Evil Overlord Victor

Victor got up from his bed and stretched. “God I hate Mondays.” His butler got him a cup of coffee just how he liked it that he eagerly guzzled down. “Thank you Reggie.” He handed the cup back as he stared out the window. The lava geysers were working well, he could already see a few charred adventurer bodies. Huh, maybe working a bit too well. “Jeremy! Could you tone the lave geysers down a tad! I want the bodies intact!” A unintelligible groan from the other room confirmed that he had heard the request. He turned to Reggie, his skeleton butler. “Alright, what’s on the agenda today?” The skeleton coughed with his nonexistent lungs before responding. “Of course Master Angelo! 9:30 to 10:55 you have a screening for henchmen. We already turned down all the attractive women as per your and Ms. Opal’s separate requests. We also turned away the men who were very attractive, extremely ugly, had a sheltered upbringing, a troubled past, and reasons to seek revenge on the heroes that is possibly a misunderstanding that will cause them to defect if found out.” Victor nodded. “11 o Clock to 11:55 you have an overview of the base as usual. 12 o clock to 1:25 you have your regularly scheduled lunch with Ms. Opal with an hour afterwards for general relaxation. 1:30 to 4:25 you have general experimentation followed by your rousing speech to your undead mass and minions before dinner, leaving the rest of the night free for your whims.” Victor nodded. “Thank you Reggie, that sounds perfectly fine. I think I’m going to wash up then head down to the audition room after a quick breakfast.” The skeleton nodded. “Of course Master Angelo, I will get your breakfast ready post-haste.” The skeleton bowed and stepped out of the room. Victor rolled his neck, hearing it crack as he did. “Lunch cannot come soon enough, can it?” He asked himself as he stepped into the shower. One thourough cleaning later he stepped out and grabbed his clothes. He looked at himself in the mirror as he slipped his lab coat on and saw the telltale shimmer flow over him as the various enchantments did their work. The shining blue crystal at his neck was the most important item he had however, much more so than a few protection enchantments. It pulsed steadily at a similar beat as his heart, but not quite the same. He grabbed his Alchemy supplies and sat down at the small table in his room and began mixing up his extracts for the day as he ate the plate of eggs left there.. Enlarge person, check. Bull’s Strength, check. Mix em together and you have something terrifying. A few more dual extracts later he was done and tucked them into the pockets of holding in his coat.
	He scratched his beard a bit as he looked over the list of applicants. “Alright, first up we have Thorgrack the Unchained?” An orc in heavy plate mail walked in. “I is Thorgrack! Thorgrack strong! Thorgrack like kill heroes!” Victor blinked. “Does Thorgrack have any other motivations?” The orc shook his head. “Only kill and smash!” “Alright, you got the job. Percy over there will help you sign the paperwork Geas.” The Orc cheered and went over to the mummy holding a pen. “Next!” A man in a black coat walked in twirling a dagger around his finger with a smug grin. “I’m-“ “You’re a mercenary for hire aren’t you?” The man looked a bit surprised. “Uh, yeah, why?” “Next!” The man grumbled as he left. Anther man came in with black robes with white stars on them. “I am Malakath The Exiled! I was kicked out of the local mage college for unethical experiments!” Victor nodded a bit. “Do you swear revenge on them?” He shook his head. “They are simply fools that do not understand my brilliance, ignorance is not to be punished, it is simply a sign to teach them the folly of their ways by rising above them! And what better way can I do that then by serving you and assisting your experiments!” Victor smiled. “You’re hired, get in line for the Geas.” The man walked on and the smile dropped. This was gonna be a long day.
	He walked through the halls with an annoyed look on his face. Before long he made it to the dining hall. It was not a grand table with dozens of chairs, that was reserved for his servants and special occasions. His dining room was just a simple table that could seat maybe 4 people at most. It had a few mage lights floating around for atmosphere but that was about it. He smiled when he saw Opal sitting at the table and settled into the seat next to her as he kissed her on the cheek. “Hey Opal.” She smiled and kissed back as the skeletons brought them lunch. She had a similar crystal around her neck as he did. “Hey Victor. How is your day so far?” He groaned a bit as he took a bite of his sandwich. “Ugh, don’t even get me stared. The auditions were awful as always. Too many upstarts. And then on my weekly rounds I found out one of the zombies broke a vent while stopping some heroes last week so I had to divert guards to protect it while it’s being repaired. Gods, being an overlord is so much tougher than they make it out to be.” He let his head droop a bit. She reached over and started petting the back of his head. “I know it’s hard, but you’re still doing an amazing job. If you’re getting stressed out though we could always take tomorrow off.” He leaned into her pets a bit. “But what about the castle? There’s so much to take care of every day.” “Victor, Charles is an excellent lieutenant. He can run things for one day while you get some much needed rest and relaxation.” He seemed to think about it for a few moments before looking up at her. “Can we just stay in bed all day?” She gave him an amused smile. “Of course.” He couldn’t help but beam and throw his arms around her. “I really do need a break.” She laughed and hugged him back. “I can tell.” After a few moment he broke away and grinned at her. “Thank you Opal, I don’t know what I would do without you.” She just smiled and took a bite of her food. “Not sure, but you’d probably be bored.” “That I would. And I wouldn’t have all these zombies.” She chuckled. “That too.”
	He hummed to himself as he cut into the body. Dragonborn heroes were quite rare, so having a chance to dissect one was always enjoyable. His scalpel shined as it cut through the touch scales like tissue paper. He started extracting the organs one by one, enjoying the process greatly. He left the breath gland intact however. After about an hour of grueling work, he stitched the corpse shut and smiled, content with the work he’d done. He whistled as he pushed the cart with the body on it down the halls. He passed various zombies and skeletons who were tasked to guard the place and eventually made his way to an iron door. He rapped his knuckles against the metal door a few times. “Opal, I brought you a present!” A few moments later the door opened and she answered as she was taking off gloves covered in blood and tossing them into a bin. Her face lit up as she saw the Dragonborn corpse and the tin of organs. “Victor, you shouldn’t have!” He grinned. “Found this one by the lava pits, turns out Red Dragonborn resist fire well enough not to be charred to a crisp.“ She looked through the organs he set out excitedly. “Where’s the flame sac?” She asked after a moment. “Still in the body and set up.” She beamed and threw her arms around him with an excited squeal. “You are the best husband ever!” He laughed and hugged her back, lifting her into the air and spun her in a circle. “That’s only because I have the best wife ever!” She beamed even wider as he put her down and kissed him quickly before grabbing the cart with the Dragonborn corpse. “I love you so much! I am going to make you the best zombie you could possibly imagine!” He grinned. “I love you too, have fun!” She nodded and pushed the cart inside as he started back to his lab.
	Victor coughed a few times as he adjusted his coat. He turned to Opal. “Do I look alright? I haven’t made an address in weeks, I’m not sure if I look right?’ She smiled and patted down a stray strand of hair. “You look as pretty as ever, don’t worry.” He sighed and smiled at her. “Kiss for luck?” She shook her head and kissed his cheek. “You are too much sometimes.” He grinned. “I know, that’s why you love me.” He shook the grin off and stepped through the curtain. “My fair minions, thank you for yet another glorious day!” There were dozens of zombies, skeletons, and minions of varying races cheering. “We have done good work recently, many advancements were made, many nosy adventurers were taken down and added to our ranks! Overall though, I have been overworking myself! So, I will be taking tomorrow off to rest! Charles will be in charge, so be sure to report to him if there are any problems! Thank you once more, my fine minions!” He walked back through the curtain with a flourish of his coat. “How was that? Good?” He asked Opal. “It was perfect, stop worrying about it. Those people would die for you. Mostly because you put that condition in the Geas but still.”  He rolled his eyes and smiled. “They signed it willingly! Come on, let’s go eat dinner and head to the room. I am exhausted and need to cuddle.” She chuckled. “You know you are probably the huggiest evil overlord ever, you know that?” He kissed her cheek. “That may be, but I’m your huggy evil overlord.” She kissed him back and shook her head as they started towards the dining room to enjoy the rest of their day.