A/N: To answer a few questions, I didn't show the Six Arms fight because I wanted it to be 'off screen' and to be a bit of a surprise when Suzuki drops Zero's head on the table later on.

Glad to see everyone thinks Necropolis is good as a spell. To answer Mr. Big, that's how I planned for it to be, with spells like Terrarium for Druid players and Infernal City for demons, etc. I didn't get a chance to mention them though. And to be honest, a large citadel would probably be more akin to what one could summon, but I wanted more a city/town aesthetic and it's not too unreasonable I believe. We'll see more about the city in this chapter.

Spacemonkey777, the reason Satoru didn't make a chair with magic was because the plot wanted him to use Albedo instead.

Suzuki Satoru reviewed the document he was reading.

It was a list of things he had learned about the city he had materialized up till now.

In order to get people to log into the game as much as possible, the devs had programmed in some special events that took place at certain times of the week. This city was no different. Given that Yggdrasil worked on an online server, there was no real way to change the time as one could on an offline game, and as so, the prizes were somewhat better than generally expected.

But before he went into exploring that, Suzuki had quickly realized that the shopkeepers of the city would not give him things for free, no matter how much he threatened them. He knew that was how it worked in Yggdrasil, but he just wanted to see how that translated to this world.

What did surprise him was that the prices varied- because he was not undead, and also probably because he had an overall neutral or positive karmic value most likely, he was charged a higher price for many services.

'Shouldn't you give a cheaper price to me, your mayor?' Suzuki often wondered.

However, that was how a video game worked, and it seemed that was how the markets here worked too.

Suzuki could get around this by having one of his Elder Lich make the purchase though. It seemed this feature was put in as a tit-for-tat, as it was, many heteromorph species were discriminated against in human towns, so maybe the devs thought it was fair. It was also a possibility that if one had Merchant type classes one could get a better price.

The way the markets worked was that you would offer Yggdrasil gold, and then what you were buying appeared out of nowhere in exchange. The gold you gave disappeared though.

For example, the alchemist would sell Zolie Solution on Wednesdays, Gold Nostrum on Thursday, and Vievul Dragon Stones on Sundays. The quantity one could buy was also limited, so Suzuki couldn't make a bunch of potions all at once, but he had handed off the supply to Nfirea, who had managed to make great strides in alchemy from them.

Speaking of potions, Suzuki had found a strange pink one on his desk one day. When asked about it, he was told that Davernoch had left it for him.

It was an anti-fertility potion that Davernoch had picked up from the brothels before most of them had been shut down. Albedo had asked for one, and so Davernoch had delivered it to him at the time given Albedo was away doing something else. Suzuki had quickly hidden the potion and told Davernoch to simply tell Albedo that he had been unable to find what she wanted, and to never give something like this to Albedo.

Suzuki didn't know how it was that the city knew which day it was, but it did somehow so it must have had some sort of internal clock. Given Suzuki hadn't been keeping track of the days since he had arrived he couldn't see if time was passing one-to-one with his own world. The governor always knew the date and time and would tell Suzuki about it, another remnant of this city being based off of a video game.

With all that said, as long as what Suzuki asked for was not something one had to normally purchase, the NPCs would do anything that Suzuki would ask.

As an example, every Friday evening, a chorus of Vampire Brides would appear near the fountain of blood near the Church, and put on a show. They were similar to the brothel's Vampire Brides, but they had a few levels in Bard type classes enhancing their performances. They would remain until midnight which was when they would disappear until next week, and if Suzuki so wanted to, he could order them to sleep with him during that time. On the other hand, if he ever asked one of the Vampire Brides who worked in the brothel, they would always demand a fee for such a service.

Not that Suzuki had ever taken them up on that offer.

As an experiment, Suzuki had asked Albedo to ask about their rates and she got a quote far lower than Suzuki's- whether this was because the Vampire Brides preferred woman, or because Albedo had a negative karma value, or because Albedo was a heteromorph, or just because she was more attractive- Suzuki would never know.

However, what was really important to him was a ritual that could be conducted in the church during a new moon. For the sacrifice of some gold, and an eighth tier Undead Summoning Spell, a ritual could be performed to bring about a Risen Archbishop.

The church worshipped Grima, the great undead dragon who was also a boss much like Cainabel in Yggdrasil. The Archbiship would cast a divine spell of up to the eighth tier so long as the appropriate sacrifices were offered to it- summons were fine in this regard to use as sacrifices.

However, Suzuki realized that there was a far better use for it- it was a level 50 monster and he could kill it. Unlike with the other NPCs of the place, this actually awarded him XP.

He wasn't entirely sure why this was- as in, why the Risen Archbishop didn't qualify as a summon or an allied NPC. Perhaps it was a glitch- or maybe it had been intended by the devs to work that way, given there was a cost of gold to summon the monster. As it was if someone wanted to level up they could go ahead and find much better opportunities to level up than by doing this normally, so perhaps the devs simply overlooked this.

Regardless, Suzuki found that he could perform the ritual every new moon over and over again, and as such, he had a source of XP so long as he had the appropriate amount of gold. He had done so twice already.

By his calculations, within eight more months he would be able to grow to level 72. It would then take him approximately 30 years to reach level 90 thereafter, and it would take 190 years after that to reach level 100 and max out his XP bar to its fullest beyond that. So, around 220 years in total.

Indeed, the throttling regarding XP would get really bad once he hit level 90. Unfortunately, he also calculated that he would run out of gold around 110 years into doing so, and that was assuming he spent it all on the ritual and didn't spend any of it on other things like ingredients, scrolls, or magic items.

Regarding gaining more gold, he found that while the Shredder did in fact work, he had to give up a tear-jerking amount of grain to get even a single measly coin. Unless he controlled a vast area of land, the yield of gold he could rely on making from it would be very small indeed.

He had considered levying taxes on the citizens- but there was little point in doing so. The city did not actually produce any commerce, and the shop prices were fixed and the gold disappeared when Suzuki spent it. As such, there was no way for the residents to pay him. He could of course order them to work for him, but they would do so regardless anyways.

If he wanted a better source of income, he would either have to expand grain or meat production, or bring in other citizens into the city.

The denizens of the city worked fine with the other undead summons he had created, and they tolerated Albedo, but would it be fine if he brought in humans into the city? Even if the undead had no problems with such a thing, it would involve revealing the location of the city to the outside world.

He had already made plans to make a new base somewhere near that vault where they had found the Minotaur Sage's treasure, in case they had to reveal this place so they would have a backup hideout. As the saying went, "a mouse with only one hole is quickly caught." Already, Suzuki felt that that time would draw near- Fluder himself was getting a bit suspicious as to where Suzuki ran off to all the time. Suzuki could force him to keep quiet, but he didn't feel like doing that given the loyalty Fluder had showed him up till now.

They could relocate the city itself- but that came with a penalty in that time-based events would be reset, meaning, Suzuki would miss out on them all for the first time after relocating.

Would it be alright to tear down the walls of the city so that they could create new buildings and expand? Suzuki had considered settling some people from Carne near the city just as an experiment, but for now Carne needed all the workers it had.

Moreover, Albedo had told him that tearing down the walls was not a good idea. For one, they would have to pay to repair them, and secondly, it was better off if the center of the city was walled off from the rest of it even if they did want to expand.

When Suzuki thought about it- it was only natural in a way. The Imperial Palace at Arwintar was walled off from the rest of the city, after all, and he was sure that King Ramposa III did something similar with his palace. A city could grow around the walls of necropolis.

His thoughts were interrupted as someone knocked on the door of his office.

"Come in."

"Suzuki-sama, there is someone outside the city who wants to come in," the Elder Lich, who was the governor of the city, and technically Suzuki's right hand (though most administrative tasks were handled by Albedo) said.

"Huh?" Suzuki said. Such a situation hadn't occurred before. There was a reason their city was located so far away from any nearby civilization- while Necropolis would protect the undead within its walls from being detected, it would not protect the undead outside its walls. As such, if anyone, such as a group of adventurers ever wandered near the place, if they had a priest with them it would become difficult for Suzuki.

As one could imagine, they had not received any visitors. Unless you could call a group of trolls attacking a 'visit', but those had been easily slain.

Albedo, who was busy training a group of Elder Liches for administrative tasks, turned her head to look at Suzuki.

"Well, let's see what this is all about then," Suzuki said, offering his arm to Albedo.

He cast Greater Teleportation to take the two of them to near the city walls.

The city walls were currently manned by several Death Knights. Up above their heads, Death Knights riding Skeletal Dragons patrolled the air. Such measures would be useless against any high-levelled players, but they gave Suzuki some comfort.

"What is it?" Suzuki asked.

An Elder Lich answered, "There is an undead who has arrived at the gates, not one of our own, Suzuki-sama, who says that his mistress wishes for entry into the city. In addition, we can detect several undead reactions in that direction-" the Elder Lich pointed to the line of trees on the horizon "-which are not allies. Should you wish, we can blast them all from here."

"Not immediately," Suzuki said. "So, they're not hostile- and they're somewhat intelligent?"

"Indeed. I believe the one gathered before our gates is a Lesser Vampire," the Elder Lich said.

Suzuki and Albedo walked until they were standing near the gate. Albedo cried out, "Identify yourself, for you stand before the ruler of this city- Suzuki Satoru-sama!"

"I prostrate myself before the ruler of this city," a voice rang out. Of course, Suzuki couldn't see it from his vantage point so he cast Fly to get a better look, with Albedo joining him.

This was a bit of a precarious position, because if there was an enemy lurking outside, they could easily snipe Suzuki- Peroroncino would have been able to make this kind of shot. However, Suzuki felt relatively comfortable knowing that Albedo was there at his side.

He saw what looked like a zombie in ragged clothes- though the thing's eyes and hair were not the color of a zombie's. "I am Suzuki Satoru- state your name and purpose for being here."

"This one has no name," it replied. "While in life, this one was called Rufeus Schmidt, but in unlife, I have no name. I serve my mistress, Lady Camula, who wishes to enter the city- but she wishes for a guarantee regarding her safety should she approach."

"I see," Suzuki said. Pondering it for a moment, he said, "Alright then, tell her that so long as she doesn't strike at us first, and follows our laws, she will not be harmed."

"This one thanks you," Rufeus said and then walked over to where the undead reactions had come from.

"What do you think this could be about?" Suzuki asked Albedo. "Knowing that their messenger is a Lesser Vampire, I can only assume that this Lady Camula he speaks of is a vampire herself, or possesses an item such as my crown."

"Perhaps she wishes to parlay with us for some reason?" Albedo said. "Vampires are somewhat intelligent." She then snorted. "Well, some of them are."

Suzuki had a suspicion regarding who she was talking about when the person of interest walked into view. Unlike Rufeus, she was dressed in fine clothes, though these were not without tears and other signs of decay with them. As she got closer, Suzuki also noticed that the colors were faded, as if she had been wearing this dress for some time.

She had bright silver hair, and overall would have reminded him strongly of Shalltear, though she looked to be about sixteen and as such had more adult features.

She bowed her head upon seeing Suzuki and Albedo. "Am I correct in understanding I address the master of this city?"

"Yes," Suzuki said.

"Greetings, O Great One, my name is Lady Camula. I am a vampire and a magic caster of the second tier. I came to this country because I had heard rumors that a powerful vampire by the name of Downfall was here, who could cast magic of the fifth tier. I wished to become Downfall's student, but then my scouts told me of undead even more powerful than her deep in the forest. Curious, I came upon your fine city. and I sensed undead of the sort I had never seen before. Throughout my life, I have been hunted by the living whenever I approached them, but I never dreamed that there was a place where the undead could come together and live as one. I wish to become a citizen of your city."

Right then, the wind shifted, blowing Suzuki's scent towards her. Her pupils dilated.

"Human..." she said. "A human? In charge of this place?"

"Indeed," Suzuki said. "All the undead you see gathered before you are my creations. I am a magic caster of the tenth tier and I created this city."

Camula laughed. "T-Tenth tier?"

The Night Reapers drew their weapons, and Albedo reached for hers. Camula noticed the shift in tension in the air and immediately walked back. "F-Forgive me, Milord, I simply find it impossible to believe that-"

"Summon Undead 10th!" Suzuki said, bringing about a Doom Lord. Camula, being an undead, would have no doubt felt the gap in strength between her and the summon instinctively.

"Ah... I beg your forgiveness," she said.

"It is forgiven," Suzuki said with a wave of the hand, cancelling the summon. "Tell me more about this vampire named 'Downfall' you heard of."

"It is said that she is a vampire that destroyed a country to the east of this one," Camula said. "Aside from that, I know little, though she was rumored to be somewhere here in this kingdom. Forgive this lady, but I do not know more than that."

"Ah," Suzuki said. "So you wish to live in the city?"

"Yes," Camula said. "Long ago... I was the daughter of a noble household of a country far to the East. A vampire invaded our house one day, and was fought off, but not before it bit me. My parents couldn't bring themselves to kill me and raised me in secret, but one day the peasants revolted and I was forced to flee as my home was burnt down. Since then, I vowed to gain power- enough power to avenge them. My studies in magic however, have stopped at the second tier. To advance further, I need the help of a guide. Living creatures, of course, refuse to teach one such as this lady."

"I see," Suzuki said. "If you enter here, I could arrange for a tutor for you. One Elder Lich I know was able to reach the third tier thanks to study."

"This lady would be very grateful," Camula said.

"And what," Suzuki said. "Would you give me in return?"

Camula batted her eyelashes. She had very little to bargain with- she was sure that the gold and magical items she had amassed over the years would be of little interest to a man this powerful. She began shifting her dress. "This lady has little to offer- but if you shall help me I will give you my soul, my powers, and my body." She exposed her chest- while her breasts were not enormous like those of the Vampire Brides, they were quite shapely. Suzuki had to rate her beauty as being only slightly below Albedo's. "Vampires are famous for knowing how to suck, Milord... but this one will do far more than that for you should you ask."

Albedo raised her halberd. "I say we execute her. We have enough harlots in this city as is."

"W-Wait, Albedo," Suzuki said. "I was thinking more along the lines of knowledge and information... what can you tell me about this country far to the East?" While he had to put his plans on going towards the East on hold for now, he still planned to go to the other side of the continent one day. However, there was precious little information he could find about that area up till now.

"Everything I know," Camula replied. "I lived there for about twenty years. I also possess in-depth knowledge of several more countries on the other side of the continent."

"Ah, so you have travelled far to come here," Suzuki said. The reason information was so scarce was that this was a world without planes and cars of course, and most creatures did not travel very far from their homes. Even the most seasoned travelers Suzuki had encountered had only gone so far as the center of the continent. Not to mention distance wasn't the only factor, many areas were dangerous to travel through.

"Indeed," Camula said. "All of my knowledge is yours to command, Milord."

Suzuki was kind of excited at this prospect. His city had gained its first true immigrant!

He had had a plan in the back of his mind for quite some time- of making this city a place where not just the undead, but the living of all races could live together. A utopia- a place his friends from Yggdrasil, if they were somewhere here in this world, would be proud of.

He had heard from Davernoch of there being a large society of undead magic casters- he had been most intrigued and desired to incorporate them into his city if possible. It was likely that they knew secrets that the living did not. As it was, he knew, undead which were intelligent could rarely find a way to gain more knowledge from other people as the undead were universally despised. Secluding oneself limited overall research and technological advancement- sharing information was what really drove things forward rapidly.

If Suzuki could form a large organization with many intelligent undead he could make a magical research organization that would put the Empire's to shame.

Of course, all of this would take time, but as always, baby steps first.

"I have one remaining question- how did you create those Lesser Vampires of yours? That would normally require a third tier spell."

"Ah, that was thanks to my sister," Camula said. "Not a true sister, but another vampire by the name of Veronica who I met some time ago. She lent me some of her servants, and it was her who spoke about Downfall to me."

"Ah, where is she now?"

"I am afraid I lost contact with her, we had to scatter when a group of powerful humans came upon us once- I fear she might be dead," Camula said. There was actual emotion in her voice as she spoke about her comrade, a trait that was not usual amongst the undead. Suzuki though, could easily understand. The pain of losing a close comrade was something that resonated deep with him.

"Alright, you have my permission to live among us," Suzuki said. "But, there are a few rules you must follow..."

Arnold Petrov walked through the streets of the capital along with four other people as they made his way to the seedier parts of the city.

Arnold was a former Worker, and someone who worked under the Security Division of Eight Fingers.

Speaking of which- the organization had gone through a strange shift in various policies recently. It had all begun with the death of most of Six Arms.

The higher-ups had attempted to hide this, of course, given that it would lead to unrest in the organization, but news got out eventually anyway.

Only Davernoch had lived. The details of how the others had been killed were a bit vague- but there was no way that it could be believed that five of them were killed by a single person by the name of Momon- the current 'head' of Six Arms as was the official narrative from the higher-ups.

More likely than not it involved an altercation with Blue Roses and most likely Gazef Stronoff as well.

Regardless, Arnold and his fellow Workers could easily smell blood in the water.

True, Davernoch was strong, but he was but one individual. That was why even Zero, powerful as he was, knew he had to recruit more people. A single person could not be present everywhere, nor could a single person control a territory as large as the Kingdom.

As it was said, in the midst of chaos, there was opportunity, and Arnold intended to take full advantage of it. If they banded together, they could create their own organization, one which would easily rival Eight Fingers.

This had all taken some careful planning of course- letters and messages had to be exchanged in codes and in secret hideaways. But, today was the day. They would all gather in one place- in such a way that it would seem to any outsider like a coincidence that all of them were going to meet up. This was the best time to strike and make a name for themselves- then they would declare themselves independent from Six Arms.

Arnold was quite sure that with all of the measures they had taken, they had not been detected up till now. And so, their actions today would come as a complete surprise to Eight Fingers.

"This is the arranged place, no?" he asked one of his comrades, who nodded.

Arnold knocked on the door thrice, and was met with four knocks in return. The needed signal.

He opened the door, expecting to see the rest of the lower-ranking members of Six Arms who were part of this coup. They were about forty of them in total, a number that one could not scoff at. With forty of them together, they could take on even someone such as Davernoch. It would have been a problem if Davernoch still had some other members of Six Fingers with him, but as it stood, they were the stronger party.

These five people walked inside- the place was kept rather dark, but that was to be expected. The door closed behind them.

Then the lights came on.

Arnold screamed. So did the other four.

Present all around them were their co-conspirators.

Every single one of them had been impaled, some from rectum to mouth, others straight through the chest. Most of them were still alive.

There, in the center of the room, seated upon a chair, was a man whom Arnold instantly recognized- for Arnold had worked in the Empire for some time.

The Tri-Arts Magic Caster himself, Fluder Paradyne. The man who could topple a nation by himself- a man who was said to be equivalent to all eight of the Imperial legions.

"Ah, I was wondering when you would come," Fluder said. "Come, I have been expecting you."

"F-Fluder Paradyne?!"

"Indeed. Consider me the newest recruit to the group known as Six Arms," Fluder said, stroking his beard. "Nothing personal, but I need to make an example of you all."

Arnold turned to run, only to see a row of Elder Liches blocking the exit.

Those in the Re-Estize Kingdom who followed the actions of Eight Fingers would have noticed a rapid change in their manner of operations.

For one, two divisions, those involved in drugs and slave trafficking were practically out of commission. Many of the woman who had been placed in their brothels were now currently employed as helpers in orphanages established by the Golden Princess. These orphanages, three in total, were soon the talk of the capital. They helped keep the nearly omnipresent orphans and stragglers off of the streets.

Where did the Golden Princess get the funds for such an endeavor? It was rumored that a certain earl had lent her financial support, though it was noted that this earl would not have benefitted from supporting Princess Renner in any way.

Perhaps, if one dug deep enough, one would find that one of his lovers was a woman by the name of Hilma, but even then, there was little that an ordinary person could make out from such a relationship.

The Black Dust had also virtually disappeared from the streets.

Not only that, but there was a new ripple in the pond of Re-Estize politics. A large group of nobles, none very powerful in their own regard, but numerous enough to be significant, suddenly found themselves allying with each other. This was in spite of them being on opposite sides of the aisle normally. It was as if an external force, behind the scenes, was coaxing them to work together.

The likes of people such as Marquis Raevan could sense this sudden change, but even a man of his caliber had difficulty pointing out how exactly this was happening or who was benefitting from it. Trying to unravel the mystery would be like picking up a yarn and eventually being tangled into it as one walked into a massive spiderweb of unfathomable size. It was as if there was an intellect beyond even the Golden Princess working behind the scenes here, though the Marquis doubted that such a person could exist.

"Alright then!" Enri said, observing the men gathered before her.

The village of Carne had agreed with Suzuki's proposal to start raising Ignonick- as it was, they were all unlikely to refuse anything that Suzuki recommended.

The only thing that irked Enri about it was that she had been put in charge of it. Don't get her wrong- she did like the fact that Suzuki Satoru had placed such importance upon her, but she felt woefully unprepared for it. But, there were few others who could be spared for this task.

As it was there was a bit of a human labor shortage still, and so, they had to look at recruiting some people from outside.

Enri had spread the message near E-Rantel that the village was looking for extra workers, and that no experience was needed.

However, what this had led to was a collection of some of the most ragtag ne'er-do-wells that Enri had ever laid her eyes on. Half of them seemed to be drunk, while the other half seemed to be routine troublemakers.

Well, there were a few exceptions. She saw two or three decently-dressed people. Decently enough that is.

"Alright then!" Enri repeated, and they all finally stopped talking to each other to look at her.

"When's the boss comin'?" one of them asked.

"You're looking at her," Enri said.

Two of them scoffed, but when they realized that she was serious a good portion of them lost their will to work.

"Eh, should've known that this was a dud all along. I ain't working for you, girlie."

"Uh- wait!" Enri said, but it was of little use as many of the potential recruits walked off.

"Don't mind them," one of those who stayed said. "Say, what is the job exactly?"

"Well, we need people to drive these carriages to E-Rantel, and then deliver them to the appropriate store owners," Enri said. "As such, of course, familiarity with the streets of E-Rantel is preferred."

She then pointed to a carriage being drawn by a surprisingly tough-looking horse.

"...isn't there the danger of encountering bandits or monsters along the way?" someone else who had stayed asked.

"Well, no," Enri said. "The roads leading up to E-Rantel from here are quite safe- as it is, the Adamantite adventurer Suzuki Satoru and Albedo had cleared this area of monsters and bandits, and we have regular patrols set up on the path."

"Really?" the person who had spoke earlier asked. "I didn't see anything on my way here."

"Let's just say... they like to keep to themselves," Enri said. "Anyway, you'll each be paid seven silver a day, and be given two meals each day at no cost."

Considering a craftsman would make ten silvers a day and a manual laborer five, it was a good salary as no real talent was needed to drive the carriages. Enri herself could have done so easily, but her presence was needed in the village. One could even fall asleep for most of the job, provided one was moving through safe territory that is.

"Alrighty then," the man who had reassured her earlier said. "I'll accept!"

"Welcome aboard then!" Enri said, extending her hand.

To her surprise, the man took it and instead of shaking it kissed it in the manner of a noble. "Pleased that we could come to an agreement. My name is Philip Dayton L'Eyre."

"Uh, right," Enri said, blushing a little. "Um, I'm Enri Emott!"

Phillip watched the retreating frame of the village girl as he set out to work. He ended up watching her for a bit longer than what would be considered appropriate- but he had to say that she had quite an attractive figure.

Phillip Dayton L'Eyre Monteserrat.

Or at least, that is what his name would have been had he inherited his family's title. As for now, he would have to be content with addressing himself with only three names given his lack of one.

Phillip was the third son of lower class nobility- as such, his family did not have any resources to spend on him. The spares of wealthier families would usually receive some sort of tutelage or education, but Phillip's family could not afford any of that. The only lucky break he had ever caught in his life was that his eldest brother had died of illness, making him a second son, thereby elevating his status somewhat.

Things were looking good up until the annual war. Once the war with the Empire was finished, Phillip's elder brother returned basked in glory at having fought for his country and had inherited the family's title, with that old coot of a Count supporting his ascension.

Given his elder brother was already married and had a child, this meant that there was little hope for Phillip's future even if his elder brother died somehow. As a matter of fact, he had a second niece or nephew coming along the way.

And so, Phillip had decided to leave his household and go for greener pastures.

For him, this meant the fortress city of E-Rantel. Given its location, many things about the city were attractive to those who wanted to raise their ranks in society. Thanks to the annual war, the city saw great traffic regarding soldiers. As such, the medicines, weapons, adventurer requests, and whores were all in good supply.

But, Phillip soon saw his dreams of making something of himself dashed to pieces. Indeed, he had spent more nights hungry than not ever since he had left home. He had even considered going back home with his tail between his legs and asking his father for forgiveness.

Although- given all that Phillip had said to that man and his brother before leaving, he doubted his family would take him back. Looking back on that moment, Phillip had said quite a lot he shouldn't have. It was a bit of a surprise that his family hadn't had him punished, but they were probably thinking 'If this fellow's leaving, let him leave soon so we can be rid of him' and so didn't raise a finger at the time.

Phillip had vowed to himself that he would show them how brilliant a person he was, though now that he was in the cold, unforgiving world this was proving to be a pipe dream.

He shook these thoughts out of his head as he turned to Louise.

Louise was much like him- the son of a noble's concubine. Being kindred spirits, the two of them had become quick friends. "So, aren't you taking the position? It seems good enough."

Seven silvers a day was not much, but if meals were to be included, that would mean this was the best paying job available to Phillip, who had no special skills nor connections. The only thing was that as nobility, he was used to eating three meals a day, but even factoring that in some money would still be left over.

The first thing Phillip wanted to spend it on was on a few girls- really, the only reason he had looked so longingly at the village girl who was far beneath his position being he was of the nobility, was because he was quite frustrated regarding woman. Even the cheapest of them would ask for a price far higher than he could afford, but now, he would be able to buy a few nights' worth of pleasure if he saved up for a while.

"I would but," Louise began, "doesn't something about the job seem odd to you?"

"Hmm?" Phillip asked. "How so?"

"Well for one," Louise said, "that horse is a war horse. It's not an animal a normal village could afford. Also, what we're transporting is quite high quality milk, furs, and milk. There's even been preservation magic cast on them- does this look like a place with a magic caster?"

"No," Phillip said. "So then..."

"I think their boss is actually the Adamantite adventurer Suzuki Satoru," Louis said. "He was said to frequent this area."

"Ah!" Phillip said. Now it made sense. "But... then why is there a problem with the job?"

"This all looks really expensive," Louis said. "And if we wanted to, we could easily run off with it. Why didn't they assign guards for it? And why the unusually high pay?"

Louis trailed off. "That said, it isn't a bad deal. For now at least. But, if there's ever going to be any danger, I'm going to abandon the carriage and run away."

"Yeah, same here," Phillip said. He was not going to risk his precious life for some cargo. "Say... do you think that they'll miss a few things if we were to take them?"

Louis's face darkened. "I don't think stealing them would be a good idea- especially not if they have an Adamantite on their side."

"Right," Phillip said with a sigh.

But, Phillip raised his head. This was but his first step on the path to greatness!

Yes, he would soon rise among the ranks of the city using his cleverness, and show his father just how wrong he had been to spur Phillip- that it was Phillip who was more deserving of inheriting the family title.

"Are you alright?" Louis asked.

"Me? Yeah, just daydreaming is all," Phillip said. "Let's get started then- I don't think they need more than two for this job. You should probably talk to that girl as soon as you can."

A/N: And here we have it- the man, the myth, the legend- Phillip-sama finally appears in this fanfic! Truly, the real main character of this fanfic has now been introduced!

Also, I need to be honest with you guys- this was never a Suzuki x Albedo fanfic.

Instead, I always wanted to write Phillip x Albedo NTR, which is what the next chapters are going to be about while Suzuki gets cucked.

Just kidding. Please put your pitchforks away.

On a more serious note, regarding Phillip-kakka, the word 'kakka' means 'poop' in over seventeen different languages.

It does make you wonder, doesn't it?

Also, I should point out that when I talk about prices it might not add up- because I'm not sure who to believe. Based on the Web Novel, a normal person seems to be able to earn around 1-2 silver a day (Jet-kun, a first tier caster earned 2 silver a day), however, it is said by Arche in the Light Novel that 3 gold pieces are enough for a normal family to live on for a month.

If we calculate that, based on the Web Novel a normal worker makes 30 silver a month, which is not even a single gold piece. Are we to assume then that the normal person in the Kingdom/Empire completely starves, even if they are a skilled artisan? 100 silvers are 1 gold piece by the way.

So even if we consider a family to be 4 people, one person would need 75 silver a month to live on, twice this amount. Doubtful that that is true, so I made the figures of a craftsman to be around 10 a day, or 300 silvers a month, which is 3 gold pieces, which seems to be more fitting and more plausible with what the Light Novel (considered canon) would suggest. The wiki has a few errors on exchange rates since they don't make sense with each other, but 1 gold piece is approximately 1,000 USD I guess, so if what Arche says is correct an average family could survive on 3,000 USD a month, which makes sense comparing it with our own world.