Chapter 358 – The Dead

<Kaiser Mira POV>

Mira’s Imperial Capital, Ruva.

A considerable number of heads have recently been exposed at the execution site.

The heads exposed are those of the members of Drunken Sword Party, left out open to the public.

The Drunken Sword Party was executed the other day.

Flies swarming around them, ravens are pecking at their freshly severed heads.

On the first day, someone who appeared to be an acquaintance of the Drunken Sword Party invaded the execution site.

Embracing the head, they wailed.

The Drunken Sword Party is believed to be the culprit who manipulated that White Army and plunged Mira into chaos.

It can be said that this execution was effective in relieving the pent-up anger of the people of Mira.

…………………………..

▽

I, Mira’s Prime Minister, Kaiser Mira, stood in the dungeons of the castle.

“—————-, ……The sacrifice of the White Wolf Knights was unavoidable. Sigurd-san’s sacrifice, from a human resources perspective, was a hard blow…… but well, it’s fine? This too was necessary in order to obtain the Heart of the Great Demon Emperor. Well, I certainly gave him permission…… but in the end, that happened because that’s what Kirihara-san wanted, right?”

Sitting on the carpet was a man with his broad back turned towards me……

The man was looking at a “smartphone” with rapt attention.

Over and over again, he watched it on “repeat”.

Several other voices of Vysis were “restored” on the phone.

I called out to him.

[With that, I hope you believe us now————- White Wolf King.]

At the time of that Grand Invasion————- the Great Demon Emperor’s Army attacked Magnar’s Royal Capital.

Mira’s army fought alongside Magnar’s army and won a narrow victory.

In the midst of that battle……

Magnar’s White Wolf King is said to have gone missing.

In fact, he sustained injuries in a melee battle and was unconscious.

Upon receiving the report, the Mad Emperor secretly “brought back” the White Wolf King to his own country.

Usually, the absence of a King is a great blow to a country.

The more powerful the King is, the more pronounced that blow is.

The White Wolf King was a powerful man.

Magnar, ruled by the White Wolf King, is a country close to the Goddess.

The Mad Emperor kept the King of an enemy-aligned nation “missing”.

This was done to weaken Magnar.

The White Wolf King spent his time as a prisoner in the back room of this dungeon, receiving medical treatment.

He was treated politely, but on the other hand, security around him was strict.

However, the captive White Wolf King did not show any particular signs of anxiety.

Far from that, he was always at ease.

“Even if I am captured, I have my younger brother, Sigurd, in my Magnar. If he succeeds the throne and becomes the next King, my Magnar will be fine.”

That was what he said.

But now, the situation has changed.

Vysis is an enemy of mankind……

And the White Wolf Knights————

Sigurd Sigmus…… She had sacrificed them for her own purposes.

The voice that was playing from the smartphone stopped, and a long silence shook the place.

[Kaiser Mira.]

His back still turned towards me, the White Wolf King spoke.

[This Kirahara…… you said he was dealt with by the Fly King, did you not?]

[That’s what I heard. As proof, the preserved corpse of Takuto Kirihara is now on its way to the Royal Capital.]

[This is unforgivable.]

[………………..]

Burning hatred radiated from the White Wolf King’s solid back.

[As King…… As a brother———– This is unforgivable…… I will not allow Vysis to get away with this……!]

▽

I left the back room and gave instructions to the soldiers waiting outside.

I told them to return the King’s equipment to the White Wolf King.

(That the White Wolf King has had a change of heart…… was something I have to believe. Now, with the situation as it is, the time we can defer this is limited……)

Looking back once, I glanced at the door of the room where I had just come out.

(Sometimes you have to trust your gut and take a leap of faith…… huh.)

Moving these thoughts to the side, I continued towards the stairs leading back up———–

Halfway up though, I stopped.

[Have you finished your preparations?]

[Yeah.]

Answering my call———– was the leader of the Drunken Sword Party, Lili Adamantine.

Behind her stood the members of the Drunken Sword Party, who had finished their preparations.

[I never expected we’d be driven this far. Mad Emperor sure is a scary guy.]

Hearing the words Lili said, Foss, a greatswordsman, reproached her.

[That’s wrong, Lili, he didn’t kill us after what we did. Moreover, since we were ostensibly executed, the hostages held against us would hold no purpose. This was all thanks to the arrangements made by the Mad Emperor.]

[He’s right. If we’re dead, their position as a hostage will be meaningless. It was a good move to make it look like we were executed.]

The old warrior, Bigg, followed up.

The heads on the execution site are all fakes.

Those heads belonged to criminals who had been scheduled to be executed.

By applying makeup and other alterations, the heads were made to resemble the faces of the Drunken Sword Party.

In addition, their faces were scorched with fire, so it’s difficult for one to tell if they were really the same people.

The weeping man holding the head was also just a “planted” actor.

He was a complete stranger disguised as an acquaintance of the Drunken Sword Party, an executioner with somewhat disturbing fetishes disguised.

But thanks to this, the embrace of the freshly severed head shouldn’t have looked out of place.

[We ourselves honestly feel that we would rather work for the Mad Emperor than be part of that cavalry belonging to the Goddess. Even when we’re prisoners of war, we were treated so well here.]

[Haven’t you slacked off a bit too much, Nacht? With you like that, hasn’t your body already become duller?]

[That’s too harsh…… Even when we’re prisoners of war, Snow-chan is as harsh as ever……]

Alion’s 9th Cavalry.

The Captain, Nacht J?ger and his Deputy, Snow.

When Alion’s Thirteen Cavalries invaded the Faraway Country……

The 9th Cavalry was confronted by the Mad Emperor, Asagi Ikusaba and others.

The 9th Cavalry fought a short battle with them———— and then surrendered.

“Ahh, this won’t do…… Even if we keep on fighting, we would just lose. We aren’t gonna waste our lives here.”

The Captain, Nacht J?ger, immediately raised the white flag.

As a result, the 9th Cavalry only lost about 10% of their numbers.

Later, they were taken prisoner in this dungeon.

[I will have high expectations for your work.]

[Mira-san hadn’t treated us badly after all. The labor we were ordered to do along the way was probably done in anticipation of this, preventing our bodies from becoming dull, right? You lot sure got a good Emperor, geez……]

Thereupon, Snow turns to me and asks.

[We’re going to Jonato, aren’t we?]

[That’s right. If the Sacred Eye isn’t protected, the humans of this world will eventually be beings subjected to eternal suffering by Vysis.]

Thereupon, Lili looked somewhat unsettled……

[Even so…… I get that he wants us to help out, but your Emperor sure is naive———- A very, very lenient guy. No, I understand that he thinks of us as a force to be reckoned with for the upcoming day…… but when we came to this dungeon, he hadn’t thought that far ahead, did he? Same goes for that Fly King too……]

Incidentally……

The information they have about the False Sacraments has already been passed on to the Mad Emperor.

[In short, what do you want to say?]

As if searching for the right words, Lili scratched the back of her head.

[You know…… I still wonder why Fly King didn’t kill us at that time. Not a single one of our Drunken Sword Party was killed. However, isn’t trying to take a non-lethal approach usually troublesome? His actions at that time, even foreseeing the current situation——— as expected, that’s just not possible.]

Lili frowned thoughtfully……

[However, considering the threat level of the Sacrament army at that time, there shouldn’t have been any reason for him to go out of his way to fight us without killing. Just that…… is something that won’t connect in my mind.]

[I heard something about the 13th Floor of Mills Ruins.]

[Hmm? Ahh…… Mills Ruins…… That one? That dungeon in Urza…… where the Marquis gathered mercenaries, saying they found a new floor…… ——–So, what of it? Errr…… 13th Floor?]

[I don’t know much about it either, but the Fly King told me to tell you guys this. “When Mills Ruins were overflowing with corpses of monsters, there was a man you showed concern and suggested we go back up together. That was me. At that time, you had shown me genuine care and kindness. There was no way I could kill you.”]

[……………………..]

Lili———— bewildered, her eyes opened wide.

The other members of the Drunken Sword Party also had a look of astonishment on their faces.

All of them looked like they couldn’t understand the shocking truth.

As for Lili……

[Huh? You’re kidding…… right? That boy at that time…… was the Fly King……]

And then……

[YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING MEEEEEEEEE—————–!]

[Don’t know. Don’t care.]

Saying this, I started walking away again.

[I was only told that when the time comes, tell the Drunken Sword Party that. By the way, that plan to make it look like you’ve been executed is also Fly King’s idea. Ahh, that’s right…… Fly King also had one other message.]

Remembering that other message, I stopped and passed on the words the Fly King wanted to tell them.

[“I inadvertently felt happy at that time”———– is what he said.]

<Author’s Note>

And with that, the first section of the final arc is now complete.

Thank you for your patience with sticking out with the first section of the final arc.

It would be fortunate if you could look forward to the rest of the story.

And so, as you can see on the obi of Volume 11, we are finally entering the final arc of “Failure Frame”.

If it had been until now, the previous chapter would have marked the end of Volume 11 and the current chapter would be an intermission chapter (and a break in the story), but I think that the final arc of the WN, which can’t be divided into volumes like the LN, should be divided into sections (and so, there’s no intermission chapter after this).

I would also like to thank everyone who gave us feedback, reviews, bookmarks, and rating points before the completion of the first section of the final arc. I feel like I wrote it back in Volume 10, but everyone’s support is really the nourishment that keeps me writing. To be honest, I’m the type of person who tends to spend a lot of my time working, and I certainly may have been reaping what I sow…… but I’ve been exhausted over the past few days. Even so, I was able to feel the support from everyone in various ways, and with that as fuel, it feels like I’ve been able to move forward. Thank you very much.

As mentioned in the preview at the end of Volume 11, we will be working on the next volume, which will affect the pace of the serialization. However, I don’t want to stop the series completely for several months, so I will try to post an update as regularly as possible (I would like to maintain a pace of about every other week).

And so, I will do my best to write the second section of the final arc as well.

I would appreciate it if you could be patient with me until the completion of the final arc.

Thank you very much.

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