Harbingers of Change

After Fulbrosia, the next visitation destination was Eurazania. The only change in retinue was Luchia staying behind in the harpy province and Lupusregina joining in as Pero's head concubine plus the standard refreshing of the retinue's servants. Momonga did consider including Shalltear and Shion in his travels, but the young vampire had been left in charge of UTC while Pero toured with him, Shion on the other hand was still too worked up to be taken on a trip. However, he did plan to take a small vacation once things calmed down and take all three of his ladies for a trip to all of the best locations in his new territories later.

Momonga arrived in the throne room of Carrion's castle via portal, where most of the nation's elite were waiting. The former beast king kneeled with the three beastketeers behind him as the crowd watched in silence, all clad in their best equipment.

"Show respect to Supreme Overlord Momonga!" It was Albis who shouted an order before lowering her head again.

The crowd following the order knelt one by one, lowering their heads row by row. Some murmurs were rumbling among them about why the beast king had bent his knee so easily and why no one had challenged him for it, but unlike the harpies, no one was dumb enough to speak up. If he was kneeling, he was kneeling for a good reason as the strongest lycanthrope for centuries. It meant the new Overlord was even stronger than him, a terrifying prospect for those within the room.

"Rise and be at ease." Momonga waved his left hand as Albedo held onto his right.

"Supreme Overlord, I have a request." Carrion stood up and crossed his arms, the beastketeers raising their heads.

"A request? Go on." Momonga permitted him to speak. Carrion, despite his bravado, was a cautious and smart leader who wouldn't try to sabotage the visit and likely wanted to gain favor in some manner as the one who had waited til the last minute to join and would be seen less favorably than the rest of the new lords under his new reign.

"As you know, my people value power above all, and they need to see why I am so willing to join Nazarick. Of course, I would not dream of demanding for you to personally step in the ring and defeat me with one move, but perhaps someone could step in for the demonstration and fight me." Carrion offered a toothy grin, clearly eager for a proper fight. It was a thinly veiled duel invitation, but it was useful nonetheless.

"A fair request, though I think it would be only fair if I picked someone with a power level relatively close to yours," Momonga replied as he mentally went through his options. Obviously, any high lord and high executor would defeat Carrion instantly. 'Perhaps Apito? She should be in that power range. Benimaru is also at least on Carrion's level.'

As he weighed his options, he saw Lupusregina whisper something in Pero's ear but chose not to snoop as, despite his ability to access the minds of everyone connected to Nazarick, he valued everyone's privacy and had forbidden Nazarick to snoop as well unless there was extremely good reason to believe someone harbored treacherous plans.

"Lupus could go against Carrion, and the rest of the beastketeers can join in to make things fairer," Pero answered his curiosity a moment later.

"If you aren't against it then sure, Lupusregina can step in the ring." Momonga agreed.

"Not at all. My little beastie needs to blow off some steam and test her new limits," Pero chuckled as she brushed his hand against her cheek while the maid squirmed in delight.

Today she wasn't wearing her usual maid outfit, instead being clad in a short red silk dress to better represent her status as Pero's concubine, while her wolf ears were proudly on display as well.

"Are you sure? I do not intend to hold back even if your man kills me afterward." Carrion grinned at the challenger as Suphia cracked her knuckles behind him.

"Bring it on," Lupus responded with a toothy smile.

It was surprising how fast the main arena of Eurezania's capital filled up when they left the room, as not even half an hour later he was sitting in a VIP area usually reserved for the beast king himself, with the whole place packed to the brim. Carrion had left a young lioness as his stand-in, and from what Momonga gathered the woman was one of the man's head concubines.

"Is the arena usually this packed?" He couldn't help but ask.

"When Lord Carrion is fighting then yes, and to see the beastketeers join his side against a single opponent is a once-in-a-lifetime event for many. Everyone who could, dropped everything and rushed here to get in," the woman explained, her own excitement palpable.

"I wonder what the crowd will think when Lupus goes all out," Pero, sitting beside him, chuckled.

The werewolf maid had received quite a power boost during the harvest festival and, alongside her sisters, neared the baseline level of an awakened demon lord while Carrion, who joined Nazarick late, hadn't grown. There was another wave of awakening planned once Tempest invaded the southern continent and decimated Leon's domain, but it was planned roughly two years from now. They needed time to consolidate rather than expand, even if said consolidation was spent sitting in chairs watching a duel rather than handling paperwork.

"It would be preferable if she didn't kill anyone. Rebuilding their bodies for resurrection won't be cheap. And I hope you did tell her not to act on her sadistic side that much?" Momonga remembered how long the wolf maid had tormented Suphia because she was allowed to do so.

"Of course, I told her to behave. Though she'll likely attempt to create a small collection of organs." Pero leaned forward as the fighters entered the arena.

Lupus was standing on one side, now clad in her reinforced maid outfit, holding a silver scepter. On the other side were Carrion and the three beastketeers. The beast king himself carried a large halberd while only Albis had a weapon among his subordinates.

Momonga quickly placed a barrier around the ground floor just in case, knowing that the arena might not survive the clash. More reconstruction if it happened, and his magic could regenerate quickly anyway.

The moment he announced the beginning of the battle, all four jumped into action. Lupus didn't hesitate to thin the numbers of her opponents by kicking Albis in the head, breaking her skull and knocking the snake-woman out in the blink of an eye, and slamming her scepter into Phobio's side as he lunged towards her while dodging Carrion's strike a half-breath after. Phobio hit the barrier like a bullet and visibly broke at least twenty bones, blood spurting from his orifices.

Suphia used the opportunity to get back at Lupus and slammed her fists onto the wolf while she was busy dealing with Carrion, parrying what she could. To the Beastketeer's disappointment, Lupus barely registered the attack and retaliated with a massive punch of her own, impacting Suphia in the chest with a strike that would stop her heart for a good minute as she too went flying into Phobio, as if to rub in the insult.

Only ten seconds had passed and it was only Carrion still standing against the maid. His attacks were fast and precise, befitting his centuries of battle experience, but none landed as Lupus avoided them all, concentrating on not getting hit by the beast king while being sparse with attacks.

She had the power advantage, but it wasn't that big and Carrion was a skilled fighter, not giving any easy openings to exploit. Their weapons clashed, avoiding each other's more devastating attacks as Lupus occasionally knocked out the beastketeers who had regenerated enough to resume fighting.

Finally, Carrion switched to his more beastial form, gaining a more muscular body and glowing wings as he took to the skies. He didn't hesitate and used his trump card Beast Roar against the maid, which had his aura concentrated in a massive energy blast that hit her head on while the whole arena was showered in brilliant light.

Momonga heard Pero break the armrests of the chair, obviously worried about his head concubine, but displayed enough restraint not to rush-in to check on her before the light subsided, sitting back in his seat.

As the vision cleared, Carrion saw Lupus still standing, now in her full werewolf form as her maid dress had been replaced by a similar-looking bodysuit. Her fur and skin had multiple burns and her muzzle was twisted in a snarl, fangs bared.

She tossed aside the scepter and lunged at him as the arena floor broke under the pressure of her acceleration, claws extended. Only a fraction of a second passed before she collided with Carrion and pressed him against the ground, nails dug into flesh.

The beast king tried to kick her off but Lupus refused to budge and she began to maul him, letting out a piercing roar.

"Aw, shit! This isn't good." Pero gasped.

"Berserker got activated?" Momonga asked casually. Carrion wasn't so fragile to be easily killed by Lupus, even if she was now painting the arena red with his blood.

"Yup. Probably a good time to end the match." Pero nodded watching with bated breath as his woman tried to make the beast king into a pile of minced meat with varying degrees of success as the former desperately fought back.

Carrion however wasn't done yet as he finally kicked her off and stood up. Lupus landed on all fours and readied herself for another charge, growling.

"That's enough! Lupusregina Beta is the victor!" The Supreme Overlord shouted loud enough for the entire arena to hear.

{ She's not listening to me, } Pero whispered.

{ Lupusregina, stand down! } Momonga sent a direct order. It came as no surprise that Lupus wasn't complying to Pero's orders as the avian had a tendency to overly spoil his concubines and let them do whatever they wanted as long as they didn't cause too much trouble. The consequence being a situation like this where Lupus was agitated enough to not listen to Pero.

But she did listen to Momonga. The werewolf maid looked up at him and then changed back to her human form, grasping her staff as she shook Carrion's bloodied hand to the cheers of the crowd.

With Momonga and his crew departing, Pero stayed behind in Eurazania to handle business considering the land's rich resources. Currently, he was sitting by the table with Lupus in his lap as his concubine happily fed him pieces of meat, the finest the country could offer.

He was joined by Carrion, the beastketeers, and other prominent figures of the former beast nation, now a Tempest province. All they talked about was the fight and how exciting it was to see people of such power engage one another. There were also speculations on why Lupus was so low in the overall hierarchy and wasn't hold any important position if she could overpower Carrion; she had been dressed as a maid after all.

The speculations were quickly dosed by Lupus who announced, "It's because I am nothing compared to high Lords and high Executors. Even hundreds like me would not be able to defeat Lord Pero." As she lovingly dragged her nails over his beak.

"I figured," Carrion grumbled in response. He was well aware of where he stood in the pecking order now, but getting reminded of the fact still hurt his pride, built up over the centuries.

"I presume seeing a proper duel between the most elite would not be possible due to collateral damage. People do love seeing the strong fight it out," Albis commented, seemingly content that she was nothing but a punching bag today. Her trump card, petrification, had done nothing, and she knew her place.

"Kinda, we do have a special floor made for it and we have to regularly drain the magicules from the air due to how often it is used. On the plus side, you can turn iron into magic ore in about a week or so elsewhere with just the residues. But one level up still should be feasible to manage for a wider audience. How much did today's match make?" Pero inquired as he chewed on a succulent piece of spiced boar meat.

"Make what?" Carrion asked, confused.

"Money… you guys do know what economy is right?" Pero suddenly realized that despite the massive population, Eurazania only traded on a governmental level, with most of the nation's population living a very primitive, self-sustainable lifestyle and paying taxes with produce, which then was either consumed by the elite or sold off to foreign merchants if there was a large enough surplus that year.

"I do know what it is. We didn't have much use of it, even if we have small stores of it. This castle was fully built by volunteers who wanted to properly show my greatness to all who came. Besides, it's not that different from Tempest." Carrion patted the table that also was made by volunteers, a few elites nodding along as they began telling stories of what they had donated to the cause.

His people simply wanted to give him their all to him even if he didn't demand such levels of dedication. Now things needed to change and he hadn't the faintest idea where to start, but one thing he knew for sure: he couldn't call Lord Pero stupid for wanting to create a monetary-based economy similar to the one the majority of Tempest had.

"Right. I guess there's not much of a point in selling tickets if there's no one with money to buy them. Jumpstarting the thing here will be challenging for sure. You could at least do a tour and ease people in before full administration and merchants show up… Oh, I have an idea! We could give out match tickets as bonuses and organize a small tournament. Something on your level more or less. Lupus' sisters, werewolves, cow and horse people. Just have some local fun. Maybe even start creating merch for fans." Pero stopped, realizing he was going a bit too fast and couldn't go full franchise-making before half of the hegemony understood why they needed shiny metal pieces to exchange for stuff. "Never mind. Let's start things slow and work from there."

At best, for now, he could start introducing money as a concept by letting UTC representatives buy produce from the local farmers while explaining what they can do with the shining metal pieces and what the UTC could exchange for them. All money was just an agreed-upon medium after all, it had to start from there from the grassroots. While Momonga and the administrative sector were hard at work to get the hegemony under control, he had his lion's share of work to perform too.

Editing by aidan_lo.

Proofreading by Stac, aidan_lo, mfkz_rocker, Sluethen, fvvck, Alassandro, Malguis, IAMTHEPLOKOKIOPO, clagan, Working_Stiff and CakeEight

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