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This is OVERLORD fanfiction by nanyan minami .
I am vinegar_fish , the editor and translator of this work.
I am in a cooperative relationship with him, but also a fan of him .
This fanfiction will follow the logic of the original work and depict a postscript of Volume Fourteen—an account of the annihilation of the entire "Blue Rose."
The timeline, of course, is immediately after the fourteenth volume of the original work.
Except for the following "Prologue."
This "Prologue" describes the "final outcome" of Iburiel many, many years after being subjected to "Dominion over the Undead."
By the way, the Prologue also has its own separate name.
—" The End of the Future."
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In the most inconspicuous corner of the room, a petite girl stood upright.
Her presence was so faint that it was almost nonexistent. It was not because she used some kind of stealth or disguise skill, but simply because she was completely motionless... not even breathing or having a heartbeat. She blended in with the cabinet beside her, like a slightly larger puppet.
She was probably around eleven or twelve years old, wrapped in an old red cloak, with a few strands of golden hair visible through the gaps in the hood.
Because she wore a mask, her expression was invisible.
...No.
Even if she took off the mask, there would be no "expression" behind it, would there?
Her deep red eyes were probably like two clots of blood, devoid of any luster.
Because she had lost her soul.
And expressions are, after all, symbols of the soul. Changes in expressions either express the soul or conceal it— for a girl eternally dominated, she had neither the motive nor the freedom to make expressions.
She didn't even have the freedom to lift an arm, because she had been commanded to "stand by quietly."
A long, long time passed, and now she had become an object that could not think.
In the first few years, she had cursed her fate, forcing herself to maintain her thoughts and consciousness, like a castaway resisting the severe cold of the ice, not allowing herself to fall into eternal slumber.
Deep regret once filled her soul, along with reluctance and sorrow, which raged like a violent hurricane within her small body... prompting her to think of ways to escape and find opportunities to turn the tide day and night.
If she had the freedom to use her fingers, her nails would probably have broken off from the intense scratching and digging.
But such inner struggles were a thing of the past.
—It was something from countless years ago.
The long years were like a bottomless quagmire, gradually swallowing her soul completely, and today, there was not even a trace of the soul's existence left.
Why did she have such a fate?
Because the girl had an absolutely irresistible existence, an "owner" who eternally dominated her.
He simply used an invisible and intangible skill, and in an instant, he took over everything she had—her entire body and mind, her entire past and future.
Her more than two hundred years of life experience, the strength accumulated through countless lives and deaths, the feelings and desires that had just begun... all of these were things that could be taken away by him simply raising his bony finger and saying "Dominion over the Undead."
She had never submitted even when facing the strongest demon, and she wanted to use all her strength to resist to the death, but her knees knelt unhesitatingly at the feet of the "owner," and her head was knocked down all the way.
She would rather die than reveal the information of her old friends, but her throat was eager to tell the "owner" more and more and more...
And when her value was exhausted, her long suffering had only just begun.
The girl did not stay in the "owner's" memory for long.
The "owner" gave the girl to six extremely beautiful maids, commanding her to obey the maids' orders and serve them as a "maid of the maids," using slave-like labor to atone for her past offenses.
But she was actually useless to the mistresses.
None of these mistresses were willing to share their working hours with the girl. She was only kept because she was a gift from the "owner."
At first, the mistresses liked to torture her for fun, digging out her vocal cords several times and inflicting various pains and humiliations on her. But soon, they got bored of that too.
Occasionally, they would give her a few joking orders; occasionally, she would be borrowed by a penguin for a time-urgent major cleaning.
But most of the time, she just stood in that corner, standing by quietly.
She once had freedom, close friends, and even a romance, but all of these had been shattered like waste paper. Even the memories of the past had nowhere to be stored, because she no longer had a soul.
She had become unfeeling and no longer thought, and this, perhaps, was her only redemption...
Until an unknown number of years later, her tragic fate finally came to an end.
That day, because the penguin's command logic was not clear enough, she mechanically cleaned the exterior surface and courtyard of the huge palace all night long.
And when dawn came, she unexpectedly encountered the "owner" again.
The owner was somewhat surprised to see her.
"Hmm? A servant I've never seen before... Could she be one of Lanny's children? That's impossible for them to run around... Huh? Wait, this undead's reaction isn't from a hidden guard, but from her...?"
After a moment, the girl's unique appearance finally triggered a vague memory of her in the owner's mind.
He recalled that there had indeed been an elite adventurer team a long time ago, and there was a magical incantator with a strange mask in that team, who had once fallen in love with him... Although it was a ridiculous and erroneous love.
"Um... this girl actually lasted until now, huh..."
He looked around his palace.
The huge external structure, after being cleaned all night, was so clean that it no longer looked like a ruin. Honestly, it felt a bit too much.
"..."
He stretched out his bony hand to remove the girl's mask and saw her lifeless eyes, which were like stickers. Her pale face was completely still, without any reaction.
Her originally small body seemed even smaller than before. Although it was impossible for her, as an undead, to change her body shape, she did give that impression.
Thin as a bundle of firewood wrapped in tattered cloth.
The owner gazed at the girl's dark red eyes for a long time, and then he snorted coldly.
"...It's enough. Finally, I'll give you 'mercy' in the form of 'him.'"
He cast a spell and instantly transformed a set of gorgeous full plate armor on himself, completely black, edged with gold, with a bright red cape fluttering, and a mighty greatsword on his back.
He looked like an unparalleled great hero.
Seeing this image, the girl's pupils actually shrank slightly—truly very slightly.
Her soul could no longer be revived, but in the pitch-black depths of her consciousness, which was filled with nothingness, there suddenly appeared some flickering images, like traces of a dream.
It was a hero she had once admired. She had longed to hide under his cape and yearned for him to hold her like a princess with his strong arms...!
Even her lips moved a little. Although there was no vocal cord and it was just the dry click of the upper and lower lips, it could be seen that it should be a syllable—
mo...
But that was all. Immediately, she returned to her wooden state, like a stuck music box.
But the owner still nodded with satisfaction, as if he had settled some kind of regret. Then he raised a greatsword high!
The bright dawn was reflected on the edge of the sword, shining like a diamond.
"All this time, you've worked hard."
—And then the greatsword fell.
.
..
So, the following chapters will tell the story of how this future came to be.
The timeline is immediately after the destruction of the kingdom in Volume Fourteen of the original work. It can be considered a "postscript" to Volume Fourteen and will lead into Volume Fifteen at the end.
In addition to this prologue, there will be six parts:
Chapter One: The Witch's Betrayal
Chapter Two: The Prelude to Destruction
Chapter Three: The Worm-Eaten Rose
Chapter Four: The Emperor's Melancholy
Chapter Five: The Miracle of the Reaper
Epilogue
I hope you can enjoy it.