The Sorcerer King’s shoulders shifted slightly.
“…Ah, everyone, do not cry. More importantly, you ought to have other things you wish to ask, no? Many more things? Why not ask?”
“Ah, yes.”
After Shizu wiped her tears again — she had apparently put the snot-stained handkerchief away — Neia asked the Sorcerer King a question.
“Are, are those demihumans soldiers of the Sorcerous Kingdom?”
While she had not seen any undead among them, these demihumans might merely be the vanguard.
“No… no, you could say that, I believe? When I fell to the Abelion Hills, I took the land there for the Sorcerous Kingdom. Therefore, you could call them forces of the Sorcerous Kingdom, no?”
Neia was speechless.
He was amazing.
How could that be anything other than “amazing”?
The hills were filled with demihumans, and they were supposedly ruled by a henchman of Jaldabaoth. Yet he had dealt with him with just his strength alone and subjugated the hills. Who else could do this besides the Sorcerer King?
Neia trembled in excitement.
“And so, well, it took me a bit of time to gather the demihumans suffering under Jaldabaoth and lead them here as an army. All this was in order to settle things with Jaldabaoth — it seems we had good timing.”
There were no facial expressions on the Sorcerer King’s bony visage, but Neia could sense him smiling majestically.
“I! I expected nothing less of Your Majesty!”
Beldran ran over to the Sorcerer King, his face stained by tears.
“Oh! It is He!”
Suddenly, Beldran fell to his knees. No, he was not alone. Everyone around Neia — everyone who belonged to her flock — gathered around and prostrated themselves before him.
“That’s His Majesty for you!”
“Simply magnificent, Your Majesty!”
Even the Sorcerer King was startled by the chorus of praise.
“Oh, ahh… hm… speaking of which, I have a question for you as well, Miss Baraja… who are they?”
“They are people who are grateful for Your Majesty’s kindness and who wish to repay it to You!”
“Exactly! We were rescued by Your Majesty!”
“Yes! We are the people who wished to repay the debt we owe Your Majesty in some way. Thus, when Baraja-sama called, we answered!”
As though to back them up, Neia proudly stated:
“We’re not the only ones! There are many more people who want to repay the kindness Your Majesty showed us!”
“Oh… this makes me very happy… although, does everyone feel this way?”
“Yes! Precisely! Everyone is grateful to you!”
“I… I see… Thank you, everyone.”
The Sorcerer King’s thanks made everyone feel like they had chosen the right way to express their gratitude, and so they wept with lumps in their throats.
“…Are these tears of gratitude for me?”
“Yes! Precisely!”
“And you gathered them all, Miss Baraja… it seems you’ve grown up while I wasn’t around to see.”
“Thank you very much, Your Majesty!”
Neia was all smiles after being praised by the Sorcerer King.
“Ah, now then… Miss Baraja, please have them rise. I came here to make up for my previous defeat… what happened to Jaldabaoth?”
“Ah! Yes! Jaldabaoth-”
Flames erupted, as though they had been waiting for that moment. Neia shuddered as she thought of how many of the Holy Kingdom’s soldiers must have perished in that blaze.
“..I see. Then there is no need to ask. It seems the time to fight him again has come. Shizu!”
“…Yes, Ainz-sama.”
“I will handle the rest. You will protect the people here. Don’t forget to have them prepare an appropriate welcome for my victorious return, alright?”
Cheers of “Uohhhhh!” rose up from the crowd.
“Hear me! I miscalculated in the previous battle. I was outnumbered and low on mana. However, the situation now is different. Jaldabaoth cannot summon that many demons again in a short time. In addition, I am fully recovered now. There is no more reason for me to lose! All you need to do is wait here for me to return in triumph!”
The people cheered as the Sorcerer King announced his absolute victory.
He flourished his cape and advanced regally. Everyone stepped aside, clearing a straight path for him, as though shaken by his overpowering aura of dominion.
“Your Majesty!”
The Sorcerer King turned to look at Neia.
“Please win!”
“Of course!”
The Sorcerer advanced once more. Though his form seemed to be shrinking, she did not feel alone or afraid. It was the reassurance of a child being held by her parents. Neia was not the only one. There were others who felt the same way.
“…We’ve won.”
From beside Neia, Shizu announced the Sorcerer King’s victory with certainty in her voice. Neia agreed with her as well.
Soon — a plume of flame rose. It was followed by the darkness flying after it.
Just as before, fire and shadow clashed with each other.
By this time, the cries of the battlefield had gone silent.
Both sides lowered their blades and looked to the battle in the sky.
Yes.
Everyone knew it in their hearts.
The victor of this battle would have the right to end it all.
They were no longer in a realm where mortal men could intervene. This was a battle of the gods.
Light.
Darkness.
Fire.
Lightning.
Meteors.
All manner of incomprehensible phenomena
— Collided with incredible force.
And then—
“Ahhh!”
Neia rejoiced.
That was because Neia’s keen eyes had seen the fire die, and the darkness slowly descend.
This battle had been surprisingly swift compared to the previous one. It was as though to prove that with his mana restored and without the maid demons to get in his way, the Sorcerer King could triumph that easily.
“Shizu-sempai!”
“…It’s like I told you, kouhai.”
Shizu looked like this was perfectly natural, and Neia grabbed her hand and shook it vigorously. However, that was not enough to calm her heart. Neia tightly embraced Shizu’s little body and the hands behind her back kept patting and patting.
As everyone witnessed his victory, they erupted into thunderous cheers.
The Sorcerer King slowly descended and landed upon the earth.
After that, the Sorcerer King raised both his arms, and brought forth even greater cheers than before.
Epilogue
Things became simple after the Sorcerer King’s victory. The demihumans had already lost the will to fight, so all that was left was to mop them up. There were practically no casualties on the side of Holy Kingdom, but the ground was littered with demihuman corpses.
Now that the enemy general Jaldabaoth had been defeated, nobody could stand in the way of the Holy Kingdom Liberation Army.
Recapturing the city of Prart and the capital city of Hoburns was practically instantaneous.
It would take a while longer to free the city of Rimun, which was further west, and there were still people suffering in villages which had been converted to detention camps, but this was already a big step.
The liberated capital was filled with joyous sounds, and their ardor had not abated even after a whole day. In fact, it actually grew livelier.
However, the brass ― Neia included ― knew that there was still a veritable mountain of problems to be dealt with.
The first issue was food. The demihumans had eaten everything and caused a shortage of food. It would surely hamper the progress of the Holy Kingdom in the future.