He seems to be satisfied with that. He nods his head and says with a regal voice like the one he used when I first met him: "Rise and leave the room, I need to talk privately with the Dark Lord and my advisor."
The High Priestess and the cultists quickly leave the room and close the door, also, there wasn't any skeleton in the room, whether entered or already here. The moment the doors close, Lucy immediately shouts: "Why didn't you tell me about choosing another Dark Lord beforehand?! I haven't made any preparations yet. That and why of all the ways you could have introduced me to the new Dark Lord, you chose to throw me onto him?!"
The Dark One sighs and, with a more casual tone which was the one he used after I said that I know isekai anime, replies: "Look, I freak out okay. I was, uhh, busy elsewhere. So when an opportunity to summon otherworlders appeared, where Lite…the Goddess of Light summoned her heroes, I was unprepared. I had to quickly grab the closest qualified person, which was made worse by the fact that my qualifications had increased significantly after the last one's failure. This guy, Danh, if I remember correctly."
He turns to me: "Did I remember correctly?"
I nod.
He continues: "Ah, good. He was the only one qualified within the grabbing range. I needed to set things up quickly, so I decided to drop him off here and get you to guide him. It looks like it worked out in the end."
Lucy lets out a long sigh and sits down. The Dark One looks at me and says: "Alright, I know you have many questions. Here's the answer to one of the most important ones among them."
I nod, intending to listen carefully and etch it into my brain.
He nods and continues: "Lucy can't speak before a crowd, so whenever she is being an annoyance, just make her give a speech."
…
Then, my view of him is replaced by the golden throne slamming into him. I glance aside to see that Lucy, apparently, threw the throne at him. He chuckles and puts the throne aside, unfazed and unmoved.
He shakes his head and says: "She has a surprisingly short fuse considering how she acts normally. Anyway, I'll be serious now. I need you to be my Dark Lord. Essentially, it is a title that roughly translates to you being my vassal and having the right, from me, to rule over this world. However, as you can see from this place."
He waves his arms around. "We are very much not in control of the world. My main rival, the Goddess of Light, has her own heroes, which have managed to defeat the last Dark Lord. Now, you may wonder why I don't personally conquer this world. There's many reasons, but the main one is that there are many contested worlds other than this one, which I need to divide my attention for. Thus, I have my Dark Lords and she has her heroes."
He sits straight up, "Now, you may wonder how did I summon you here and how can you get back. Unfortunately, I can't. Each opportunity for summoning is like a breach in the natural order. I can't make it into existence, only take advantage of it to bring someone here. The Goddess is the same. I can bring you back when another breach appears, it usually does every thousand years or so."
I see, that doesn't seem too bad for some reason.
He suddenly speaks, oh right, mind reading, "Oh yeah, that's cause I set up a filter in place specifically to find those that will accept and enjoy being a Dark Lord. I did have to increase the filters after the failure of the last one, but you should be pretty good. Not to mention, I have buffed you up to a level far beyond that of most, even immortality is in there."
Huh, it does sound good. There's just a tiny teeny problem, "That sounds way too good to be true, even by isekai standards. What's the catch?"
He chuckles, "Fair enough, well, there are several. You see, you are not of this world. When I brought you here, let's just say your form, both body and soul destabilized. I have taken the liberty to make modifications to both. Don't worry, I haven't messed with them much, I just added new things. Well, I can't mess with them much anyway, there's a reason why I can only read your mind and only yours. That's how I buff you up so much. Unfortunately, you are going against the summoned heroes. Yes, plural. And half of the world. Also as a consequence, your form is unstable, which means that it needs something to anchor itself to this world."
He stands up from the black throne, "So this throne is the anchor. If you die, you will be resurrected here. Naturally, if this is destroyed, you are dead for good. There's a way to anchor you to the world itself. Predictably, you need to conquer it first."
I see. "It still doesn't answer why you want me to conquer it though. Like, do I have to pay you tributes in some ways?"
Somehow, I can feel he is contemplating. After a good minute, he says: "I give up. I have no idea how to explain it. Let's just say that it is less me wanting this world and more of I don't want the Goddess to have this world. Speaking of which, the locals call this world Wanarion. As for why, well, we are losing badly."
He claps his hands, a hologram of the world appears. The continent is painted over with a variety of colors, but mostly white while the other colors occupy roughly the same area compared to each other. He points at the white area, "This is the area worshipping the Goddess of Light."
Then he points to the much smaller black area consisting mostly of many dots across the world, "This is the area worshipping me. As you can see, you will have very few forces to use initially. Although the forces of the other minor gods, worshiped in those other colors, can be negotiated and made allies with, I don't have faith in them. Then again, the last guy chose to fight everyone and he is not here anymore, so."
That's worrying. With so few forces at my disposal and so many enemies, I doubt that I can do much for a long time. Even then, it's likely that they can out-produce me and wipe me out with attrition warfare. Unless I can kick off the Industrial Revolution here before the heroes can.
Then I remember that I am still in the room with the Dark One, who is currently nodding thoughtfully. He speaks: "Well, that's your responsibility and within your authority now. Good luck."
He then vanishes, leaving no traces of the silhouette behind. As I am about to speak to Lucy, a portal tears open and he peeks his head out, "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the throne has a bunch of stuff I put in it. Try sitting on it, you will see for yourself."
Then he leaves and the portal closes. After a while, my gut confirming that he has left for good, I turn to speak to Lucy, "So, are you still here to aid me?"
Lucy responds, sitting down onto the golden throne: "Yes, what do you want to know first?"
"What was the former Dark Lord like? I have heard a lot about how much he affected me being chosen, but nothing about why."
Lucy thinks for a second, "I don't know much. I was in the Hell of this world back then. From what I had heard of from fleeing demons and devils. He seemed to have built up a great force and marched out to conquer the world. He had chosen a good time as well, right after somebody else's failed attempt at conquering the world. Unfortunately, he was too aggressive and also attacked the remnants of the previous conqueror alongside everyone that was trying to remain neutral. Consequently, he was overwhelmed and defeated. He sacrificed much of his power to separate himself from his anchor and fled. He is still in this world, though the Dark One doesn't want to tell me where."
"Thank you." I wonder where he found the confidence to do so and also how powerful were the forces of the Dark One before he wasted it. Anyway, let's check the throne first.
Sitting down, I find it quite comfortable. Then a screen pops up, presenting me with 2 buttons. I tap the first one. The screen is pushed aside as a holographic map of the whole world appears. With my fingers, I zoom inward. Unfortunately, this map seems to only model the terrain, there's no tree or building. However, there are blue dots that seem to indicate loyalists according to the legend below. Naturally, the only loyalists on the map are the few that are around the area where Olta probably is.
Then I check out the other button. The holographic map is also pushed aside as another screen pops up. This time it shows a short list of several species with, uhh, interesting names and descriptions.
Such as this voidborne, described as a creature that was originally similar to elves, but more curious. A combination of exposure to incomprehensible horrors and being paralyzed and isolated from all of their senses turned them into powerful and obedient servants. Ok, that is horrifying.
Let's check out some other ones. Ah, here is one, one of the incomprehensible horrors…Nope. Uhh, dracoliches, undead dragons that can spew purple fire that turn living creatures into zombies. That doesn't seem so bad.
Lucy leans over, "Oh yeah, you probably should be aware that zombies here are a kind of magical necromantic disease that takes over living bodies. However, the original owner's mind is still alive in there, watching, listening, smelling, hearing and feeling as their control over their own body is taken away. Apparently, this disease comes from the undead, which is a major reason why necromancy is strictly forbidden by most civilizations and uncivilized groups here."
Is there nothing in here that's not utterly reprehensible?! "Wait, how did the cultists here survive this long then?"
Lucy pulls out a book from…somewhere, I'm pretty sure that it just manifested into her hand. She flips a few pages and speaks: "According to the first volume of Undeath, they have to boil the bones thoroughly before reanimating it. Then, every full moon, they have to boil their undead thoroughly again."
So it is like a virus of some kind. For now, let's focus on managing the cultists here first. "Lucy, how do I request a meeting?"
Lucy opens her mouth, seemingly about to say something, and then pauses. She turns to me and asks: "If you had to compare yourself to a job in this world, what job do you think you'd have?"
"Bureaucrat, wait, no, bureaucrat apprentice."
She responds: "Alright, that gives me a good idea of where to start. For now, you can just call them in and demand whatever you want from them."
As I am about to shout for the cultists, who are standing just outside the door which I know from this very zoomed-in map, to come in, Lucy stops me. "Wait a second."
She then stands up and shoves the golden throne behind the black throne. "Traditionally, the person sitting next to the ruler would be either his wife or his heir. Alright, you can call them now."
I nod and shout: "Enter, I request the presence of this branch's important leaders."