The Bloody Valkyrie

Shalltear, while resisting with all the strength in her body, glared at the old woman who had cast the spell that was dirtying her.

Her eyes did not even reflect the huge, mirror-like shield of the man blocking her path as a threat.

Then— she threw.

The javelin flew from her hand like it had a will of its own.

It was an attack strengthened by every skill that she could scrounge up from her fading consciousness.

Its aim true, the attack that looked like a flash of light penetrated the man blocking its way along with his shield and struck the old woman.

The two humans throwing up blood, the commotion in the group; this was the last vision of the world that Shalltear saw.

Interlude

The royal capital of the Kingdom of Re-Estize.

In the deepest part of the royal capital, over twenty huge and circular towers had been constructed at equal distances from each other and connected by walls, forming the royal castletown Laurentin. Valencia Palace was located within these grounds.

Inside the palace, there was a room which held a more functional importance than its gorgeous decoration. Many nobles and ministers-of-state were gathered here to attend a palace meeting.

Amongst them was the figure of the Kingdom’s Warrior Captain, Gazef Strolonoff. He knelt before the king Ranpossa III., who sat on his throne, to swear his allegiance.

He seems to have grown even older.

Although only half a month had passed, that was Gazef’s impression after comparing the King’s current appearance after his return with the one from before his departure.

His own beloved monarch. That head was already scattered with pale white hair, the emaciated body was beyond being described as healthy even as a compliment, and his facial complexion was also very poor. The hand holding the scepter was as thin as a twig, and the crown on his head seemed quite heavy.

After his reign of thirty-nine years, he was now sixty years old. Originally it was already time to abdicate the throne to a successor, but the problem lay in the fact that there was no suitable successor to choose from.

It was not that there were no princes who could be the successor. Although there were two princes, they were not qualified by far . If his abdication were to happen now, they would definitely become a puppet of the greater nobles.

The old man announced in a weak voice:

“Warrior Captain, it is truly splendid you were able to return safely.”

“Yes! Thank you very much, your Majesty!”

Hearing these words of concern, Gazef bowed deeply as he replied.

“Ah, of course we have already received the report, but we would still request the Warrior Captain to personally give a detailed explanation of the incident, and what exactly happened.”

(TL-Note: Gazef’s proper rank amended to “Warrior Captain”.)

“As your Majesty commands.”

Gazef explained in depth the events that took place in Carne Village after he had left the capital to the King. He went into particular detail about the mysterious magic caster of the name of Ainz Ooal Gown, but didn’t mention the suspected espionage by the Slane Theocracy. This was because in Gazef’s judgment, only a few individuals needed to know about this, and the circumstances were not appropriate to reveal it here.

Therefore Gazef talked extensively about the heroic deeds of the man he encountered and how that man risked his life to save the villagers from danger.

“This really is a beautiful story. Selflessly placing himself in danger to rescue the weak…”

The King’s sentence was filled with praise, causing several nobles to utter contemptuous remarks about this Ainz Ooal Gown.

A problematic and suspicious individual.

An eccentric person who did not dare reveal his true face to the public.

A magic caster with an odd name.

Eventually there even arose an opinion that he had orchestrated this attack in order to promote himself.

Gazef had to restrain himself from showing anger. He felt ashamed for being unable to utter a single word in defence of his benefactor who was criticised like this.

Of course, there was a good reason for this. Because the nobles who were cynical towards his benefactor had one thing in common: they all belonged to the large group known as the Greater Nobility Faction.

The Kingdom of Re‧Estize was a feudal state with the king controlling thirty percent of the territory, the greater nobles holding another thirty percent and the remaining forty percent being controlled by the other, lesser nobles.. Right now, the kingdom was internally divided into two camps, competing day and night against each other in a power struggle.

One side supported the monarchy, while the other side, which supported the Greater Nobility faction, included more than half of the six greater nobles. Although they were in the presence of the King, this place had also become an extension of their fighting, a battleground for the two competing factions.