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Book 13: Chapter 16: Epilogue

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.

“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.

She was acting under Liam’s orders, which was why she was cooperating with the kingdom’s invasion despite her identity as a member of the Empire’s nobility.

The silver-haired woman folded her arms and nodded in satisfaction upon hearing that the Banfield Family had won.

“The Banfield Family is the Empire’s strongest household; it’s no surprise that they won. But to think they’d win by a landslide…”

She fully expected the Banfield Family to have suffered heavy casualties against the subjugation army, but looking at the result, it seemed that wasn’t the case.

Marion was also surprised by this.

“I didn’t know Senpai was this good at fighting. Well, it’s probably all thanks to Klaus-dono.”

Marion attributed most of Liam’s success to Klaus, who was hailed as the Empire’s strongest knight. However, the silver-haired woman seemed to have a different opinion.

“Not quite. If Liam-dono wasn’t a worthy fellow, a talented knight like Klaus-dono would never have pledged his allegiance to him.”

“Is that how it works?”

“Yes. ―Now, as promised, we shall put a dent in the Empire’s army.”

Reinforcements from the Empire had arrived to deal with the kingdom’s invading fleet.

The operator onboard issued a report to the silver-haired woman.

“Your Majesty the Overlord, the enemy fleet is upon us!”

Indeed, the silver-haired woman was actually the Overlord, and she grinned as she held out her right hand.

“Destroy them!”

◇

Argos is currently soaring above the Banfield Family’s home planet, demonstrating excellent condition.

As evidence of our triumphant return, our spaceships have been aligned in perfect formation, and mobile knights have been dispatched to showcase our military might to the people below.

“Moving forward, they better think twice before staging stupid demonstrations.”

I enjoy the scenery of our home planet from the bridge of Argos, especially the frightened faces of my subjects cowering before my mighty army.

With this, I’m sure they’ll stage fewer demonstrations for foolish reasons―at least, that’s the intended effect.

Feeling pleased, I spread my arms out.

“In the end, we were able to achieve a flawless victory. Well, there’s no way that I’d lose, so I guess this was inevitable.”

With the blessing of the Guide, it’d be harder to lose!

Nevertheless, I’m of the mindset that I shouldn’t rely too heavily on the Guide’s assistance, which is why I’d like to think that the result of this war was in part due to my hard work.

From a third person’s perspective, however, I may come across as extremely confident.

Take Eulisia, for example.

“I still can’t believe we actually won. Now, I can’t even call you out for being arrogant.”

She seems exasperated by my attitude.

“Did you think we’d lose?”

“Only Lord Liam and Klaus-dono would think of winning against such a massive army. By the way, since we won, please promote me from my position of a concubine candidate!”

I don’t ever recall making such promises, but she asks to be officially made a concubine.

“―You know, I could just have you removed from the list of candidates entirely.”

I decide to tease her a bit, only to have her start clinging to me, sobbing, her eyes no longer focused.

“There’s no turning back for me now! Lord Liam, you plan on abandoning me? How could you? You brute! Devil! Lowest of the low!”

“H-hey, let me go! And stop slandering me! My subordinates are watching!”

The officers around us are listening to our exchange, probably finding it amusing.

I went through all that effort trying to look like an evil lord, yet she’s trying to ruin that image!

“Alright, you won’t be a candidate anymore! From now on, you’ll be an unofficial concubine!”

“Why is it still unofficiaaaaaaal!!”

What a greedy woman. I’ve made my position clear, so her becoming my concubine is almost set in stone, yet she’s still asking for more.

“Oops, it’s almost time for my daily prayer. ―I’ll be heading back to my room; don’t disrupt me.”

I exit the bridge as if to flee from the scene, instead heading for my daily prayer.

Today, I shall work especially hard to offer my gratitude to the Guide.

After all, it was probably thanks to his help that we were able to achieve such a perfect victory.

It’s only natural that I offer sincere words of gratitude.

Hmm, maybe I should call Ellen and the others to pray together with me.

◇

Farabar had lost to Liam―when the Guide found out about this, he was so shocked he plopped down on a planet full of nothing but rocks and sand.

“How did he beat a monster like Farabar!? That skeleton’s on a higher plane of existence than even me! Liam can’t be considered human anymore!”

Farabar was more evil than the Guide himself and spread negativity all around the world. Hence, the possibility of Liam winning never occurred to him.

…Well, maybe just a little. In one tiny corner of his heart, the Guide had worried that Liam might emerge as the victor.

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.”