Silence filled the air. The clamor of the battlefield seemed very far away.
“No…” Beldran forced himself to speak. “There is a way.”
“Which is?”
“…Jaldabaoth. We have to defeat the Demon Emperor Jaldabaoth.”
It was a perfect answer, but there was no rejoicing. It was the most insoluble problem in the world, and they had adopted Caspond’s plan precisely because they could not do it.
“…As I thought, we should have gone to look for His Majesty above everything else. We were the ones who chose poorly.”
If she had not gone to retake Kalinsha, but went to the hills with Shizu in tow, they might have avoided this.
Still, it would have been very difficult. Neia had made the best choice she could based on what she could do. She had tried to avoid foolhardiness and pick the most successful path.
However, should they have tried it after all?
What if-
What if-
What if-
Countless “what ifs” flew through Neia’s mind. Every time she thought about “what if I had done this or that” she was swamped in guilt and regret.
Her will to fight was at rock bottom. Neia was not the only one. Her entire unit which felt this way.
The victor was clear.
When one got down to it, the premise of their victory was flawed from the start. Or rather, the battle itself had been a waste of time.
All they could do now was think about how to end this with as few casualties as possible and flee to a safe place. However, that was not the right thing to do.
Weakness was a sin.
It was a sin to be so weak that they could not rescue anyone. That was why they had trained hard to this day.
She could not allow this to end with herself as a sinner.
If that happened, she would not be able to face that figure of absolute justice, His Majesty Ainz Ooal Gown.
Neia had prepared her soul for what was to come, and she unconsciously mentioned what was in her heart.
“It’s over, huh.”
She was louder than she thought she would be. There was no telling if the people around Neia had been affected by her mood, or if they had been thinking the same thing as Neia from the start, but whatever the reason, they all bowed their heads.
This was the end.
The dream of liberating the Holy Kingdom and helping the people had come to an end here.
Come to think of it, they had dared to entertain that dream because of the Sorcerer King’s power. But this was how they had ended up like this when they were by themselves.
Neia knew that now was not the time to laugh, but she did. Then her face turned serious, and she looked toward Shizu.
“…Can you get away?”
“…How about you, Neia?”
Neia held her chest high.
“I can’t run! I’m a person who saw His Majesty work for others, and who benefited from it. I can’t let this end with me as a weakling — as a sinner.”
Neia saw the people around her raise their heads.
“We won’t run from that bastard!”
They looked like proper warriors again.
Those were the faces of men who were prepared to die. How she wanted to show them off before the Sorcerer King.
“But… sem… no, you’re not the same… Which is why we want to place our wishes in you. I know it must seem strange for us to entrust our thanks to you, since you’re a subordinate of the Sorcerer King, but… Please do it for us. Please find His Majesty, Shizu. You can command those of us who are still in Kalinsha as you see fit. Therefore…”
“…Got it.”
Neia breathed a sigh of relief after she heard Shizu agree.
However, that expression immediately became one of surprise.
“…There’s no need for me to go.”
“What, what does that mean?”
“…Look.”
Shizu pointed at the approaching objects — the demihuman reinforcements coming from the direction of Kalinsha. They were made up of many different races, even Orcs and Zerns. Neia stared at the flags which the demihuman reinforcements were holding up in neat rows. It was-
“Eh?”
Neia was so shocked that she exclaimed despite herself.
She doubted what her eyes had seen and looked again several more times, but what she saw remained the same.
“…See? There’s no need.”
Neia knew that flag very well.
It was the flag of the Sorcerous Kingdom.
The shocked cries from her comrades proved that what Neia had seen was no illusion.
“Isn’t that the flag of the Sorcerous Kingdom? You told us about it before, didn’t you, Baraja-sama?”
“Are those reinforcements from the Sorcerous Kingdom? Baraja-sama did say something about demihumans in the Sorcerous Kingdom.”
They were in the middle of a war right now. At this very moment, countless people were killing each other, and Jaldabaoth was killing people too.
However, Neia forgot all that as she tried desperately to grasp what was going on.
What happened next fired everyone up.
The demihuman army neatly split into two, like they had drilled the maneuver countless times. They made way in the center for a single undead being to step forward.
He was a magic caster in a black robe, mounted on a skeletal warhorse.
That was the form of the hero Neia adored, who she saw even in her dreams.
“It, it’s His Majesty… no way…”
Neia had no confidence in whether she was watching a dream or witnessing reality.
However, the being she saw was immovable, and he could not be a dream.
Her emotions exploded inside her, to the point she could not even describe how she felt.
Her hot tears blurred her field of vision. She could not even think to wipe them away.
Shizu waved to the Sorcerer King. He seemed to have noticed this, and urged his horse over to her.
The Sorcerer King approached.
What should she say to him? Should she apologize for not searching for him? Would she be forgiven if she did that? While Neia was looking for the right words to say, the Sorcerer King had already reached her and nimbly dismounted from his steed.
“…Umu. What a coincidence that we should meet here. Miss Baraja. Did you think I was dead?”
“Your, Your Majesty!”
Neia could not stem the flow of her tears.
“I believed in all this time, because Shizu-sempai told me. I thought you would be fine, but… it was true!”
“Ah… um. Ah… hm. Mm. I see. That pleases me. Uh… sempai?”
It would seem the Sorcerer King was also delighted at this reunion, because he seemed to be at a loss for words.
“…Don’t cry.”
Shizu pressed her handkerchief to Neia’s face and rubbed it forcefully.
“…There’s snot on it again. Really shocking.”
“Oh… it seems you’re getting along quite well with Shizu, Miss Baraja. This pleases me.”
“It’s all thanks to Your Majesty! I don’t know what I’d do without Shizu-sempai! Thank you very much!”
Neia’s emotions had been such a mess that she did not know what she had been saying just now.
“I see… That is quite a surprise for me… Shizu, how was it?”
“…I like Neia. Her face is kind of charming.”
“Please don’t say that,” Neia said as she rubbed her eyes, having stopped crying already. Soon, she had cleared away the last of her tears. “Your Majesty, I have many things I would like to ask You, but the most important thing is… are You displeased at the speed of our rescue? If you are, then I take full responsibility-”
“-Miss Baraja,” the Sorcerer King raised his hand to keep her from going on. “Why are you saying this? None of you have displeased me in any way.”
Neia’s eyes filled with tears again. Nor was she alone — everyone around her who had heard the Sorcerer King’s kind words wept as well. There were people who had been holding their tears in who finally broke down sobbing.