Neia felt it was a little embarrassing that the Holy Kingdom could not give the Sorcerer King anything.
The Sorcerer King had gained Shizu ― the maid demon ― with his own strength. Neia and everyone who shared her beliefs felt the same way.
There had been discussions about what they would give to him, but someone had mentioned that since he was a king, having someone who did not represent the country giving him a present would instead be very rude, and so the plan had fallen through.
At the very least, Neia had hoped that Caspond would make some concessions on a national level, or sign a treaty which was unfavorable to the Holy Kingdom.
“…If you so desire, I can resurrect your parents with a grand spell that can only be used once every year, you know?”
“Thank you very much, Your Majesty, but ― there is no need for that.”
During the liberation of the capital city, one of the prisoners had witnessed Neia’s mother fall in battle. She had heard of her mother’s valiant last stand from him. Surely she would not be angry even if she was not resurrected.
In addition, it was said that resurrection spells required extremely valuable materials as a material component, and Neia would be hard-pressed to afford those. Perhaps the most merciful Sorcerer King might supply them for free, but she could not keep relying on the Sorcerer King’s largesse for her own sake.
However, it would seem the demihumans had disposed of the corpse, so she could not even bid her a final farewell, which was quite sad.
“Talking for too long will only make the parting hurt more. I ought to be going soon. Shizu, is there anything you want to tell Miss Baraja?”
“…Bye.”
“Alright! Goodbye!”
Shizu extended a hand to Neia, who shook it.
And then, the two of them let go without any further ado.
“…Are the two of you alright with this?”
“…It’ll be… fine.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“I see. Then ― we’re going, Shizu.”
As the Sorcerer King put one foot on the step leading up to his carriage, he turned back to address Neia.
“…This country will experience many difficulties in the future, but… I’m sure you’ll be able to work hard and pull through it. I hope to see you again.”
“Yes!”
Just as the Sorcerer King was about to enter his carriage, Neia looked at his back and could not stop herself from shouting:
“Majesty! Your Majesty!”
The Sorcerer King paused on the step of his carriage and looked back. Neia gulped, worked up her courage, and asked in a trembling voice:
“Ah, excuse me! Could I, could I call you Ainz-sama!?”
The cheek of her. Surely she, as a commoner from another nation, would be scolded for daring to address him in such a familiar fashion.
“…Eh? Ahh, yes, you may… call me anything you want.”
“Thank you very much.”
She bowed deeply to the magnanimous king of another nation, and by the time she raised her head, it was Shizu’s turn to board the carriage.
“Take care, Shizu-sempai!”
“Mm!”
Shizu stuck out her thumb, and then she vanished into the carriage.
Perhaps it had sensed the two of them had boarded, but the horse whinnied and trotted off.
“―Then, Your Majesty!”
As she watched the carriage move off, Neia could no longer hide her tears as she shouted:
“Long live His Majesty the Sorcerer King!”
She was not the only one shouting at the top of her voice.
There was more than one gate in the royal capital. Her fellow believers had used the other gates and secretly gathered so they could pop up outside the gate to loudly wish the Sorcerer King well.
“Long may he live!”
“Long may he live!”
“Long may he live!”
At the same time, they scattered the flowers they had struggled so hard to collect.
The carriage carried on amidst all this.
It was hardly a fitting send off for the man who had saved the Holy Kingdom. Even so, it was the best effort from Neia and the people who understood how she felt.
The carriage shrank in her tear-dimmed vision.
Neia sobbed.
She felt so lonely now.
She wanted the Sorcerer King and Shizu to ask “Would you like to come to the Sorcerous Kingdom?” If they had asked that, Neia might have abandoned everything to go with them.
But they had not.
She hated it.
In the end, Neia had been nothing more than a squire for his brief stay in this country.
All manner of negative emotions roiled up inside her.
However ― that was wrong.
In Neia’s ears echoed the words which the Sorcerer King had said.
…This country will experience many difficulties in the future, but… I’m sure you’ll be able to work hard and pull through it. I hope to see you again.
In other words, he had expectations for Neia.
Something like, though the Holy Kingdom is in chaos, I’m sure Neia can pull the country together, or something.
It had felt like a long time, but also a very short time, but it had changed her life tremendously ― and now it was over. However, this was only the beginning. There were many things she had to do.
For starters, she had to repay the Sorcerer King’s kindness with her actions.
Then, she would need to rebuild this country. Justice and evil. Neia had never really understood what those two words meant, but now she could hold her chest high and answer.
The Sorcerer King was justice, she would say. And being weak was a sin. The important thing was to work hard to be strong, and so on.
Neia had to spread the truths she had learned throughout the Holy Kingdom.
“Baraja-sama, please wipe your tears.”
It was Beldran.
At a closer look, his eyes were also red. Perhaps he had wiped his own tears before coming to Neia’s side, but his voice was still trembling, so he had clearly wept recently.
“Ahh…”
Neia forcefully wiped her tears away, just like how Shizu had first wiped her face.
“Baraja-sama. The people who witnessed that battle all want to hear about the Sorcerer King. Many more have come with their families in tow.”
“I understand. We’ll tell them that His Majesty ― Ainz-sama is a truly noble king, and also about Shizu.”
Neia looked straight ahead.
“Goodbyes really are depressing. However ― Everyone! Let’s go! Let us spread the truth ― that His Majesty is justice ― to more people!”
“―Ohhhh!”
Over 3,000 people shouted in unison, and then they fell into step behind Neia.
The carriage moved on.
The long project was finally over. Ainz had never experienced it himself, but this must have been what it felt like to be an expatriate. Even if he had returned to Nazarick from time to time, this might have been the first time he had been away from it for so long.
He had thrown the matter of ruling the demihumans of the Abelion Hills to Albedo, and he had handed the entirety of the Holy Kingdom’s future affairs to Demiurge.
In other words, Ainz had taken the weight off his shoulders. He sighed, subtly enough that Shizu ― who was sitting opposite him ― did not notice. While he had switched Demiurge’s script to easy mode halfway through, the fatigue from all the complicated events until that point had not yet been fully eliminated. However, he did feel the sense of relaxation which came from solving a previously insoluble problem.
That said, after returning to Nazarick ― E-Rantel, rather ― he would need to carefully and slowly take care of the work he had put off for the past two seasons. Once, he had put his stamp on documents in a slapdash manner, trusting that Albedo had already looked them over, only to be told, “Truly, only Ainz-sama could make decisions so swiftly. I am filled with respect.” Ainz had wondered whether that assessment of him was sarcastic or not.