Book 13: Chapter 16: Epilogue

Book 13: Chapter 16: Epilogue

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Dark clouds hung over the capital of the Algrand Empire.

The planet's weather was strictly controlled, and today was meant to be a rainy day; however, the gloomy atmosphere shrouding the Capital wasn’t solely due to the rain.

People were discussing a certain matter inside one of the Capital’s buildings.

“Is it true that the subjugation army lost?”

“How could an army of six million lose against a lone lord?”

“I heard they were up against Duke Banfield.”

To an average person living in the Capital, a local lord disappearing after angering the Empire was a trivial matter that had no impact on their lives.

However, the news of the Empire’s defeat plunged the people of the Capital into turmoil.

“He’s the one that slew one of our Sword Saints, right?”

“But his sword skill should be useless in a galactic war!”

“I knew his knights were good, but never did I know they were this good.”

“More importantly, what do you think will happen next?”

“Will the Duke launch an attack on the Empire?”

“We should be more concerned about the Kingdom of Dominion and the other countries around us. If they learn of our defeat...”

Previously, these people thought they would be safe as long as they were in the Capital. However, they were beginning to feel anxious.

◇

Cleo had returned to the palace and was having an audience with the Emperor in the throne room, but she could not bring herself to raise her head in front of Bagrada.

“M-my apologies. But Your Majesty, if you were to take a look at the report that I’ve submitted, it should be clear that we lost the war because of an unexpected accident.”

After much thought, she had come up with an idea.

Although she wasn’t free from blame, Hampson had been the de facto leader in command of the massive fleet, and midway through, he and his army had acted independently.

She planned on using this as an excuse to reduce her responsibility.

Bagrada had been silently perusing the report she had submitted, but his eyes soon widened, and his body shivered.

“What happened afterward?”

“Pardon?”

“According to your report, an unknown fleet appeared amid your decisive battle against the Banfield Family. What happened after that?”

The Emperor sat up from his throne, excited, his eyes still glued to the document.

Cleo looked up before shaking her head.

“Our forces withdrew immediately, so we don’t have any detailed information. However, given the despicable nature of the Banfield Family, we suspect they must have resorted to using forbidden arts to achieve victory.”

She made it sound as if they lost because of the enemy’s underhanded tactics, but Bagrada saw through her lies.

“―How pathetic.”

“Your Majesty?”

“If you had stayed on the battlefield just a little longer, the result would’ve been apparent. We’ve finally stumbled across a clue, yet we weren’t able to get any information out of it.”

Bagrada seemed to have an idea about where the unknown fleet came from, which sparked Cleo’s curiosity.

“Your Majesty, do you perhaps know the identity of the unknown fleet? Just who are they?”

Rather than responding to her inquiry, Bagrada placed his hand on his forehead and told Cleo how she would be dealt with.

“Normally, I would’ve had you executed for the miserable defeat, but your life still holds some value.”

Cleo wasn’t pleased about being treated like a tool, but knowing that there was still hope, she clenched her fists.

“Please give me another chance to take down the Banfield Family! They must be exhausted due to the recent battle. I promise to bring back results!”

Cleo volunteered to join the second batch of army that was to be dispatched to the Banfield Family, but Bagrada shook his head.

“For the time being, we won’t be dispatching another army. We can no longer afford to target the Banfield Family single-mindedly like before.”

“―Is it the neighboring countries? Like the Kingdom of Dominion?”

While the Banfield Family and the subjugation army were fighting, the Empire’s neighboring countries had begun their invasion, and the Imperial Army was busy holding them back.

“Yes, which is why we don’t have the leeway to deal with the Banfield Family for a while. In the meantime, I’ll be having you run amok on some other battlefields.”

Cleo frowned when she heard this.

“I promise to live up to your expectations.”

“―I’ll be looking forward to hearing about your success, Cleo.”

◇

Somewhere else in space...

The Kingdom of Dominion and its army were advancing beyond the borders of the Empire.

In Aluna’s absence, a woman with long silver hair wearing a black military uniform commanded the kingdom’s fleet.

Next to her stood Marion Sera Olgren, a beautiful woman cross-dressing as a man. She was aiding the kingdom in invading the Empire from behind the scenes.

Ultimately, however, he didn’t think Farabar, someone far stronger than himself, would lose.

“I gave it my all! For this day, I secretly gathered negative energy and poured everything I had to support Cleo!”

Not only did he gather negative energy from the Capital, but he also traveled across countless battlefields, picking up remnant feelings of hatred, sadness, anger, and resentment.

He had poured them all into this battle, placing a curse on Liam and hoping for his defeat.

Yet despite his best efforts, he had failed to bring Liam to his knees.

The Guide wiped away his tears.

“Maybe I should just give up. Leave Liam to his own devices and go to a different world, make a handful of its residents miserable, and slowly accumulate power.”

The Guide was exhausted both physically and emotionally, and the thought of starting a slow life in the countryside seemed appealing.

“Yeah, let’s do that. No need to spread misfortune to the entire world like before. I’ll enjoy the taste of slowly and carefully making people unhappy.”

His new goal was to find happiness in small things.

Moving forward, he wasn’t going to have anything to do with Liam.

Just as he arrived at this thought, he felt a stabbing pain in his stomach.

“Ugh! My stomach’s acting up again. Is this also Liam’s work? Sigh, I should get ready to leave this world. Find somewhere else and―”

The Guide was now noticeably meek and dejected.

When he held his stomach with his right hand, there was a sense of discomfort.

“―What’s going on? It feels like there’s something raging inside my stomach. H-huh―!?”

The pain intensified, and the Guide screamed.

Something was gathering in his stomach, and it didn’t take long for him to realize that it was Liam’s feeling of gratitude.

Naturally, it was coupled with the feelings of gratitude from the people of his territory, the World Tree, and the myriad stars.

The Guide was drenched in cold sweat by now.

“B-but why!? I-I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING!?”

It was then that he remembered the dog spirit that had been protecting Liam from behind the scenes.

The Guide had eaten it out of anger for interfering with his plans countless times.

There was a connection between Liam and the dog spirit, allowing the latter to serve as a landmark for the former’s gratitude to gather.

“I have to spit it out right no―GYAAAAA!!”

Before he could vomit out the dog, the Guide’s stomach began to swell.

He continued to inflate like a large balloon before eventually bursting, unleashing an angry dog from within.

Baring its teeth, the dog clutched onto a rope-like object, which turned out to be one of the Guide’s organs.

“Y-YOU DIRTY MUTTTTTT!!”

The Guide attempted to grab the dog with his right hand, but the damage to his body was so severe that only his hat remained, leaving the dog out of his reach.

“EVEN IF IT’S THE LAST THING I DO, I WON’T LET YOU GOOOOOOOOO!!”

While writhing in agonizing pain, the Guide glared at the dog.

However, the dog paid him no mind and spat out his organ, which soon turned into smoke and disappeared.

Perhaps feeling refreshed after its rampage inside the Guide’s stomach, the dog flashed a grin before approaching the Guide with light steps, almost as if it were skipping.

“W-wait, you’re kidding, right? S-stay away!!”

With mouth wide open, the dog then chomped on the Guide.

◇

By the time the dog spirit left, the Guide’s body – represented by the hat – was in tatters.

A portion of the hat had been bitten off, clearly showing that the dog had played with it.

The Guide slowly stood up.

“Unforgivable. Absolutely unforgivable!”

The Guide hadn’t fallen so low as to back down after being treated like this. More precisely, he wasn’t mature enough to endure such humiliation.

“I’ll definitely show that dog hell, along with his previous owner, Liam.”

The Guide no longer entertained the thought of having a slow life in the countryside, and an intense aura of anger oozed from his entire body.

“First, I’ll head to the Capital and tend to my wounds. Then, I’ll come up with a plan to condemn Liam to hell. This time, I’ll definitely show him what eternal damnation is like!!”

————————————————————————————————————–

Brian ( ́;ω;`): “―He doesn’t have a single concubine, and even the candidate he approved of stopped at being an unofficial one, it’s painful. Lord Liam, I thought you said you wanted to build a harem!!”

Wakagi-chan (* ́艸`): “Naegi-chan loves watching the Guide suffer.”

Brian (* ́ω`*): “We have lots to advertise this time as well. From the Intergalactic Empire franchise, we have Volume 6 of Evil Lord and Volume 1 of Heroic Knight, both of which were released last month.”

Wakagi-chan (* ́罒`*): “And from the Mob Seka franchise, we have Volume 11 of ‘The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs’ and Volume 1 of ‘The World of Otome Games is Tough for Us”. Likewise, they were released last month, and both seem to be doing well. This must all be thanks to Naegi-chan’s hard work.”

Brian ( * ̄ ꒳ ̄*)ノシ: “Well then, I bid you adieu for the time being. Please show much love to both the web novels and the light novels, I hope to see you all next time in Volume 14.”