Epilogue

6 Late Fire Moon (September) 8:45 AM

The maids were lined up before Sebas, a total of forty-one homunculi. In front stood the dog-headed head maid, Pestonia S. Puppydog. All the maids performing general duties inside Nazarick were present.

“Everyone, this is a new maid who will be working for Nazarick.”

“Pleased to meet you. I’m Tsuareninya.”

She bowed deeply, and the head maid greeted her on behalf of herself and her staff.

They exchanged a few words, and Tsuare didn’t seem particularly frightened.

In the first place, besides the sewn-up scar down the middle of her head, her face was that of a gentle-eyed dog. And the maids behind looked like humans. They didn’t have scary appearances like grotesques did.

Still, it wasn’t as if her fear of others, due to her previous situation, had disappeared. The reason she was able to handle things had to have been that she understood the circumstances she was in and knew she had to work as hard as she could.

If I don’t keep an eye on her, she might have a breakdown.

While Sebas was thinking of her, the formalities ended, and Tsuare walked off with one of the maids. She turned back to look at him. When he nodded, she nodded back and walked on without turning around again.

“Master Sebas, how much should we train her to do? Woof!”

“Please aim to have her pass as a Nazarick maid. Do, however, train her appropriately given that she is only human.”

“Understood. Woof!” Her dog face warped to bare her teeth. It was the face of a predator about to tackle its prey, but her eyes were gentle. “I thought her being a maid was just a stopgap.”

“What do you mean?” Sebas responded, puzzled because he honestly couldn’t see what she was getting at.

“…Woof! No, I mean I thought she would retire when you got married. Woof!”

“What?!”

Sebas’s face twitched, and Pestonia’s soft laughter echoed across the ninth level of the Great Tomb of Nazarick.

7 Late Fire Moon (September) 4:51 PM

Climb checked the time and whether Renner had a guest or not. Once he was satisfied there was no conflict, he opened the door to her room.

Inside, where everything was tinted red by the evening sun, his elegantly beautiful master was sitting in her usual seat. The light spilling through the window set her off from her surroundings like a spotlight.

“Welcome, Climb.”

He sensed peace rapidly return to his tattered heart as it began healing in the presence of her sweet beauty. He hardened his expression before it could relax too much and walked over to her.

“Okay, sit down, Climb.”

“No, that’s all right, Princess Renner. There is somewhere I need to go following the demon attack on the capital.”

A light went on in Renner’s eyes. They were orders from her, so she probably had an idea what he was talking about.

He was supposed to go guard the wizards’ guild—because of a certain item.

They didn’t yet have a complete picture of the demon raid, but in one of the warehouses, they had discovered a weird item. The wizards’ guild was investigating it now, and the magic it contained was no ordinary spell. That, combined with what Jaldabaoth had said, had everyone convinced this was the item they’d been looking for.

For that reason, until the guild could assemble powerful veterans and decide what to do with it, they were stationing guards in the area. She’d sent Climb as one of them.

It’s awful that we can’t get the Eight Fingers to take responsibility for this, since they’re the ones who brought that item into the city! He couldn’t completely suppress his disgust even though he was with Renner.

The item that had brought tragedy to the capital was found in a warehouse that undoubtedly belonged to the Eight Fingers’ smuggling division. They should have been moving to crush the smugglers as soon as possible, but there was one reason they couldn’t, and only a handful of people knew what it was.

Intelligence leaked by Jaldabaoth played a role in the discovery of the item. That was why Renner had asserted that perhaps he’d let the information slip on purpose—to use humans to find the item his subordinates hadn’t been able to.

Since everyone found that argument compelling, everything was being covered up, so they couldn’t use its discovery in an Eight Fingers warehouse as ammo.

“You’re going with the captain, right? Got it. Then standing is fine. So how are the citizens you saved? They were under the castle’s protection up until a little while ago, but they’ve left now, right?”

The bomb she’d thrown made Climb’s heart leap into his throat. “O-oh, they all said to tell you how grateful they are.”

“I see. So if I hurry, I can still see them?”

“No, you can’t!” He raised his voice and then thought, Crud. He hung his head and quickly tried to recover from his earlier exclamation. “They’re all very busy. If you visited, I think it would take up too much of their precious time. I apologize for making your kindness come to nothing, but I would ask that you refrain.”

As he was bringing his head back up, he thought the expression on his master’s gorgeous face would be one of discontent or perhaps a childish pout unsuitable for someone her age. But the one that met him was neither of those.

She was laughing.

Not just smiling but laughing.

He’d seen her laugh now and then. If he thought back to his most nostalgic memories, he could remember the twitchy way she had laughed not too long after picking him up, but there was definitely something different about this.

Before he could figure out what it was, her normal smile returned to her face.

“…Well, then I guess I can’t go, huh?”

Seeing that she understood, Climb suppressed a relieved sigh.

Actually, almost everything he’d just told her was a lie. He had heard hardly anyone thanking her. On the contrary, they blamed her, saying things like, Why are we the only ones who got saved?

All they did was grumble to Climb in their anger about their misfortune—the families they’d lost, the assets they’d forfeited.

He took it, tolerated what was obviously simple venting, because he pitied them for having no one else to blame and because he wanted to punish himself for not being able to perfectly realize his master’s wishes.

Still, he’d fought demons to save these people despite the danger, and it hurt for them to say such things.

The demon that had appeared outside the warehouse was on another level. It was too powerful for even Brain Unglaus to handle, but it had been heavily wounded. If it had shown up uninjured, the three of them would have surely lost. Hearing later from Lakyus how strong it was, he was thankful they had been as lucky as they were to win.

After getting through that life-or-death battle, this abuse… He was used to being alone, but this was a different kind of pain.

Still, he was fine while the hate was directed at him. He was the princess’s direct report, but nobody liked him, so they probably would overlook him getting harassed. If he let them meet Renner, though, things could get hairy. If they turned their hate on the princess and insulted her, Climb would be forced to draw his sword.

“Okay, Climb. Now I’m going to be the bearer of bad news. Brace yourself.” She silently closed her eyes for a few moments and then opened them. “The captives you saved from the brothel with Sir Sebas and the others…they’ve been killed.”

For a split second, Climb didn’t understand what she’d said. Then he asked hoarsely, “Why…did that have to…?”

From what he’d heard, they were going to shelter at the guardhouse for a little while and then be transported to Renner’s domain.

“It was my fault. At first, I thought I would have some adventurers escort them, but then the disturbance happened, so I couldn’t hire any. With no other recourse, I hired some mercenaries and sent them instead, but…”

She shook her head. No one made it.

“I-it’s not your fault! Not even a little bit! It’s the ones who attacked them who were wrong!”

“No, I should have been more careful… If only I hadn’t let them go! I thought it would be dangerous in the capital with less protection during the disturbance… If I had sent you with them, maybe things would have been different. And what can I say to apologize to the adventurer who introduced those mercenaries to me?” Tears formed in the corners of her eyes.

Climb’s chest felt tight. Maybe it was an error on her part, but in that situation, it was the best move, so who could blame her?

“You didn’t do anything wrong, Princess Renner!” he declared, and she was so moved she stood and hugged him.

He was about to put his arms around the small torso against his chest—but stopped himself. It would be entirely unacceptable to do that.

“But how in the world did the information get…?”

“I have no idea. There was a period during the disturbance where the castle guard was looser than usual. Could it have leaked then? I had them leave right away, though…”

He couldn’t say there was no chance of that. Or rather, he was certain it had something to do with the guardhouse, given the fact that the rescued captives had been under its protection.

“Where were the corpses found?”

“In the slums inside the capital apparently. I don’t know the details.”

“And where are they now?”

“Buried. Why?”

“If we take a look at the wounds, we might learn something.”

“Climb, please don’t. We can’t disgrace these girls any further. At least let them be at peace in death.”

“…Understood.”

Climb was struck by her tenderness. She did have a point. He was ashamed of his lack of consideration. He’d tried to go too far in the pursuit of truth.

“But don’t worry about it. You didn’t do any— Well, what you said before.” She smiled. Her eyes were red, but the tears were done falling.

“Yes.” Climb broke into a smile.

“Sorry to hold you up, Climb. Do your best out there, okay?”

Regretting that her warmth was moving away from him, he banished his desires.

10 Late Fire Moon (September) 9:08 AM

That day, the sky was truly blue—its color seemed to go on forever, as if it was celebrating their departure.

“You’re going home?” Evileye asked the man in the raven-black armor with the crimson cape fluttering behind him. “Going home” was a strange way to put it, but that was how it felt to her, and the Blue Roses were no different. While adventurers were often thought of as wanderers who didn’t put down roots, there were some who chose a city as their home base. For Momon, that must have been E-Rantel. “I’d sure like to go with you…” She couldn’t believe how pathetic she sounded. It was just like a girl reaching out after her departing lover, and at the word lover, she nearly writhed in agony.

“…It’s not a big deal.”

That was all he said in response.

He’s so cold, she thought to herself.

She couldn’t think of anything else to say, and a breeze blew between them.

A man had been waiting for that pause and opened his mouth to speak.

Evileye thought it was rather insensitive, given a man and woman were in the middle of a bitter farewell, but it wasn’t as if they were the only two there. Nabe was behind Momon, and the rest of the Blue Roses were behind Evileye. The casters who would take Momon and Nabe back to E-Rantel were also present.

“We’re extremely grateful for all you’ve done.”

Momon acknowledged Marquis Raeven’s thanks with a slight bow.

“His Majesty the king also wanted to thank you directly, but…”

The name of the adventurer who had fought one-on-one with the enemy mastermind Jaldabaoth and repelled him had spread far and wide among adventurers, ordinary people, and nobles alike. It was no wonder the king would want to meet him. This sort of thing could even warrant the granting of a noble title. But Momon declined and didn’t even make an effort to have an audience.

It probably wasn’t a very appropriate attitude.

To the nobles, who prioritized their honor over everything, this behavior by an unknown toward the king—someone above them—was arrogant.

There were those who said he’d slighted the king.

Among the adventurers, some said he was being incredibly rude.

A few nobles even went so far as to say that letting Jaldabaoth go was a mistake and that the reason he hadn’t been able to finish him off was because the two of them were in cahoots. Marquis Raeven had been able to silence those, threatening them by telling them, “Since I made the request to Momon, I’ll consider those remarks a personal challenge, so what would you care to do?”

To their denunciations, Momon had replied, “I’m an adventurer who took on a job and performed it, that’s all. It doesn’t warrant a reward from the king, and if he was going to reward me, I’d like to ask him to thank all the adventurers who participated in the operation,” which quieted them down.

But that didn’t mean the smoldering fire was extinguished. They just realized that insulting Momon any further would only injure their own reputations.

Evileye remembered the explanation Lakyus had given her.

It wasn’t hard to imagine that without Momon, the disturbance wouldn’t have been resolved, and more damage would have resulted. The reason only the Blue Roses and Marquis Raeven were seeing off such a hero was because of the difficult position he was in.

After this operation, people’s opinions of adventurers, the king, the second prince, and Marquis Raeven had improved, and their opinions of the nobles worsened.

Of course, the nobles had an argument. The royal capital was the king’s territory, so from their point of view, as leaders of their own domains, they had no obligation to use their soldiers to protect the city, even if they felt like they should. In light of the possibility that the demons might attack their mansions, it was only natural to prioritize their own defense.

After the disturbance, the nobles’ faction started taking the firm stance that any man who didn’t protect his own domain couldn’t be called king. In the king’s faction, they pushed the fact that rather than go into hiding, their monarch had dared to lead the army. And so the power struggle between the two sides intensified.

The ordinary residents of the city, who had nothing to do with the power struggle, harbored seeds of discontent for a different reason. Why did these self-important nobles protect only their own houses and not ours?

Thus the ones who had desperately fought were so lauded. And that bothered the nobles. This vicious cycle eventually led them to turn their discontent on the adventurers—they only fought so hard because they were getting paid.

According to them, Momon, the adventurer now considered strongest in the kingdom, surpassing even the other adamantites, was the epitome of this. There was no way any of them would come to see him off. Even the handful of nobles who liked him were in a difficult spot that made it hard to say so after the faction war heated up.

The reason Marquis Raeven had been able to attend was because of his position flitting between the factions.

“A letter of thanks jointly signed by the king, the second prince, and the princess has arrived. There is also a plaque that exempts you from all tolls within domains under direct royal jurisdiction and a dagger from the king.”

Evileye could clearly hear Lakyus’s sigh of admiration as a noble. A dagger given by the king was like a medal for a noble or knight who distinguished themselves in battle. If the nobles found out about this amid the intensifying power struggle, there would be trouble. The king’s decision to award Momon’s efforts with one despite that risk could only be called magnificent.

I thought he was just an old guy who did nothing but breed conflict, but I guess I have to reevaluate him.

Momon casually took the dagger and other items and handed them behind him to Nabe.

“Well, the nobles might just consider this a decent enough reward and not say anything…,” Evileye said abruptly.

The nobles would probably not be terribly amused, in any sense of the word, if someone with both popularity and power was promoted to a noble rank. And it would be problematic for them if a warrior even stronger than Gazef were to join the king’s faction. So if the idea of the king bestowing a rank on Momon came up, they would erupt in opposition, and their basis for the argument would be the dagger. He’d already given him a reward, so wasn’t that enough?

Maybe they’ll just tolerate this with no problem, thought Evileye, but the people next to her disagreed.

“…That’s naive, Evileye.”

“Sweetie, the king is a step ahead.”

“Huh?”

“That dagger is given to knights and nobles.”

“That means that later, when the king appoints Mr. Momon and the nobles complain, he can bring up the dagger. He doesn’t give those to ordinary citizens! You guys knew, right? Supposedly he’s already been given a rank along with the dagger. He’s managed to bulldoze through some tricky logic.”

“I see… I can’t believe you figured all that out.”

“Eh-heh. And proud of it.”

“Don’t underestimate a former assas—a ninja.”

“Well, I’m going to get going soon. Marquis Raeven, thank you for everything.”

“Not at all. I hope we can continue our good relationship going forward.”

“I hope the same. And Blue Roses, as fellow adamantite-rank adventurers, I think we’ll be speaking often. See you again sometime.”

“Yes, Mr. Momon. Now that we’ve seen your power, we feel a bit sheepish to hold the same rank as you, but we’ll work hard to approach your greatness. Looking forward to teaming up with you again.”

Lakyus and Momon exchanged slight bows.

Then Evileye felt Momon’s gaze turn to her. It was definitely not her imagination. The proof was that he seemed about to say something.

Evileye felt her unbeating heart give a thump.

If he had asked her to join his team, she wouldn’t have been able to refuse. That would essentially mean betraying the friends she’d been through thick and thin with so far, but she couldn’t lie to herself about her feelings.

After a few hesitant stops and starts, he sighed and turned away. As he did, his crimson cape waved dramatically.

He walked away, and Gagaran said teasingly, “Got rejected, huh?”

“No, that’s just the kind of man he is.”

Evileye didn’t once take her eyes off him as the Floating Board from Marquis Raeven’s casters slowly floated into the air with him and Nabe on top.

“I’m sure we’ll meet him again.”

“I hope it won’t be a huge incident like this but something a little easier to handle.”

“Might be tricky.”

“No kidding.”

The Blue Roses chatted.

Probably the only time adamantite-rank adventurers would meet under work circumstances was during a huge incident.

“Then we’ll just have to go visit sometime. Evileye can teleport. It wouldn’t be bad to have somewhere we can pop over to inside E-Rantel. In fact, if you went together now, you’d hit two birds with one stone. No safer way to travel than under Momon’s protection!”

Evileye stared at Gagaran, speechless. Of course, she was wearing a mask, but her shock came through loud and clear in her posture.

“Whoa, whoa, you didn’t know we knew? Anyhow, don’t you guys know that long-distance relationships never work? Well, I guess you’re not technically goin’ out yet…”

Gagaran looked up at the sky, and Evileye couldn’t help but follow her gaze.

Momon was getting smaller and smaller.

“Waaaaaaaaaaagh!”

A scream went up, one that sounded like Evileye when she was mad, and the Blue Roses laughed.

10 Late Fire Moon (September) 6:45 PM

The Eight Fingers’ emergency meeting was off to a rough start. Not all the members were present. One of those missing was Coccodor, but since everyone knew he was being held at the guardhouse, he wasn’t the acute problem this time. The issue was the other missing member—Zero.

They knew he wouldn’t betray them. That was what made it an even bigger problem.

According to the intelligence they’d gathered, Zero’s death was a confirmed fact. Acting on Zero’s proposal to torture to death the one who’d insulted them, they’d sent some of their own men, and it seemed they’d all been killed.

It was a huge blow. The underlings weren’t irreplaceable, but the death of the strongest man in the Eight Fingers, the chief of the security division, was an unimaginable loss.

The division chiefs gathered here were rivals, but they were also part of the same organization. This loss would affect them all without a doubt.

The debate raged.

What to do about the hole left by Zero? What to do about Coccodor?

Normally they would have wanted to install their own men, but there was one reason they couldn’t at the moment—the demon attack on the royal capital.

The losses the Eight Fingers had suffered in that attack were no joke. Their bases had been raided on the same day, but the damage done couldn’t even be compared. The chief of the smuggling division was in particular trouble.

Almost all their warehouses had been emptied, their contents stolen, and the ones that hadn’t been looted had undergone inspection. As a result, they’d lost nearly half the goods they’d been smuggling into the capital.

“All we can do is cooperate with one another until we get back on our feet.”

“Pretty sure we always cooperate…”

“Don’t be snarky. We need to cooperate for real this time. I think it might be better to operate away from the capital for a while, but what do you all think?”

“Nah, on the contrary, now’s probably the time to be in the capital. We gotta grease the palm of the new captain of the guards. If we fled the capital now, we’d be giving up on all the profits to be had here.”

“Hrm, that is a possibility, but don’t you think it’s dangerous to operate in the capital when our security division—our military force—is crippled?”

Five of the chiefs racked their brains. Then they asked the one who hadn’t spoken yet, “Hilma, what do you think?”

She jumped.

Her reaction was completely different from their last meeting.

She looked almost like a corpse, with dark circles under her eyes that even her makeup couldn’t conceal.

“What’s the matter? I heard your house got raided, too. You were the only one who was able to escape, right? Through the secret passageway? Was it that traumatizing?”

The other chiefs had their usual escorts standing by behind them, but there was no one behind Hilma.

“…”

“What’s wrong?”

The moment she opened her mouth, the door to the meeting room opened.

“Okayyyy, stop right there!” The one who entered the room with a cheerful shout was a single dark elf boy. A girl of the same race meekly followed behind him.

Everyone present was so stunned they couldn’t react.

Perhaps their handling of the situation would have changed in the case of adult dark elves, but these were children—a total mismatch for the current atmosphere. Before assuming they were enemies, everyone wondered if someone had brought them here intentionally.

“So, uh, starting now, you’re all going to be minions of our master!” It was silent enough to hear a pin drop. He must have assumed they didn’t understand what he’d said, because he rephrased it. “The ever sacred Supreme One has judged that he would gain more influence by conquering you than the leaders of this country. So all your crimes will be pardoned, and you’ll become our minions…slaves? Puppets? Well, whatever. Anyhow, congratulations!”

When the dark elf boy clapped his hands, the timid girl followed suit, holding her staff under her arm. “C-congra—”

“The fuck is this?!”

The division chiefs had hesitated precisely because they didn’t know who these elves were, whether they were friend or foe. Once they’d judged them to be enemies, the rest happened very quickly. Their underworld lifestyles meant they had already switched gears, and the first order of business was to find a way to keep themselves safe and survive. Killing their opponent would be put off till later.

It wasn’t clear if the dark elves were the main force or not, but if they could barge right through the door into this Eight Fingers’ executive meeting, they had to have control over quite a bit of this place. That meant that even with the elite escorts the chief of each division had brought, they probably couldn’t win a fight. Unless their opponents were total idiots, they would have eliminated any chance of their losing in advance. That was precisely why everyone’s top priority was escaping.

No one hesitated to use their escorts as shields. Everyone thought of the same thing at the same time and leaped into action.

But it was far too late.

One of the chiefs tried to stand up, and he was the first to realize he couldn’t move.

“Ah. Ahhh, ahhh?! Ahhhhh!” He couldn’t move. His tongue was paralyzed and couldn’t form words. Drool just dribbled out of his mouth.

“Phoo,” the dark elf boy exhaled. Then he smiled broadly. “So, for starters, you’re all invited to a fun place! See?”

“O-oh. H-here’s the invitation.”

Hilma jumped with a start.

“W-wait a minute! I’m good, right? I cooperated, didn’t I?”

Realizing who had betrayed them, the men moved only their eyes to glare at the woman who was still mobile.

“P-please! I can’t take any more! I don’t want to go back there!”

“Hmm. What did you do to her?” the boy asked.

“I took her to the Prince of Fear’s room and had them eat her from the inside out.”

The boy grimaced with a “Yikes!”

Hilma must have remembered. Hugging herself, nails dug into her arms, she trembled violently. She had one hand over her mouth. Her face was sickly pale, and tears poured out of her eyes.

“A-and—”

“That’s enough. So you healed her up with magic, huh? That’s enough to make anyone obey you. But it’s so rare for us not to kill someone.”

“Y-yeah. I guess ’cause we have plenty of corpses and ’cause we could use her to manage this organization…”

“I seeeee. Well, lady, do your best. If you betray us, we’ll put you back in that room for even longer.”

“Eek!”

Hilma nodded over and over. Any urge to rebel had completely disappeared; she would definitely be loyal to them and carry out her orders as given.

“First, I want you to buy us some time until these people learn to obey. Can you do that?”

“O-of course! Leave it to me! I’m sure I’ll be useful to you!”

Seeing how frantically eager she was to please, the men realized they were about to get a taste of whatever had made her so fearful, and their faces went pale.

“Well, we’re going to leave you with a few subordinates we brought along, so make good use of them! And there are a few people you absolutely cannot kill or oppose; I’ll explain about them later.”

The dark elf boy flashed a grin.

“Okay! Half this country is conquered! Demiurge was saying something about sowing the seeds of a nation… Hmm. Ah well, it’s probably fine. I guess we’ll go to a different country next?”