The Loser Lord Who Kept Getting Sweet Revenge and Somehow Rose to the Top - Chapter 22: Let’s Party!

Chapter 22: Let’s Party!

―And so, Shakara met his end on the guillotine.

For half a year, he was put through every kind of torture, squeezed dry until not a single scrap of intel remained. By the time it was over, he was nothing but a husk. Then, dragged through the capital like a ragged mop, he was finally hauled up to the guillotine.

His death was miserable, pathetic, and over in an instant.

“I don’t want to die!” “This can’t be where my life ends!”

He screamed and thrashed the whole way, clinging to denial until the very last moment—only to lose his head while still running from reality. The pitiful finale of a fool who had chosen wrong every step of the way.

Did I pity him? Not in the slightest. Instead, I burned the memory into myself as a lesson in what not to become.

After fulfilling my duty of witnessing Shakara’s execution, I joined Crim, Kiriko, Linna, and Gou at one of Crim’s favorite restaurants for a proper meal.

“Ahh, see? If he’d just starved to death quietly, things never would’ve gone this far.”

“There it is again—the starvation line.”

As always, Linna was doing whatever she pleased—but that was her normal setting, so no one bothered pointing it out.

…The Empire had taken Van in, granting him asylum so they could secure him as a technician. Shakara and his cronies had just tagged along to ride those coattails. But once Shakara got blinded by the chance to pillage occupied lands, he ended up captured and executed.

As for Talia… I can’t say I don’t wonder. With no backing left and her husband gone, what path is she planning to take now?

What really concerned me, though, was Van’s research into the so-called “Golden Armor” and the black-armored man he had in tow—the “Pursuer.”

The Pursuer was originally from my own Tourmaline lands, the child of a headless knight (Dullahan) and a human. He had lived quietly in the forest, occasionally stepping in to save travelers from monsters. But one day, when Van came begging for money in our territory and got attacked by monsters, the Pursuer saved him. Van saw his combat power, and instead of offering gratitude, he used magic to capture and enslave him—erasing and rewriting his memories to force him into service.

Turning a lifesaver into a slave… that’s a pretty high-level scumbag move, even for Van.

Kiriko admitted that, as a child, she’d once been saved by that black knight, and her face grew complicated when the topic came up. Gou, on the other hand, was absolutely furious.

“Haaaah? You hearin’ this, Sean? What a shady bastard! The Empire’s got a black knight—that alone is waving giant netorare flags all over the place! Meanwhile, we’ve got a red dragon! No way we can ever let that guy onto our side! I’m telling you, if someday Linna or someone comes whispering, ‘Oh yeah, every night after the black knight goes into Kiriko’s room, I hear her moaning in pain~,’ I swear to God I’m done. Screw that kind of crap-game storyline! If it comes down to my sister being turned into a ntr-heroine route, then there’s only one option: kill the black knight, period.”

“Well, I only meant… it’s awful that the man who once saved my life is suffering so badly. I still properly love Lord Sean so… never mind.”

“Mmh~? But imagine this, Gou. You and the black knight start off hating each other, but end up fighting side by side in the same camp. Then, in the final showdown with Van, the black knight sacrifices himself to protect you. You’d inherit his gear, strengthen your bond through that shared loss, and bam—tragic best-friend boost! That’s how this Linna thinks it’ll go~”

“I. WILL. NEVER.”

Kiriko, Linna, Gou—each of them spouting nonsense however they pleased. Honestly, it was so fun to watch that I couldn’t help but laugh.

“This household really is wonderful. I must praise my own keen eye for choosing to marry into it.”

“…Hearing that makes me happy. I owe you a lot too, Princess—you’ve saved me more times than I can count.”

“But of course. To help, polish, and lift up the one I love—that is my way of showing love.”

Lift up, huh. Her words overlapped in my mind with something the Grand General once told me long ago.

“Reaching higher, huh. …Yeah, maybe that’s not such a bad idea.”

At my words, Crim’s eyes widened in surprise.

“You never seemed all that interested in such things before. What’s changed?”

“Well… back then, the Grand General once asked me what kind of man I wanted to become. At the time, I couldn’t even answer myself. But now things are different. I’ve got lively companions, my domain and my people have grown, I’ve built ties with Sphere… with all these new duties and responsibilities, I’ve had to think it through again. ―And I realized: I want to become strong and important enough to protect the people close to me, and everyone within my reach. Strong enough that, at the very least, I can extend my hand across this entire kingdom.”

“My, my. …In that case, I’ll just have to give it my all as well.”

While Crim and I shared those words, Linna stood nearby with a mischievous grin plastered across her face.

“Oho~ now that’s nice. That’s the good stuff. This is exactly what I like to see.”

“Huh? Wait a sec, I know that line too… Linna, don’t tell me—you’re a reincarnator?!”

For some reason, Gou latched onto her words, but Linna only tilted her head innocently.

“Rein…carna…tor? What’s that supposed to mean?? Sorry, Linna-chan doesn’t understand hard words. But I’m cute, so forgive me☆”

“…Right. Of course. Just my imagination. Total coincidence.”

From that lively dining table, my gaze drifted toward the window—where I spotted Comet plastered against the glass. He looked like he thought we’d left him out, wearing the saddest, loneliest expression. …Crap, now I felt bad.

“Oh—sorry, Comet. We weren’t trying to exclude you.”

“Gyaoo…”

At my words, Comet let out a low rumble, seemingly appeased. Crim chuckled softly, smiling wide as if she was savoring the whole scene.

The truth was, war with the Empire probably couldn’t be avoided. Van had defected there, and who knew what path Talia might take. But looking around me—at my loud, dependable, and wonderfully insane companions—I felt like somehow, some way, we’d manage.

For now, all I could do was push forward as far as I could.

I grabbed my glass of ale, raised it high, and declared:

“Then once again—to our future――CHEERS!”

Afterword & Thanks

Thank you so much for reading “The Loser Lord Who Kept Getting Sweet Revenge and Somehow Rose to the Top.”

With this, I’ve wrapped up everything I originally planned—so this marks the story’s completion.

Truly, thank you for all the support up to now!

About the ending—if it feels a bit like “End of Chapter One!”, that’s because the whole thing began as a contest plot draft. I always intended this portion to serve as the “first arc”: handling domestic affairs, settling things with Shakara, and finally having Sean set his sights on “climbing higher.”

I do have some hazy ideas for what comes after—forming an alliance with Sphere and launching a war against the Empire—but that would be for a longer series… if the chance ever comes.

Originally, this was just a rough contest draft that I fleshed out. (I mentioned this in an early author’s note.) I reworked that plot into a mid-length version, aiming for around 30–40k words. …But it ended up running quite a bit longer. Honestly, that’s thanks to you readers—so thank you again!

This was also a kind of writing “rehab” for me, so yes, as usual there were tons of typos. Thanks a ton to everyone who pointed them out—I’m fixing them bit by bit and replying to comments as I go…!

Since way more people ended up reading this than I ever expected, I went ahead and wrote a little bonus from Linna’s point of view.

This time, I tried to keep the story moving at a brisk pace while cutting out as much of the stressful, frustrating parts as possible—aiming instead for a nonstop “serves them right” comedy where you could just laugh and enjoy yourself. How was it?

It only ran for about three weeks, but if even one of you chuckled along the way, then I’m glad.

As for Sean’s crew—those characters are basically me writing at full hobby-power. I love them all, and I’m really attached to them. So once I’m back into a steadier writing rhythm, I’d like to give them a proper, full story. I’ll do my best, so I hope you’ll look forward to it.

First goal: put out a short story in August, if I can.

And if we meet again somewhere, in some other work—well, that would make me really happy. Until then—see you!