Few days have passed since the creation of her new Unholy Ultimus Empire. During that time, Yang oversaw the efforts to use her castle's stockpile of steel to arm both the citizens of Ultimus, as well as their Minion guards. She had Giblet also repair her dented armor, and forge her new weapons. Her great sword was reforged, and her armor now had one noticeable upgrade. Small spike extended from the top of her armored hands, so even if she were to lose her weapon again, she would still be able to do significant damage to her enemies.

From her office, in what once as a village, she could hear the new hymn of her Empire being sung, as was now the custom to a start of a new day. She listened, and relaxed, the voice of her people soothing her.

"Justice in our Fatherland!

And death to every foe!

We shall not pause to rest,

We vow our loyalty!"

"The Emperor commands you,

Rise young heroes of this land!

The World shall fear our might deeds,

All hail the Empire!"

"The Emperor shall show our way,

Step forth, seek glory!

Hoist your swords high into the clouds,

Hail the Empire!"

"Our Emperor stands astride this world,

He'll vanquish every foe!

His truth and justice shine so bright,

All hail his brilliant light!"

"Never will he be overthrown,

Like mountains and sea,

His strength immortal and vast,

All hail the Empire!"

"So let his wisdom guide our way,

Go forth and seek glory,

Hoist your swords high into the clouds,

Hail the Empire!"

Yang had to admit, it was nice being praised in such a form. It helped that the hymn more or less reflected the goals she wanted this Empire to reach. She shall indeed 'stands astride this world', she'll 'vanquish every foe', and in the end her 'truth and justice' shall fix the injustice of the world.

The vill-her new citizens were more than happy to humor her demand for a hymn. Seems like Gnarl was right, gratitude did come with its own rewards.

The village that is now Ultimus, had seceded from the Kingdom they once swore their loyalty to, and all the benefits the Kingdom once received were now hers to claim. Taxes were heavily lowered, and in exchange she asked for donation of some of their livestock every three months. The power of the artifacts increased the growth of any nearby livestock or crops. Gnarl had told her amusing stories of the Heroes that defeated the second Overlord using his artifacts, including at one time the Tower Heart, to grow pumpkins, and all other manner of things. Well, she found it funny at any rate, Gnarl found it infuriating. To that end, she had donated to her people one of her Health Pillars, ordering them to keep it safe. As long as the Tower Heart still maintained its connection to the artifact, she would still reap the rewards.

Of course, "not all was good", Gnarl had warned her. If Vacuo finds out about this treason, and they send Huntsmen to reclaim the land…Gnarl assured her she would survive if she managed to flee. Her land, he had said, likely would not. Treason had always carried the Death Penalty, as disfavored as it may seem these days.

To that end, they did not yet announce to the world the birth of her new Empire, instead preferring that the Kingdom draw its own conclusions about the fate of the village that had once sent them taxes. If they couldn't spare the Huntsmen to protect them, they wouldn't send any to check up on 'an unfortunate devastation of yet another village'.

"You have limited time, Sire", Gnarl had warned her. He said that she needed to increase her power fast so she can protect her Evil Domain, after all, someone was bound to eventually stumble on to here, and from there rumors would spread.

She thought that maybe they should remove the flag with an image on her helmet on it then, but both Gnarl and the citizens were strangely insistent that it stay.

In any case, she couldn't agree more with Gnarl. She needed more power. She needed it now.

Fastest path to power was magic, and she needed far more than the five spells she knew now, and only four of them could be used in combat. Unlocking her semblance would also be another power up, but she had no clue how to do that. For once, neither did Gnarl.

There was another path to power. Faster, stronger, but she wasn't that desperate yet. She wasn't about to start massacring innocents to increase her power.

To Mistral then. She had heard that there's where you go if you need information, and besides, its her only choice. Atlas was too prim and proper to have an Evil Path to power laying around somewhere, and she wasn't going back to Vale.

She left her office and announced her departure to Mahogany, and after making sure all the promised equipment was delivered, and the Minion Guards were at their place, she summoned her remaining seven Minions used what little Life Force remained in reserve from time when she was young and the Minions hunted Beowolves for fun, and restored her Minion count to fifteen, then departed.

Her goal was the capital of Mistral, annoyingly titled Mistral. She was beginning to reconsider naming her capital traditionally. To get there, she'll need some sort of a bullhead, and the journey would take a long time. Perhaps even over a day. Still…it was the only way. It was her Destiny.

She journeyed backed to the ports. Without much fanfare she had her Minions throw out the passengers out of the nearest Bullhead and got in. Her sword to the throat of the driver was payment enough for a trip to Mistral. And as the driver looked around, his other passengers, goblin-like creatures were more than ready to threaten him too, should their Master's hand tire.

The journey was long and spent in silence. When Yang felt the need to sleep, she slept, trusting her loyal Minions to keep her safe while she slept.

Around twenty hours later, they landed in Mistral, after which Yang promptly left the bullhead and marched off in search of a suitable place to make her base of operations in.

She headed to the slums, and after finding an abandoned-looking warehouse, she took it over. In it, she summoned a Tower Gate. She had her Minions remove her armor and put it through the Tower Gate. For now she needed to lay low, and while doing that she could gather information.

She definitely did not release a sigh of relief that she could finally walk around like normal, in pretty casual clothes. Being an Overlord could be fun, but sometimes she just wanted to be Yang.

After some consideration, she left the Minions behind. She didn't need to draw attention, and she could take care of herself fine.

All she needed now was to find where one gets information.

"That'll be easy", Yang thought to herself.

Five minutes later and Yang could conclude that it was shockingly easier than she even expected. Literally the first person she asked pointed her to the Spider crime syndicate, and even gave directions. Apparently everyone knew about those guys. She wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Back in her headquarters Yang thought about whether it'd be better to appear as Yang or as The Overlord. Yang would look more approachable and pleasant. But she was completely broke. The Overlord would look tough and commanding, and maybe she could use that to convince that she could do them a favor in exchange for information.

"Yes", Yang decided, "I'm gonna go as the Overlord. Pity, I liked being outside the armor for a bit".

She had the minions put her armor on her, she drew as much power from the Tower Heart as she could from this distance, which wasn't a lot, and used it to influence her appearance. The Dark Powers of the Tower Heart twisted her eye color to orange, glowing as evilly and unnaturally as her gauntlet did. The Dark Power twisted shielded what was visible of her face with shadows, until only the eyes were visible. The Power twisted her armor, growing spikes on her shoulders and leggings.

All of this, completely useless. It was nothing more than a scare tactic to make her seem more intimidating than she was.

She left her headquarters and made her way to the bar this so called 'Miss Lil' Miss Malachite' ran her crime syndicate from. She entered it, and made her way towards the woman sitting at the back with two body guards at her side. She seemed like the one in charge.

"Miss Lil' Miss Malachite?", Yang inquired, and upon seeing the small nod she continued, "It is an honor to meet you. I have heard great things about you"

This was, of course, a lie. She knew next to nothing about the woman only that she could get her the information she needed. Playing nice and respectful seemed like the path forward.

"It is not often someone comes so boldly into my territory, dressed like for war no less", Malachite remarked, with a mixture of both displeasure and curiosity in her tone, "Who are you?"

"I am known as The Overlord", Yang replied, and pointed at the Minions behind her, "these are my loyal servants, the Minions"

Malachite looked over the Minions with clear curiosity on her features.

"I have never seen anyone quite like them", she remarked, "they look like they are taken straight out of a children's tale book"

Yang thought a bit about her next reply, and chose her words carefully.

"They are my loyal servants, and uniquely mine. To all others they are reclusive and hidden, and those that find them don't remain alive long".

"You will have to tell me more about these curious creatures later then. I just love new kinds of information. But I don't think you came here to share the tales of your, Minions you called them?", her voice turns serious, as her guards make a show out of slowly pulling out their weapons, "Why did you come here?"

Yang took a moment to think over her words. She couldn't appear to submissive, she won't get what she wants that way. She couldn't push too hard either. Yang settled on polite respect.

"I wished to offer you my services, and my Minions' through me, if there is a task you need done that you would rather not be tied to you. In return I only request some information about some…historical relics I am looking for"

Yang thought that this sounded reasonable enough. Favor for a favor.

"And I would be a fool to accept your claims of competence at fool value", the Woman replied simply.

"Send your men at me, and I will defeat them.", Yang said confidently, "or send me on a suicide mission that needs to be done", she suggested. "I don't care either way"

Malachite laughed.

"Such bold claims. Normally for such a tone I'd cut off your tongue. I wonder if you even have one. You don't seem to have a face that I can see"

Yang did her best to ignore the anger rushing to her.

"Suicide mission, huh? I can give you one. One of our allies, the Wave crime family has found itself a rival in The Hana Guild. Your mission is as simple as it is difficult. Bring me Vermillion Raddock the Leader of that Guild, dead or alive, and I'll consider you an ally of mine. I'll even give you that information you asked for."

Yang nodded. That seemed fair.

"Thank you. Will you have an issue if I loot the place for all it's worth?"

The woman laughed again

"By all means, if you win against them, take everything you want. They have plenty of drugs and weapons"

Yang perked up. Her dad did tell her to never do drugs, and she was always curious. And since dad isn't around…

"Where can I find this guild?"

"In the city of Kuchinashi not far from here. Their base, and their members bear a sigil of a flower."

Yang nodded again, and left.

Once she left the hearing distance one of the bodyguards asked

"Shouldn't you have told her the guild is full of ex-hunstmen, boss?"

"She was confident, wasn't she? And she had a mysterious aura around her. Maybe she'll survive without that information. If not, then that's the price she'll pay for being bold to me"