Chapter 252 - 249 ~ Mission Completed
"Eighteen thousand knights...?"
Jircniv collapsed in his seat. It was the third ti he had asked the question.
But no matter how many tis he heard the answer from the kneeling ssenger, he still couldn't believe it.
"Yes, your majesty. A-All four imperial knights appear to have been killed... And the survivors making their way back all report the sa thing. 12 Winged angels with the head of a lion, a lance of fla, and shield covered in eyes... Each with an unprecedented level of power slew everything in their path. The reports were... truly horrific. Many experiences... ntal breakdowns and have been deed to be unfit to continue serving."
The ssenger bowed his head, and continued.
"Sir Loune... is among the dead as well."
Jircniv felt the strength left his body.
Adorned in gold and jewels, sitting on a luxurious couch stuffed to near bursting with down within his room designed to accentuate comfort and the power of the throne, Jircniv never felt so powerless.
An emperor's greatest treasures are his best servants... and now, he had lost a major part of them in a single day.
The four knights, dead. His general and secretary, slaughtered. Eighteen thousand knights, decimated. Even Fluder was now missing...
Each and every single realization felt like a hamr blow to his crumbling spirit.
The emperor who bathed in the blood of traitors and the corrupt, now found himself bloodied by the impossible.
"...What of the Theocracy? They sent observers this year, did they not? What do they think of the atrocity that wiped out so many humans?"
"... Here is the report, my Lord."
He trembled as he delivered the bad news and flipped through docunts with a nervous haste.
Then, when he found what he sought, he licked his lips rapidly as sweat began to run down his face.
"The Slane Theocracy confirms..."
He read the missive that not only confird... but justified the decimation of eighteen thousand n.
The vow.
The breaking of that vow.
The condemnation of Baharuth Empire's general for breaking it.
The total defeat that followed.
And... the private advice of Cardinal Raymond not to struggle onward."
'An actual good advice...'
Emperor Jircniv flung himself on his back, his limbs draped down from the couch like death had taken him as he stared up at the high ceiling of his palace in a daze.
"What are the terms?"
He asked, dread apparent in his shaking voice.
The ssenger bowed his head even lower.
"Turn over the territory demanded, an apology for the raid on the ho of the King, as well as... the surrender of the dark elf slaves. All of them."
"...Strange. I suppose it would hurt our labor force. But... after losing almost twenty thousand knights, that's almost doing us a favor. Such a defeat would embolden rebellion."
He felt the weight of the loss renewed once more upon uttering the sheer scale of the devastation and death with his own mouth.
"Tell ... What would you do?"
"M-My lord... I-I would... make ands. Then form good relations as fast as possible. I am from the area he's asking for. There's a lot of open land. This may be why he wanted the slaves, to cultivate it into an actual city. But, it would take years to build cities and towns even with the Kingdom of Re-Estize and Carne helping him. If you can make peace valuable, perhaps... there won't be such tragedy once more."
Jircniv covered his eyes with his arm and let out a sigh.
"That is good advice... I want to be alone for a little while."
"My lord."
Just as the ssenger was about to leave, Jircniv spoke once more.
"Send
soone to take a ssage of surrender to the Nazarickian King in an hour."
"Yes, my lord."
The ssenger left in haste, and soon, the sound of heavy door opening and closing echoed through the room, before a deathly silence filled the space.
Jircniv tilted his head to the side, and the drawer by his bedside entered his vision.
It was then that he recalled his late father's words. An advice that reminded him of an item passed down throughout the generations of Emperors of Baharuth.
A box to be opened during the Empire's darkest tis.
He wondered, could this be the ti?
--------------------------------X--------------------------------
"Ah, Yuuji! Look! All the missions and special missions are completed!"
Aika showed her phone to Yuuji excitedly.
"Ah, you're right..."
Becoming an adamantite ranked adventurer. Obtain one World item. Subjugating an evil organization. And finally, subjugation of at least one nation.
The first three they've completed for quite so ti. While the last one, although they completed it after the death of King Rampossa III and the ascension of the Golden Princess to the throne in addition to the establishnt of the Kingdom of Carne, they still wanted to wait for the surrender of the Baharuth Empire as well to gain the extra points.
And certainly, he saw the Baharuth Empire listed as subjugated right under Re-Estize and Carne.
"Missions...?"
From Yuuji's left, Albedo, who had been closing her eyes and leaning on his shoulder while hugging his arm, looked up towards him and the phone.
Shalltear, who was sitting on the floor in between his legs, similarly looked up in confusion.
"Well, I guess it's sti to tell you everything."
Yuuji and Aika told the two everything related to the group chat. From the missions it gave on occasions, the powers it granted, the different worlds they all ca from, and their true identity.
The look of shock never left the expression of the two guardians.
Shalltear was imrsed in his and Aika's story, about the different worlds, and how the Supre Beings were capable of traversing through it.
But Albedo soon realized what this ant...
"So... You'll be returning to your world... My love?"
Albedo squeezed the question through the lump in her throat. Her hand clutched Yuuji's tighter.
It was then that Shalltear finally realized the implication and clutched onto Yuuji's pants tightly.
"Yes. But, with the missions complete, all of us will have accesss to this world. We can return whenever we wish."
Yuuji nodded and caressed Shalltear's smooth, cold cheek and tightened his hold on Albedo's hand.
"That's right~ You girls don't have to worry~! We'll co here often!"
Relief finally washed over them, but Albedo nor Shalltear had loosened their hold on Yuuji. It was only natural.
Albedo may not care as much about her creator, but having experienced abandonnt, the deep-seated trauma and sadness that floor guardians and all mbers of Nazarick experience was sothing they wouldn't be able to get over it so easily.
"Don't worry. We won't be gone forever. After all, it's impossible for
to leave you girls."
"My love..."
"Yuuji-sama..."
Their shoulders slumped. As much as they didn't wish for Yuuji, Aika, or the other Supre Beings to leave, they knew it was inevitable. Except for Momonga, this was not their world, after all.
"I understand... But please, co visit us often..."
"Of course."
Yuuji pulled the two into his embrace and placed a chaste, loving kiss onto their lips, and held them closely, wrapping his arms around both of their waist.
"Ah, Yuuji, we'll also have to invite one person to the group chat!"
Yuuji nodded at Aika's words and looked at the black-haired succubus.
"Mm, and I'll think Albedo would be a great addition to our group."
"?"
Her face blood into a wide smile.
"Yes~! I'll be happy to join!"
Yuuji smiled and kissed her forehead, and turned towards Shalltear.
"I'm sorry, Shalltear. We can only invite one person. But don't worry. I will give you a ans to communicate with us, along with the rest of the floor guardians."
"Yes, Yuuji-sama! Thank you very much!"
Shalltear wrapped her arms around him and nuzzled her face to his neck.
Then, the four spent the rest of their day in each other's embrace and stretching it into the dawn of the next day, making love.
The next day, Yuuji and Aika convened with Momonga and Lelouch to discuss their return.
--------------------------------X--------------------------------
"...Thus, we have secured the subservience of Re-Estize, Carne, and Baharuth Empire as per this mont, according to your will."
Demiurge spoke with pride, as if he was the one who had single handedly conquered all three kingdoms. But far from it.
The pride he felt stemd from being a creation and servant to the Supre Beings who had the wisdom to create such a masterful plan to let all three kingdoms fall into their hands in a single stroke.
How lucky was he to be created by such supre beings and be able to serve them.
His words elicited awed gasp from his fellow guardians, aside from Albedo who had learned of it beforehand. And they too beca awed at their masters' greatness.
Demiurge handed a letter, sealed with the wax of the Baharuth's emperor, and handed it to Albedo, who then handed it to Momonga who sat on the throne.
Momonga cut open the letter and read it, before passing it to Yuuji, Aika, and Lelouch.
The letter contained the emperor's acquiescence of the lands demanded, apologize for the transgression done by one of their nobles who hired the Workers that raided the ho of the King of Nazarick, the death penalty given to said noble, the monetary recompensations, and the wish to start anew with a friendly relationship and trading with the Kingdom of Nazarick.
A letter that, while not explicitly declaring the throne's involvent in the raid and any wrongdoings, implicitly conveyed their subservience and complete surrender to Nazarick.
Of course, it was only natural...
Against sothing that could decimate an army of twenty thousand knights, killing eighteen thousand knights, without an army and any losses, it was impossible not to surrender if they wanted to avoid total annihilation of their country.
Even the Theocracy, their supposed "allies" though they appeared only as "observers
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