the blistering heat of the Nether, overlooking the large lava-filled caverns below him. His equipment didn't do much to combat the sweltering heat of the area, and he was at a significant disadvantage if he were to fight in this environment. But the situation of his transmigration to this specific dimension was not all detrimental.

Momonga turned his gaze towards the barely visible outline of a Nether Fortress in the distance. It looked like fragmented remains of a once great fortress, made from red bricks.

"So, that's it, huh," Momonga muttered, but it was heard by Demiurge next to him.

"Indeed Momonga-sama. Those seem to be the remains of some old civilization." Demiurge said, following Momonga's gaze.

'Wouldn't it be great if I could show my friends this? Could we build something just as magnificent?' Momonga thought to himself.

Momonga remained silent as he focused his gaze on the blocks around him.

"[Ray of Negative Energy]" Momonga spoke, casting a spell.

A beam of dark energy shot out from his hand, hitting the red blocks around him. The blocks then made some *popping noises* and turned into small hovering items that could be picked up. The ray burned out 12 blocks in front of him, before stopping. He picked up one of the blocks and held it in his hand curiously, before placing it on the ground. It immediately became full-sized as before.

"Interesting," Momonga commented.

The dimension outside of the Tomb of Nazarick was made of these block-like pieces, which could be destroyed by doing enough damage to their durability value. This meant that any spells used if they were strong enough, could destroy large areas of the land underfoot. Despite this world's blocky structure, the animals, plants, and creatures that inhabit it were not blocky in design. They looked incredibly realistic, which gave a strange and somewhat funny dichotomy between the serious-looking creatures, and the childish blocky land that made popping noises when they were destroyed. A clear reflection of the character of the designer of this world.

"Momonga-sama, there is a native trader to this dimension in the 'outpost'. I went ahead and assumed that you'd want to meet it." Demiurge said, bowing in Momonga's direction.

"Hoh, can you predict what I plan to do?" Momonga asked, Demiurge seemed to sense endless confidence in his voice.

"How could I?! I only occasionally grasp the greatness of your wisdom from the scaps of comments you say." Demiurge once again bowed slightly, a smug knowing smile on his face.

'How come I'm the one that doesn't understand my own plan then?!' Momonga screamed internally but kept his expression stoic.

"Very well, lead the way, Demiurge," Momonga said majestically.

"Understood," Demiurge replied, leading Momonga to the small 'outpost'.

The 'outpost' was anything but simple. It was made from some of the scavenged bricks and railings of the Nether fortress nearby. It had occasional fence railings and ever-burning stone obelisks. No matter which way you looked at it, it looked like a castle of a demon king of hell. Demiurge merely walked in through the entrance and lead him to an audience room.

The room had a black obsidian throne that towered over whatever guest arrived to meet him. On either side, were lit obelisks of burning fires. At the base of the throne, an ugly-looking pigman was kneeling. He was wearing a golden helmet and occasionally made snorting noises as he breathed.

*Creak*

The audience room door creaked open. Momonga walked up and naturally took a seat on the throne in the room, with Demiurge standing beside him. Albedo was already on the other side of the throne, seeming to be waiting for him. He took a seat and the entire room fell into silence.

The pigman felt sweat begin to bead on his forehead from nervousness. He was confused, was he supposed to speak first here? Why was this powerful skeleton lord remaining quiet for so long? Finally, after almost an entire minute of silence, Momonga spoke.

"Who are you?" He asked calmly.

"*Snort* I am Twon, A tradesman." The pigman spoke, snorting out of nervousness.

"And what do you trade?" Momonga asked.

"Anything we's find! I trade thems for gold. *Snort*" Twon replied.

"You.. trade anything for gold?" Momonga asked, confirming what he heard.

"*Snort* Yes!" Twon replied.

Momonga was confused. Usually, Demiurge would only ask him for his direct intervention on important matters. Why would Demiurge let him talk with this pigman so earnestly just to trade with them for anything? Could there be something he was missing? He used the [MENU] identify function on the pigman.

{

Pigman Twon

Class: [Nether Merchant]

Lifeform rank: 1

HP: 10/10

MP: 5/5

}

Momonga fell into deep thought for a few seconds, but no matter how much he tried he couldn't think of a reason why this pigman was important. He lamented his average intelligence from holding him back from being the Supreme Overlord the denizens of Nazarick deserved. In the end, he gave up trying to figure out the meaning behind this pigman and that it would be better to trust Demiurge and Albedo's judgment than his own. After all, they were much smarter than him.

The discussion continued until Albedo reached an agreement with the pigman. Momonga would occasionally try to give helpful comments, but it just ended up confusing him more. Demiurge interpreted Momonga's comments to have a deeper meaning to them, leading Momonga internally to rant about himself having no idea what Demiurge was talking about.

In the end, Nazarick signed a trade agreement with Twon's clan of pigmen. The pigmen were obsessed with gold, specifically enchanted gold, and Nazarick had loads of it in its treasure house. Of course, he would only access his own personal treasury within Nazarick as the guild treasury was off-limits for any single member to withdraw from to afford a personal expense.

The ending agreement allowed cooperation between Nazarick and an aboriginal group in the Nether. Both Demiurge and Albedo seemed satisfied with the trade deal, but Momonga felt depressed. He still could not grasp the importance of the pigman in front of him. He excused himself to take a rest in his chambers. Despite his [Actor King] boon which reduced his mental fatigue while acting, he felt like his exhaustion came from his very soul.

...

1 day before the release of the Genie-Verse.

New York, Genie Tower.

"Hey hey hey! My reputation seems to be at an all-time low." Genie commented while flipping through some of the news channels.

"-ublic opinion mounts as the congress meets to disc-"

"-Blue Felon, a menace to the peace of our republic-"

"-an we do about it? Quirks like Genie's are what keep me awake at night. I-"

"Rest assured, the US government will do its utmost to ensure safety in New York.-"

"-oes the world have order anymore? Does the Symbol of Peace hold any meaning?"

"Hero groups divided, some claim that their early retirement is to blame on blue felon-"

"Blue Felon has been declared as the number one villain-"

"Genie is now the number one wanted man in plain sight. He can't even be arrested as he-"

"Number one-"

Despite the news reporting such crazy stories, the city was still functioning. People were still out and about, going about their days as usual. Not only that but a similar message was being pushed almost all of the new stations he had seen. This situation was clearly not a coincidence, someone was attempting to drive the fear of him into the public. But he was confused... how the public had declared him as the number one villain. He was a nice guy, why did it seem like they hated him?

"Rumblebuffin, I don't think they love me anymore," Genie said sadly while petting a cat he had taken up off the streets.

It was a thin black cat with tuxedo-white patterns on its fur. He found it malnourished and sick outside of his Genie Tower, so he thought, he should keep him. He named him Rumblebuffin.

"At least you'll be here for me at the end of the day, right Rumblebuffin?" Genie asked the cat happily.

*meow* (Yes, I will wait for you... Wait for you to give me food.)

"Hmm, well good enough." Genie shrugged a reply with a smile.

(AN: Genie can speak cat, well he can speak every language.)

"Perhaps, tomorrow I'll have some fun with those news stations. " Genie muttered to himself.

(AN: Sorry for the chapter delay, I had some writer's block and wrote 3 different chapters with different ways to showcase the game. I settled on this one.)