Chapter 46: Vol6 Epilogue (1/2)

Overlord Volume 6 Epilogue

Epilogue

Lower Fire Month (9th Month), 6th Day, 08:45

The maids were formed up in neat lines in front of Sebas. There were 41 of them in total, and all of them were Homunculi. At their head stood the dog-headed chief maid, Pestonya S. Wanko. Thus the domestic maid staff of Nazarick was assembled.

“Everyone, this is Nazarick’s newest maid.”

“My name is Tsuareninya, pleased to meet you.”

The head maid greeted Tsuare, whose head was bowed low, as a representative of everyone else.

After speaking with the maids, Tsuare had not shown any signs of fear.

Apart from the stitching that ran down the middle of her face, Pestonya had kind eyes and a gentle expression. Additionally, the maids behind her were all human, without any frightening facial features.

Even so, judging by Tsuare’s condition, it seemed her fear of others would never truly vanish. Although she looked like she was getting along well with others, she knew exactly what kind of situation she was in, and she was trying to distract herself from it by forcing herself to work hard.

If I don’t watch her carefully, she might break.

While Sebas was pondering these questions, the meet-and-greet session ended, and one of the maids brought her outside. Along the way, Tsuare turned to look at Sebas. Sebas nodded to her, and she nodded by way of reply, before turning away and leaving.

“Sebas-sama, how much training will that girl need-wan?”

“Train her until she qualifies to be a maid of Nazarick. However, she is only human, so when you train her, please don’t push her beyond her limits.”

“Understood-wan.”

Pestonya’s dog-like face tilted, revealing her canines. Although her expression made her look like a beast pouncing on her prey, her eyes were still filled with warmth.

“I think that for her, being a maid is just a first step.”

“What do you mean?”

Pestonya answered Sebas, who had not quite grasped her meaning and was wondering what she was talking about.

“…wan. That is to say, I meant she would probably retire after marriage-wan.”

“What?!”

As Sebas’ face seized up, Pestonya’s gentle laughter echoed throughout the ninth floor of the Great Tomb of Nazarick.

♦ ♦ ♦

Lower Fire Month (9th Month), 7th Day, 16:51

After making sure there were no guests present and that the time was right, Climb opened the doors to Renner’s chambers.

The princess sat in her usual place, her room dyed red by the rays of the setting sun. They illuminated her like a spotlight.

“Welcome, Climb.”

That gentle beauty calmed Climb’s pounding heart, and he felt as though he had been healed. Climb tugged down on his relaxed face, and went over to Renner’s side.

“Come, have a seat, Climb.”

“Thank you, but there is no need, Renner-sama. I have to help with the cleanup of the demon attack in a while.”

Renner’s eyes sparkled. She had originally given that order, so replying this way seemed to be the correct answer.

Climb’s next task was to take over the security detail responsible for protecting the Magician’s Association.

This was because of a certain item.

Although the whole picture of the demon invasion had not been fully revealed yet, a very disturbing magic item had been found in a warehouse. The Magician’s Association was still analyzing and investigating it, but considering the fact that it had been imbued with abnormally powerful magic and the information Jaldabaoth had let slip, it seemed likely that it was the item he had been searching.

As a result, the Magician’s Association had gathered strong veterans in order to stand watch over the item until they figured out how to dispose of it. Naturally, Climb was one of them.

It’s so annoying, we can’t punish the members of the Eight Fingers who brought this item to the capital…

Even though he stood in front of Renner, Climb could not fully suppress the irritation in his heart.

The magic item which had led to the tragedy in the capital had been found in a warehouse that was positively linked to the smuggling division of the Eight Fingers. That being the case, they should have immediately moved to destroy them. However there was a crucial reason why they could not do so, and only a few people knew about it.

They had started searching for the item because Jaldabaoth had leaked the information about it. That was Renner’s opinion. However, Jaldabaoth might have been counting on the humans to find the object his troops could not, which was why that information had gotten out in the first place.

Since everyone understood the implications of that leak, they had suppressed all information about the artifact, and as such it could no longer be used as a reason to attack the Eight Fingers.

“You should be working with the Warrior-Captain, right? I see, then everything should be fine. How about the people you helped? You should have been busy protecting the palace, but you must have stepped outside for a bit, no?”

Climb’s heart lurched as Renner unleashed that bombshell on him.

“Y-yes. Everyone hopes to express their gratitude to Renner-sama.”

“How wonderful. Then I must go and meet them.”

“You can’t!”

As soon as the shout left his mouth, Climb immediately realized that he had screwed up very badly. He lowered his head and began speaking rapidly, as though trying to cover up all his previous words.

“Everyone is still busy and I believe the presence of Renner-sama will distract everyone from their hard work and although it demeans Renner-sama’s generosity I hope that you will understand my meaning.”

As he raised his head, Climb wondered if his mistress’ beautiful face would be creased by unhappiness, or a childish pout that did not suit her age. However, the expression Climb saw was neither of these.

She smiled.

That was no simple turning up of the corners of her mouth, but an actual, full-faced smile.

Climb had seen Renner smile many times. If he cast his mind back to a time when he was happiest, it would be seeing that smile on her face after she had picked him up. However, her smile right now was somewhat different from her smile back then.

Before he could realise the answer, her expression returned to the faint smile she always wore.

“…There’s nothing to be done about it, then.”

Climb suppressed a sigh of relief as Renner accepted his explanation.

The truth was that he had just fed his mistress a pack of lies. Climb had not heard a single grateful word from the citizens he had met. On the contrary, they had heaped blame and scorn on him. “Why did you only save us,” and so on.

They had taken their anger — at the loss of their families, at the loss of their wealth — and poured out the bowl of their wrath upon Climb.

Climb had borne this resentment because those people had nobody else to blame, and out of a sense of guilt for not fulfilling Renner’s commands perfectly.

Even so, it hurt to hear those words, especially after he had battled that mighty demon in order to save them.

The demon they had encountered at the warehouse was on a completely different level from any of the others. It could have beaten Brain Unglaus with strength to spare, and it was only because of its many wounds that they had been victorious. If that demon had appeared before them in a fresh, undamaged state, they would certainly have been defeated. After hearing how powerful it was from Lakyus, he was silently grateful that they had somehow managed to triumph over it.

And after that life and death struggle, the only thanks he had received were the aforementioned complaints. Although he told himself that he had become used to it, the words still cut deeply into him.

In truth, it would have been fine if Climb had struck out at those people with malicious intent. Nobody would say anything if Climb returned the insults he had received in his position as the Princess’ personal knight, but if he did that, then Renner’s position would be in danger. If their hatred turned toward the princess and led to them slandering her, he would be powerless to draw his sword against them.

“Now then, Climb. I have… unpleasant news. Listen carefully.”

Climb closed his eyes for several seconds, then opened them again.

“The women you and Sebas-san worked together to save from the brothel… were murdered.”

Unable to comprehend what Renner had just said, his mouth worked open and closed while he gasped out some sounds that might have been mistaken for speech.

“How… but how… how could that have happened…”

Come to think of it, the women should have been hidden in a waiting room and then sent on to Renner’s properties.

“That was a miscalculation on my part. I wanted to hire adventurers as guards, but due to the disturbance, they had all been employed by others. So I had to use mercenaries instead…”

Renner shook her head, as though saying it had all been her fault.

“Th-that’s not true! It’s definitely not your fault, Renner-sama! It’s the ones who attacked them who are to blame!”

“No! If I had been more careful, if I had considered things more closely… that the disturbance would have weakened security in the capital, if I had let them escape when I sensed danger, it wouldn’t have turned out like this! If Climb had been there, maybe it wouldn’t have turned out like this. And even the adventurers who recommended the mercenaries were shocked…”

Tears began filling the corners of Renner’s eyes.

Climb’s chest ached as though his heart had been crushed. Perhaps it might have been a mistake on Renner’s part, but she had made the best of a bad situation. Then, who was to blame?

“Renner-sama did nothing wrong!”

Hearing Climb’s forceful declaration, Renner, who had been moved deeply by Climb, rose and hugged him tightly.

To calm her down, Climb reached a hand behind her back— no. That would be dangerous.

“But, how did the information…”

“I have no idea. The capital’s security was weakest during the disturbance; maybe it got out during that time? They should have been transferred immediately…”

He could not rule that out. It might have been that the attackers had followed the places and people protected by Climb until they found their way to the hiding place.

“Where were the bodies found?”

“In the poor districts of the capital, but I don’t know the details myself.”

“What about the corpses?”

“They’ve been buried. What of them?”

“I wanted to examine the wounds, see what kind of clues I could find.”

“…Climb, that’s enough. They’ve been violated enough. At least let them rest in peace.”

“…Understood.”

Renner’s kindness touched Climb to the bottom of his heart. Certainly, her words had merit. He felt ashamed for not being considerate of her feelings, and the urge to find out the truth grew within him.

“Please don’t take it too hard. This is definitely not your… ah, I see we’ve exchanged positions.”

Renner smiled. Though her eyes were still red, there were no more tears in them.

“Yes, we have.”

Climb’s stoic expression broke, and he smiled.

“Forgive me for keeping you. Then, Climb, work hard now.”

Though he felt a pang of longing for the warmth that had left his chest, he immediately interrupted his desire.

♦ ♦ ♦

Lower Fire Month (9th Month), 10th Day, 09:08

Today was an auspicious day for journeys, with no clouds hanging in the azure skies above.

The crimson cape blew freely in the wind, behind the man in jet-black armor. Evileye asked a question of him.

“Will you return?”

It was a strange question, but Evileye had had a strange feeling. Adventurers were said to have no roots, but some adventurers made certain cities into their base, much like Blue Rose. For Momon, his base would be E-Rantel.

“I, I mean, there’s a lot of people who’d want to go with…”

Evileye couldn’t believe she was making such blubbery, simpering noises. She reflected that she was hardly a lovesick schoolgirl mooning over her beloved, but just the word “love” threw her mind into turmoil.

“…Don’t worry about it.”

That was his answer.

It was a cold one, Evileye thought.

With no idea what else to say, the wind blew strongly between the two of them.

The man who had been waiting for this silence spoke.

Evileye felt that this was hardly the proper way for a farewell between a man and a woman, but they were not alone here. Behind Momon was Nabe, and behind Evileye were the members of Blue Rose. And then there were the magic casters who would send Momon back to E-Rantel.

“You did us a great favor.”

Momon nodded in response to Raeven’s thanks.

“His Majesty wished to convey his gratitude to you in person, but…”

During the disturbance in the capital, Momon had become a household name throughout the capital. After all, he was the dark hero who had challenged the archfiend Jaldabaoth to single combat, and soundly defeated him. It was only natural that the king would want to express his gratitude in person. If things went well, he might even receive a lordship. However, Momon had rejected that last offer and refused the meeting.

There was something wrong with that attitude.

The nobles, who valued their reputations, felt that it was nothing short of arrogance for this nameless peasant to behave so before the King, whose position was above their own.

Whispers began to circulate that Momon was snubbing the King.

There were also those who were outraged that a mere adventurer could be so disrespectful.

A portion of the nobles went on to say that Momon had made a mistake by not dealing the final blow to Jaldabaoth, and letting him flee instead, but since Momon had the backing of Raeven, they kept their mouths shut.

“Momon-san was in my employ, so if you challenge him, you challenge me,” Raeven had said, in menacing tones.

And Momon himself had added, “I simply accepted a request as an adventurer, and completed it. It is nothing worthy of a king’s personal attention, and to be honest, every adventurer who took part in this battle should receive accolades as well.” That had appeased the nobles, and the whispers died down.

But the flames had not been extinguished yet. Some raised their voices to criticize Momon, for the nobles felt they had been insulted.