Overlord of Biblical proportions

Overlord of a High School (6)

'Hmm, that could have gone better, but all in all, not bad,' Momonga noted internally the results of the past negotiations.

After all, he still had absolutely no idea who exactly Rias Gremory and Akeno Himejima were. But judging by the fact that the demons watching them obeyed her orders and had appeared instantly, as soon as Momonga looked into Rias' eyes, and she reacted strangely for some reason, when she recoiled – she was someone important.

Maybe she was a commander of some sort...? Apparently she wasn't too surprised by the appearance of the invisible people, so she was at least aware that they were there. Perhaps she had even sent them there herself to watch the proceedings or maybe just as backup and just pretended not to notice them the whole time? Perhaps she hoped to be able to attack Momonga if necessary, if he didn't notice the people's presence?

On the other hand, these people weren't even strong enough to penetrate his passive defenses – but Rias shouldn't have known that, given the surveillance protection Momonga used. In which case, Rias would have been planning to the best of her capabilities and knowledge and used someone strong enough, by her standards, for her possible ambush or at least emergency defense.

Well, she at least has some tactical acumen on her side, as creatures from level thirtieth to forty were about the same as what Momonga himself would choose as a human shield. At least if he was prepared to retreat at the first sign of trouble, as the ratio of cost to expected effectiveness was terrible – namely, zero. They were completely useless except for the very possibility of the chance of intercepting a strike aimed at Momonga.

But in that case, the plan regarding ambushing Momonga made no sense.

Against a level one hundred player, especially given the inability to gather information about him, it might require either several battles for intelligence gathering, or two or even three level one hundred players. Thirtieth and Fortieth level creatures in this case could act solely in the role of living shields, disposable test objects, living projectiles to disarm traps or for reconnaissance at the cost of their lives.

'So either someone was using Rias as bait, to gain information about me, or she has extremely seriously underestimated me and my abilities, or from her point of view level forty is strong enough to use against an unknown threat...' Momonga frowned at the potential implications coming from this information.

'On the other hand, this is a new world after all, and I'm judging using only simple basic information gathering spells from the past – and I've already come across one really strong being of this world, the 'Great Red Dragon'. Umu, staying vigilant in this case is still a priority.'

Momonga ended that line of thought with a nod, as he sat silently in the classroom as the teacher drone on about one subject or another, as Momonga didn't really know what they were talking about. If nothing else, that meeting with Rias had allowed me to pass lunch without suspicion.

'Getting back to my other thoughts. I don't know Rias' identity yet, but she at least has some weight in the local balance of power.'

Momonga nodded to himself, not paying attention as the teacher, who, seeing his action, cheered up a bit as he continued his lesson.

'And judging from the outcome of our conversation, as long as I go about my business quietly, or at least without implicitly being against her interests, she will not attack me. It can't be called peace, because she will definitely try to gather information about me to find out my weaknesses – then again, I'm actually already doing that by using Pandora's Actor as a proxy. Which means that this 'peace' is precarious – but, for the moment, we've both outlined red lines that no one should cross.'