The early autumn wind blew through the tree tops. Though it wasn't quite cold enough for frost yet, it seemed as though the forest itself knew that it was on it's way. Already, trees began to change colors, towards rainbows of amber and crimson. Various game burrowed and stored away food as their pelts grew long and shaggy, beginning their preparations for the winter. Even the howls of Barghests echoed in the distance, signaling to their own the location of any found quarry.

And now marked the time where the lizards of the forest began their own preparations for the winter.

Fwip-Thunk!

I whistled low, admiring the accuracy. "Good shot, I'd give that a B plus"

The long-tongued lizard gave a snort, slurping his tongue back in afterwards. "Still not used to a weapon firing so straight-forward as these at the twitch of a finger"

He patted the foregrip of the crossbow for accentuation, before he pulled the spider silk string back again and primed it, the frost copper fittings holding up to the task admirably. Gotta hand it to Kika, she's made a hell of a weapon out of such 'low-end' materials in the environment. The Small Fang loaded another copper bolt into the groove, and took aim.

Fwip-Thunk!

"Nngh, better…" I barely heard him mutter, as I stepped away to observe the rest of our fun little group activity.

It was the same song and dance along a line of several lizardmen from various tribes aiming and firing at a row of targets with our new crossbows. With the new alliance in place, there was a trade of culture so to speak, and in this particular case skill. Really wish I could share more, but there's only so much I can do until I can get myself a proper sit down with this 'Zuko' character and iron some things out for inter-tribal relations.

Things more or less flowed back into what these lizardmen considered 'normal', and I have to admit I'm starting to feel more at home among the tribes than I ever did back home. A routine was well established at this point, and I'm more or less accepted into the tribe as an actual friend of the tribes thanks to the efforts I've helped put in.

Every now and then, one of the other chieftains came by from one of the other tribes to check in with some of their own training with us, sometimes even me for whatever reason they fancy. Zaru more or less did his own thing, dropping by with his kids every now and then. I can see his son is plain as day smitten with Lulu, and the girl does seem to at least somewhat act a little differently around him, but it doesn't feel quite right. Almost as if it's not as strong as it was displayed in the anime.

Up next was the Razor Tail chief. Wasn't much to say there, the guy was pretty… simple, to put it lightly. Of course, after some idle chatter about some games I'd introduced to the tribe, he found it interesting. He'd been particularly fascinated with the concept of chess, and the gentleman legitimately made me fight in a couple of games. Damn near destroyed the one board we had out of frustrated confusion and a sudden loss of pride in my skill.

Wasn't the only concept from back home I'd talked about. When it was Sukyu's turn to stop by and visit, we'd originally talked shop about crossbows and other weapons. At first it was the ballistae and bows themselves, before we moved on to other subjects like the trebuchet and catapult. Of course, when I mentioned cannons that went down a rabbit hole I didn't expect. Turns out this guy is really fascinated by the prospect of ranged weapons, practically his life. Er, probably is since there's only so much you can do out here in the wood and swamp. Of course, until I can dive a little deeper into getting a proper resource pool, I don't even want to begin to mention firearms. Dude would probably make a redneck proud with the boner he'd pop at the thought.

"Gotta show these guys how to make cement since Todone reminded me of the recipe…" I murmured in thought, rubbing my bushy face as I continued to ponder more inventions.

Had to make myself stand out for one of my future plans, after all. I grimace as I realize the hair on my face has only gotten worse since I first got out here. Sadly, though the frost copper is good, it isn't good enough to make a proper razor. It seems my wild hair is going to have to wait until we have proper steel on our hands.

"Yet another invention, oh wise human?" I heard a familiar voice mock, though considering I knew who it was I could safely say it was in jest.

I turned around to greet Zarusosa, clasping his claw with my own hand and shaking firmly. "Zaru, you old coot! Good to see you guys came back safe and sound"

The old lizard man nodded with a grin. "I assure you that the Corpse Hydra was a one off moment. Not even Barghests can take me by surprise. Speaking of…"

He motioned to his own group of hunters, and I was surprised to witness a corpse with ghastly, see-through chains hanging from its cold corpse being carted off through the village. I give another complimentary whistle, admiring the sight of the beast. I wonder why it has chains wrapped around it in the first place? I sure as hell doubt that they're made by the Barghest themselves, but where do they get them from? Are they even synthetic, or something natural?

"Damn… only one? Don't they move in packs?"

The lizardman shrugged. "We believe this one might simply be an exile from the pack. Either way, it's pelt will make for great armor"

I nodded at that. "I'm sure Kika would love to get her hands on that, way I hear it it's not often you guys get your hands on Barghest pelt"

"Normally the numbers they roam in are too many when combined with their strengths and magic. I suppose we should consider ourselves lucky".

The old man chuckled and shook his head, and judging by the faint glint in his eyes, I could tell that even that prospect worried him. As much as I wanted to see that ghostly wolf get skinned and see what they'd do with it, I had too much on today's docket for free time in things like that.

Fwip-Thunk!

Zaru's eyes wandered over to our little training ground we'd set up at the edge of the village, and smiled. "I see that our tribes are adjusting to the new weapons together"

I nodded at that, giving a softer smile on my own. "It was a pain convincing the war chief to let me give some to the others, but with a little bit of bartering and ass-kissing, I was able to get them armed up with something proper"

And something proper it was. The crossbows along were a god-send, but their armor was something else. Thankfully, it seems that with our access to tools and a little bit of magic, my {Petrify Wood} recipe that I shared with the tribe has finally found a use. Though the copper we used was normally pretty shiny, they were sanded down to minimize their glean on weapons such as the crossbow. That said, to effectively fight against any chance of our crossbowmen being seen, the armor itself had to effectively be capable of hiding them in the first place. Thus, wooden armor was the best course of action. Each and every crossbowman we had was suited up in smooth, stone-like wood, lightweight yet strong. I'd even heard talk that some of the actual warriors wanted to swap over to the wood itself instead of copper, and I'm honestly considering that. On one end, the gleam of frost copper armor gives a faintly regal, sophisticated look, but on the other end the petrified wood is cheap, freeing up copper resources for other projects. Considering we're reliant on one single stream for our copper, that's a bit of a pain. Moreso now that we're arming the other tribes in our alliance.

"Well, in either case, I'm glad to know that we'll be giving the other tribes one hell of a fight"

I grimaced at that, uncertain with such a course of action. "About that… do we have to break out into warfare? It's not as though our tribes hurting any more. We should at least try to start some peace talks with-"

"Nolan," Zarusosa interrupted, his own expression hardening. "I understand that you are… far more caring than most humans would be, but it's sadly inevitable. There's… simply not enough resources for the long term, no matter which way you look at it. Maybe you do have some other sly trick or snippet of wisdom you can share, but… it's simply too far gone for anything short of a divine miracle from the ancestors to solve. With your new knowledge you've passed on to our tribes, we can at least no longer worry about this for a long time in the future, but we will most certainly have one last fight. One last thundercrack, before the end of the storm"

My grimace deepened, but I relented. I wanted this to be as bloodless as possible, find a way to end things off with all of the tribes united… but he might be right. As much as I hate to admit it.

"Still…" I grumble. "We can at least try to minimize the loss of life. I don't want us committing war crimes any time soon…"

"War crimes?" The Green Claw asked.

Oof, heavy subject.

I moistened my lips with a drink of water and hummed. "Yeah, war crimes. My people held a certain code of ethics for warfare, a code of 'honor' if you will. There's way too many subjects to cover, so I'll cover the most important ones that would matter if it came down to combat with your fellow tribes. Never kill those who surrender, never give a false surrender for the sake of ambush, fair treatment and provided essentials for prisoners, no targeting non-combatants such as children, no cruel and unusual punishment, no assaulting medical staff such as doctors and healers unless in self defense, provided medical care to the wounded and sick in the event of capture… the list goes on but those are the most essential ones"

Zarusosa scoffed at that. "You won't have to worry about that, the lizardmen tribes have their own code of ethics that we follow but they seem to at least be somewhat similar to what you've just described"

I sighed in relief. At least we wouldn't have to worry much about things going dirty in the upcoming fights if it came down to it. Still, it wouldn't hurt to be prepared and make sure that we can do everything possible to save everyone. I mean yeah, saving everyone and being the good guy is nice, but I'd also like to make sure that I have as much manpower as possible for the future. Having less than ten-ish years to grow strong and build a nation is a bit of a fucking speed-run, and I'll need every resource I can get for it.

"Well, now that we've at least got that out of the way, I suppose I need to get going. I need to check in on a particular project. A little something to help me ease talks with the war chief"

Zaru raised a brow ridge at that. "Oh? What is it that Zuko wants that you have? I hear he's a rather fiery sort"

I can't help but grin at that. "Tell you what, if it goes over smoothly I'll let you in on it"

"Hah! Always the one to shroud yourself in mystery Nolan. Very well, but it better be worth it"

I shook my head at that. If it goes well, it shouldn't be an issue at all. "Well, aside from my dirty little secrets, there anything you planned on doing today?"

The huntsman shrugged. "Truthfully no, but I did wish to spend time with my sons"

"Respectable," I responded with a nod. "Guess we can just walk and talk til we need to part ways"

I gave a hand wave and a nod to the training lizardmen, and parted ways. As we began our gentle trek, the familiar sound of construction work greeted my ears, albeit without power tools.

"I must admit," Zaru commented, staring at the timber frame of a house currently being lifted into position. "That I never expected to see such methods of construction in my life"

"Yeah, I did an under the table stint with some contractors, learned a thing or two about how to build houses. Got me fucked if you think I can do electrical work though. Also learned how to tell if I'm getting cussed out in Italian. Can't speak it, but I can hear it"

The lizardman seemed to be fairly confused by my statement. "Er… electrical? Italian?"

I blinked, smacking my head and shaking it. "Right, right, I haven't exactly talked to you about the language thing. But ah, as for electrical, have I told you about one of the properties of copper?"

He shook his own head in the negative.

"Well, basically, we've developed a means of harnessing and manipulating electrical charge through insulated copper wires. We'll string it up throughout the inside of our walls and connect them to outlets to power basic things like ovens, refrigerators, lightbulbs…"

The lizard man's eyes glazed over, and I could tell right away that my rant was going nowhere. I wanted to sigh, but honestly it was simply a matter of these guys having never seen the splendors of the 'modern' world.

"I'll… have to write something down later. I know it's a lot to take in but… long and short of it we used electricity for everything from heating our homes, to cooking and preserving food, and lighting it up at night, as well as our streets"

That he seemed to understand. "Ah, truly? I had no idea that electricity was capable of doing such a thing… if the name is anything to go off, electricity has something to do with electric magic, yes?"

"Yes"

"Ah, splendid! Though, I don't know why your people haven't just found a means of using magic instead of electricity"

"Well, partially because of necessity," I answered slowly, trying to think of something that would fit the fact that magic didn't exist back home into something that would equate to being a sound reason for not using it in the first place. "Magic users existed, but they weren't common enough to be capable of using their magic on every single home. As a result, we needed something that anyone could use regardless of whether or not they could use magic"

Zarusosa hummed in thought. "Then how did you obtain electricity in the first place?"

"Generators mostly. One of the common, fundamental laws of the universe is that energy and matter can neither be created nor destroyed, only converted. Through various functions, we can take one form of energy and transform it to another. Electrical energy is one such energy"

"I see…" The huntsman answered slowly, before laughing sheepishly. "I must admit, most of this is going over my head"

I shrugged and laughed myself, patting his shoulder. "Hey, no worries man, nothing wrong with that. We've all got our own sets of skills that come from our own walks of life. I've just really been around. Life's a bag of tricks like that"

"Ahp, excuse us," I heard a lizardman say, and we both turned to see more lizardmen hoisting timber from a nearby stockpile for construction efforts. We moved out of the way as he continued his work assisting in the efforts.

"Mmm, regardless of semantics and lifestyles, you've brought an unusual change to the tribes with your efforts"

"Couldn't have done it with one open-minded lizardman having my back," I responded with a smile.

We came up to a crossroad, and I took a nice glance at one of the signposts as we continued our steady pace. The village was by no means a full-fledged town yet, but the construction efforts underway were being made to plan in advance for various scenarios. If memory serves, when the enemy tribes were defeated they scattered and got absorbed by the other tribes or fucked off and did their own thing. Or something like that. Regardless, I want us to be prepared for any future endeavors, especially those involving expansion. Even if my memories of the finer parts of Overlord lore are finally starting to wane a bit.

Still need to find a way to record shit without them reading it, ten years is a long ass time after all.

"For what it's worth human… thank you," Zaru began. "I know that our peoples have… drastically different ideologies, but you came forward as if there were no difference between us-"

"Yadda yadda yadda, helped you cause it helps me, bla bla bla," I jokingly mocked, playfully punching him on the shoulder. He gave me a shocked gaze, and I continued regardless. "Listen old man, I do a thing, that thing helps you, and someone around here shows praise. Lather, rinse, repeat. I don't…"

I pause, trailing off for a moment and staring away. "... I'm not doing this crap out of some sense of kindness, not fully. So… please stop it with the praise. It's not out of any sense of charity, it's just business"

The lizardman paused at my words, a strange look overcoming his facets. I'll admit, there are certain emotions I can't read on demi-humans, and this is one of them. Eventually, he shakes his head with a chuckle. "You speak of kindness, except when it comes from you... very well. Remember though, taking pride in your actions isn't a bad thing"

Yeah, if only that were so easy. Eventually, we came to another crossroad, and we nodded.

"I'm afraid this is where we part for now, Nolan. Take care alright?"

I nod and grunt in simple understanding, and give simple worded goodbyes. As we part, I can't help but feel wrong. About everything, really. On one end, being under Ainz in the future definitely wasn't going to be something good for them, and I honestly needed a power base to rely on that was entirely mine and unreliant upon anything else, so this was what I thought was going to be a win win at first.

Unfortunately, bone daddy's lieutenants aren't going to be fresh and gentle, and the vast majority of which are absolute sociopaths. Considering Ainz' habit of collecting things… well, let's just hope my ideas of forming a multi-tribal culture will make me less of a killing zone and more of a diplomatic option. And there are so many things that could go wrong with this, to the point where I'm worried if my interference is going to make things worse. All I can do is move from point A to point B on my plans and hope for the best here.

But on the other end… It's because Ainz cared about doing the right thing in his own sick way that gave them a chance they wouldn't have otherwise gotten in this world. I mean, sure, it's more or less what I'm trying to do myself, but his NPC's had a habit and way of doing things that was just plain efficient. Cold, but efficient. Me? I'm just a guy, I probably couldn't manage a sixteenth of the things they've pulled off. Doesn't mean I can't try but… fuck.

I know I promised myself I wouldn't care about the butterfly effect, but I can't help but worry about the what-ifs. So many roads, so many outcomes, so many ways I can fuck this up. One little errant twitch and it all goes tits up.

I sigh, desperately hoping that at least my next project goes off without a hitch. It would take my mind off things at the very least. I continue my path towards the labs, hoping to get some good news.

Nolan Potts, Human (Karma: 70 [Neutral]) [20/24 Spell slots used]

Classes: Brawler (6), Ranger (3), Druid (5), Clothier (3), Translucer (1). Total Level (18).

Spells (Druid): Frostbite, Entangle, Create or Destroy Water, Guidance, Jump, Cure Wounds, Dust Devil, Protect from Poison, Hold Person, Spike Growth, Lesser Restoration, Water Breathing, Darkvision, Sleetstorm, Ice Knife, Lightning Arrow

Spells (Ranger): Animal Friendship, Speak to Animals, Ensnaring Strike, Conjure Animals

Items of Note: {Humble Beginnings}

Party Members are as follows…

Member One: Todone, Son of Kodrotti, Toadman (Karma: -10 [Neutral])

Classes: Toadman Warrior (9), Brawler (9), Martial Artist (1), Total Level (19).

Member Two: Yulg (Karma: 50 [Neutral])

Classes: Goblin Marauder (1), Brawler (8), Warrior (4), Cleric (1), Total Level (13)

Member Three: Crusch Lulu of the Red Eyes (Karma: 50 [Neutral])

Classes: Awakened Elder Blood Lizardman (1), Druid (6), Spirit Shaman (3), Summoner (1), Scientist (2), Total Level (13)