Overlord - Volume 13.6

Overlord Volume 13 Epilogue

Epilogue

Things became simple after the Sorcerer King’s victory. The demihumans had already lost the will to fight, so all that was left was to mop them up. There were practically no casualties on the side of Holy Kingdom, but the ground was littered with demihuman corpses.

Now that the enemy general Jaldabaoth had been defeated, nobody could stand in the way of the Holy Kingdom Liberation Army.

Recapturing the city of Prart and the capital city of Hoburns was practically instantaneous.

It would take a while longer to free the city of Rimun, which was further west, and there were still people suffering in villages which had been converted to detention camps, but this was already a big step.

The liberated capital was filled with joyous sounds, and their ardor had not abated even after a whole day. In fact, it actually grew livelier.

However, the brass ― Neia included ― knew that there was still a veritable mountain of problems to be dealt with.

The first issue was food. The demihumans had eaten everything and caused a shortage of food. It would surely hamper the progress of the Holy Kingdom in the future.

The next was the people who had died. Losses in the workforce could be replaced. However, if the deceased were skilled craftsmen, scholars, or people who might one day become them, then the loss of knowledge would be a fatal blow to the nation.

And then there was the matter of resources. The demihumans had plundered and destroyed many things, and rebuilding all of them would take a lot of resources.

Finally, there was the matter of time. The demihumans had taken a full two seasons during their invasion, and they would need to work twice as hard to make up for the loss.

And of course, there might be demihumans lurking within the Holy Kingdom. They would need to be rooted out and exterminated.

The location of most of the loot taken by the demihumans ― valuables and magic items ― was unknown. The demihumans all had separate cultures of their own, so adorning themselves with precious metals and collecting human wealth was hardly a strange thing, However, the strange thing was that there were no clues at all as to where those things had been taken. That was because they had been completely unable to track the enemy’s transport units.

Still, however many problems lay ahead of them, there would be people who felt that it would be fine if they could lose themselves in frank and honest revelry. They would need a short break before the painful days to come, and Neia agreed on that point as well.

However, she could not do that today. She could not lose herself in celebration on this day.

The reason for that was because it was a day of parting.

It was a very sad day.

There was a lone carriage stopped in front of the royal capital’s main gate, on the eastern side of the city. In contrast to the carriage’s plain exterior, Neia knew that its interior was lavishly and meticulously fitted, and its performance was also excellent. In particular, its seats did not hurt the bottom even after long periods spent sitting on them.

Indeed.

It was the carriage Neia had been allowed to share with the Sorcerer King when he had come to the Holy Kingdom.

In other words, today was the day when the Sorcerer King would leave the Holy Kingdom and return to his own country.

Originally, it would not have been a surprise to see a carriage of the Sorcerous Kingdom surrounded by demihumans. The Sorcerer King had united the Abelion Hills and brought many of the demihumans under his banner for the battle with Jaldabaoth. That said, there were none of them in sight, because the Sorcerer King had allowed them all to return to the hills.

This was not a matter of the past few days. He had let them return after the final battle with Jaldabaoth had ended.

When she had asked the reason for that, she had received the answer, “You must hate being around the demihumans, don’t you?” Such was his sympathy for the people of the Holy Kingdom.

Neia was deeply moved.

He had considered the mental state of the Holy Kingdom and let his own soldiers return home, saying that they would travel in the company of the soldiers of the Holy Kingdom, who were from another nation. This was by no means ordinary behavior for the ruler of a nation.

Indeed, unless it were the King of Kings ― the magnanimous Sorcerer King.

Neia’s group of like-minded supporters were also deeply moved.

Therefore, when Neia and her comrades had taken it upon themselves to become the Sorcerer King’s honor guard, nobody could bring themselves to protest. Of course, there was almost no more fighting, so for the most part they simply moved with the Sorcerer King, but the faces of her comrades were still fresh in Neia’s memories.

She remembered their joy at being able to walk with the person who had saved them, their pride at being able to accompany the hero who had defeated Jaldabaoth, and then the bliss of being allowed to stand by the side of the king they so admired. Their faces all blended these differing emotions.

They were nowhere in sight today.

All she could see were the walls and the main gate of the Holy Kingdom’s capital, and then the street leading to Prart ― which continued on to the Sorcerous Kingdom.

“Are you going back today, Your Majesty? The people are all abuzz with joy after the liberation of the royal capital. I feel it would not be out of place to have Your Majesty join us for the next few days, in a thanksgiving festival for the person who was the biggest contributor towards taking back the capital within a few days…”

She had asked that question several times in the past. She would probably get the answer she knew she would receive, that he was heading home. Even so, she still had to ask it again. It was probably the work of Neia’s feminine side.

“Ahh, I’ll be returning to the Sorcerous Kingdom today. I’m not confident in my ability to deal with ceremonies.”

As the Sorcerer King muttered to himself, he made a very exaggerated movement, like a comical shrugging of his shoulders, perhaps because he knew Neia would feel distressed if she took his words to heart.

“Surely you jest, Your Majesty.”

“Umu, well, yes I was, I was just kidding. Yes, kidding… In truth, I’ve done everything I came here to do. Thus, there is no need for me to stay here. I also need to guide the development of the Sorcerous Kingdom, in my capacity as its king. If I leave the throne for long, my Prime Minister Albedo will scold me.”

Neia’s mind conjured up the visage of the world class beauty she had seen but once. She was a woman whose beauty made her unforgettable.

Surely she can’t be that scary when she gets mad… or is she scary when she gets mad because she’s beautiful? While I don’t think that’s what His Majesty meant, it’s a little hard to imagine someone as pretty as that getting angry. Still… I’m envious…

Being allowed to speak to him like that, because she was close to him, was something that Neia desperately wanted, yet could not ask for, which made her very envious. How happy would Neia be if she heard the Sorcerer King she so respected tell others Neia will scold me or something like that?

“Is that so… still, it is a shame that there’s nobody to send off Your Majesty, given that you saved this nation.”

The Sorcerer King’s decision to go had been a sudden thing. The fact that there was nobody to send him off told a sad and lonely story.

“I already told Prince Caspond that it would be troublesome if the festival was too lavish. This nation will be facing a lot of difficulties from now on. Rather than waste resources and manpower on sending me off, I’d rather have them use it on rebuilding the country.”

“Your Majesty…”

Why did he have to go back?

If she clung to his feet and made a big scene of weeping, she could probably delay his return to his nation by a week.

While she keenly felt the desire to do so, she bore with it. She could not act spoilt around the most merciful Sorcerer King.

“Ah, it’s not because I want to act like some kind of big shot, uh, it’s just that this country really has nothing left, yes… like wealth. While I thought that asking them to leave a bit more might be good… What I mean to say is, ah yes, I would like you all to not mind me and keep working hard. Also… look, the stability of your country will be good for the Sorcerous Kingdom too, as neighbors. There’ll be trade between us and so on in the future, yes.”

So he had sensed what Neia was thinking, and he was fumbling to comfort her. While he was typically very cool and stylish, he sometimes spoke in a way that made her worry for him.

“Thank you very much, Your Majesty.”

“Oh? Hm, don’t, don’t worry about it. I came to this country for Jaldabaoth’s maids, after all. And now―” The Sorcerer King patted Shizu ― who had been standing beside him all this time, as though she were trying to mask her presence ― on the back. “―And now I have them, so it was worth coming to this country.”

Neia felt it was a little embarrassing that the Holy Kingdom could not give the Sorcerer King anything.

The Sorcerer King had gained Shizu ― the maid demon ― with his own strength. Neia and everyone who shared her beliefs felt the same way.

There had been discussions about what they would give to him, but someone had mentioned that since he was a king, having someone who did not represent the country giving him a present would instead be very rude, and so the plan had fallen through.

At the very least, Neia had hoped that Caspond would make some concessions on a national level, or sign a treaty which was unfavorable to the Holy Kingdom.

“…If you so desire, I can resurrect your parents with a grand spell that can only be used once every year, you know?”

“Thank you very much, Your Majesty, but ― there is no need for that.”

During the liberation of the capital city, one of the prisoners had witnessed Neia’s mother fall in battle. She had heard of her mother’s valiant last stand from him. Surely she would not be angry even if she was not resurrected.

In addition, it was said that resurrection spells required extremely valuable materials as a material component, and Neia would be hard-pressed to afford those. Perhaps the most merciful Sorcerer King might supply them for free, but she could not keep relying on the Sorcerer King’s largesse for her own sake.

However, it would seem the demihumans had disposed of the corpse, so she could not even bid her a final farewell, which was quite sad.

“Talking for too long will only make the parting hurt more. I ought to be going soon. Shizu, is there anything you want to tell Miss Baraja?”

“…Bye.”

“Alright! Goodbye!”

Shizu extended a hand to Neia, who shook it.

And then, the two of them let go without any further ado.

“…Are the two of you alright with this?”

“…It’ll be… fine.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I see. Then ― we’re going, Shizu.”

As the Sorcerer King put one foot on the step leading up to his carriage, he turned back to address Neia.

“…This country will experience many difficulties in the future, but… I’m sure you’ll be able to work hard and pull through it. I hope to see you again.”

“Yes!”

Just as the Sorcerer King was about to enter his carriage, Neia looked at his back and could not stop herself from shouting:

“Majesty! Your Majesty!”

The Sorcerer King paused on the step of his carriage and looked back. Neia gulped, worked up her courage, and asked in a trembling voice:

“Ah, excuse me! Could I, could I call you Ainz-sama!?”

The cheek of her. Surely she, as a commoner from another nation, would be scolded for daring to address him in such a familiar fashion.

“…Eh? Ahh, yes, you may… call me anything you want.”

“Thank you very much.”

She bowed deeply to the magnanimous king of another nation, and by the time she raised her head, it was Shizu’s turn to board the carriage.

“Take care, Shizu-sempai!”

“Mm!”

Shizu stuck out her thumb, and then she vanished into the carriage.

Perhaps it had sensed the two of them had boarded, but the horse whinnied and trotted off.

“―Then, Your Majesty!”

As she watched the carriage move off, Neia could no longer hide her tears as she shouted:

“Long live His Majesty the Sorcerer King!”

She was not the only one shouting at the top of her voice.

There was more than one gate in the royal capital. Her fellow believers had used the other gates and secretly gathered so they could pop up outside the gate to loudly wish the Sorcerer King well.

“Long may he live!”

“Long may he live!”

“Long may he live!”

At the same time, they scattered the flowers they had struggled so hard to collect.

The carriage carried on amidst all this.

It was hardly a fitting send off for the man who had saved the Holy Kingdom. Even so, it was the best effort from Neia and the people who understood how she felt.

The carriage shrank in her tear-dimmed vision.

Neia sobbed.

She felt so lonely now.

She wanted the Sorcerer King and Shizu to ask “Would you like to come to the Sorcerous Kingdom?” If they had asked that, Neia might have abandoned everything to go with them.

But they had not.

She hated it.

In the end, Neia had been nothing more than a squire for his brief stay in this country.

All manner of negative emotions roiled up inside her.

However ― that was wrong.

In Neia’s ears echoed the words which the Sorcerer King had said.

…This country will experience many difficulties in the future, but… I’m sure you’ll be able to work hard and pull through it. I hope to see you again.

In other words, he had expectations for Neia.

Something like, though the Holy Kingdom is in chaos, I’m sure Neia can pull the country together, or something.

It had felt like a long time, but also a very short time, but it had changed her life tremendously ― and now it was over. However, this was only the beginning. There were many things she had to do.

For starters, she had to repay the Sorcerer King’s kindness with her actions.

Then, she would need to rebuild this country. Justice and evil. Neia had never really understood what those two words meant, but now she could hold her chest high and answer.

The Sorcerer King was justice, she would say. And being weak was a sin. The important thing was to work hard to be strong, and so on.

Neia had to spread the truths she had learned throughout the Holy Kingdom.

“Baraja-sama, please wipe your tears.”

It was Beldran.

At a closer look, his eyes were also red. Perhaps he had wiped his own tears before coming to Neia’s side, but his voice was still trembling, so he had clearly wept recently.

“Ahh…”

Neia forcefully wiped her tears away, just like how Shizu had first wiped her face.

“Baraja-sama. The people who witnessed that battle all want to hear about the Sorcerer King. Many more have come with their families in tow.”

“I understand. We’ll tell them that His Majesty ― Ainz-sama is a truly noble king, and also about Shizu.”

Neia looked straight ahead.

“Goodbyes really are depressing. However ― Everyone! Let’s go! Let us spread the truth ― that His Majesty is justice ― to more people!”

“―Ohhhh!”

Over 3,000 people shouted in unison, and then they fell into step behind Neia.

***

The carriage moved on.

The long project was finally over. Ainz had never experienced it himself, but this must have been what it felt like to be an expatriate. Even if he had returned to Nazarick from time to time, this might have been the first time he had been away from it for so long.

He had thrown the matter of ruling the demihumans of the Abelion Hills to Albedo, and he had handed the entirety of the Holy Kingdom’s future affairs to Demiurge.

In other words, Ainz had taken the weight off his shoulders. He sighed, subtly enough that Shizu ― who was sitting opposite him ― did not notice. While he had switched Demiurge’s script to easy mode halfway through, the fatigue from all the complicated events until that point had not yet been fully eliminated. However, he did feel the sense of relaxation which came from solving a previously insoluble problem.

That said, after returning to Nazarick ― E-Rantel, rather ― he would need to carefully and slowly take care of the work he had put off for the past two seasons. Once, he had put his stamp on documents in a slapdash manner, trusting that Albedo had already looked them over, only to be told, “Truly, only Ainz-sama could make decisions so swiftly. I am filled with respect.” Ainz had wondered whether that assessment of him was sarcastic or not.

Indeed. It was not because he had work waiting for him that he had not used 「Gate」 ― which could take him back in an instant.

Definitely not.