Overlord Volume 13

The Paladin of the Holy Kingdom is the thirteenth light novel volume in the Overlord series. Written by Kugane Maruyama and illustrated by so-bin, it was released on April 27, 2018. It details about Ainz Ooal Gown's death when he faces against the Demon Emperor Jaldabaoth and his Demon Maids. While the Liberation Army struggles against the allied army of demi-humans, that have surrounded them and is about to destroy them once and for all.

Main Summary
Ainz Ooal Gown dies. The Roble Holy Kingdom is surrounded by an allied army of 40,000 demi-humans. Commanded by Remedios Custodio who is the strongest paladin of the Holy Kingdom, the human army is too fatigued due to their defensive battle to keep the demi-humans from trampling them. In order to fulfill the promise he made as a king, the Sorcerer King Ainz stands alone against the Demon Emperor Jaldabaoth and the Demon Maidservants under his command. And then...

Can the flame-wreathed Holy Kingdom be saved? Volume 13 points the way toward justice.

Full Summary
As the city of Loyts was surrounded by the Demi-Human Alliance, Vijar Rajandala waiting impatiently on why aren't they attacking the human city yet and went to ask Rokesh, the commander of the forty thousand demi-humans preparing to siege the city. Vijar accuses Rokesh that he was afraid that someone in the city stronger than Buser, who previously occupied the city. Rokesh waved off Vijar's claim and was followed by Nasrene Belt Cure's who mocked the latter. As the two demi-humans were about to continue their argument, it was stopped by Rokesh, warning them if they continue on disturbing the meeting, he would have no choice but to report it to Jaldabaoth. Hearing that the two back down. Rokesh tells the assembled leaders that he received orders from Jaldabaoth to give the humans a couple of days, so as to frighten them before beginning the siege. The meeting ends with everyone approving the plan.

Neia Baraja goes to Ainz's room to inform him about their situation. There's no major movement from the demi-human army on attacking the city, but the demi-humans are splitting their forces on both the eastern and western gates. She and the Liberation Army believes they're preparing for a siege since the demi-humans aren't trying to starve them out and a small city held no importance to them. The Liberation Army hopes that they'll hold out the siege until reinforcements from the south arrived. Neia tells Ainz that he needs to conserve his mana to fight Jaldabaoth when he appeared. Ainz thinks that because of the stupidity of the Liberation Army's leadership, they cannot change their dire situation. He tells Neia to prioritize her safety and swear her allegiance to him. However, Neia tells Ainz that she's a citizen of the Holy Kingdom and saving the helpless, those in suffering is common sense which stuns him. After hearing what she said, Ainz decides to give Neia several items for her survival. She was about to refuse those valuable items giving to her, but Ainz tells her to go onto the battlefield with the determination to bring these items back to him, no matter the cost. Neia promises to him that she will return the items to him before leaving the room.

Somewhere in the city, inside the operations room, Remedios Custodio and three paladins study a force distribution chart. They realize that they need to counterattack the enemy hard during their first offensive. They plan to gather their forces at the east gate and crush the enemy there in one mighty blow before heading for the west gate. However, it was very likely that the west gate would be lost to the enemy's main force before they defeated the small detachment positioned at the east gate, and thus the city would fall. Gustav Montagnés arrives to inform his captain that the people of Loyts are anxious if the Sorcerer King will join the battlefield because he doesn't want to tells them that the undead isn't participating the battle and will plummet the people's morale since they see the undead as a hero and savior which agitates Remedios. In addition, it will threaten the Holy Queen's rule and making the Holy Kingdom as an enclave to the Sorcerer King's nation which further agitates Remedios even more. So Gustav needs to delay answering the people about the Sorcerer King and focus on beating the demi-humans back, showing the world that the strength of the Holy Kingdom was still undiminished.

At the west gate of the city, Neia has been assigned at the left flank of the city wall. Remedios commanded the west gate while Gustav commanded the east gate. Caspond as nominal supreme commander at the center of the city. One of the militiamen approaches Neia and asks her about the Sorcerer King's participation. The paladin tries to stop the militiaman for asking her but was denies by Neia, seeing that the paladin is trying to keep the people from asking about the Sorcerer King. She tells the militiaman that Ainz will not be taking part in the battle. Because this is their battle as citizens of the Holy Kingdom for fighting to save their nation, and His Majesty needs to conserve mana for when he faces Jaldabaoth. Many of the militiamen understand his reason for not participating in the battle while few are unhappy that the Sorcerer King was not coming to help them. Neia arrives at her assigned post and intently studies the enemy encampment.

The siege of the city begins, Neia and the militiamen defend the city walls from the thirty thousand strong demi-humans besieging the city. The demi-humans are using human children as meat-shields so as the militiamen are hesitating on attacking the demi-humans holding hostages. Seeing this, Neia have to set an example to the militiamen and rendered down the demi-humans using human shields against them. Neia releases her arrow and pierced through a child in front of them. She shouted at the militiamen to forget saving the hostages and throw a stone at them. The militiamen complied with her word and throw a stone at the demi-humans.

Despite this, the demi-humans climbed and reached the city walls. Leading the besieging forces was Jajan of the Lagon Tribe and managed on taking the head of the human commander and orders his forces to kill them all. Neia shoots her arrow and managed to kill Jajan but notice that the demi-humans are not targeting her. She hears one of them say to not approach her carelessly, after discovering her wearing Buser's armor under the false impression that they were fighting the warrior who had defeated Buser. One of the demi-humans notices Neia's glaring eyes and realizes that she was the Mad-Eyed Archer, but Neia realizes that was her father that they referring to and they mistook her as him. The militiamen try to defend Neia from the demi-humans but were overwhelmed. Being surrounded by demi-humans and scared to death, Neia Baraja was killed in battle.

Meanwhile, in the west gate of the city, Remedios addresses the militiamen to defeat the demi-humans, save the innocent civilians from their suffering and retaking back their nation by their own hands. Remedios orders the militiamen to ready for defense formation as the west gates open the demi-humans charge at the liberation army's defenders. As Remedios leading the charge, however, she was confronted by three demi-human leaders, Vijar Rajandala, Nasrene Belt Cure and Halisha Ankara. Remedios clashes with Vijar while her four subordinates face Nasrene and Halisha, but only for the four paladins being instantly killed by the two demi-humans. Seeing her fellow paladins being easily killed by the two demi-humans, Vijar was offended by her distraction and tells her to fight him seriously. Even after being hit by Vijar's attacks, Remedios move forward and uses her powerful attack, but was shocked that he's not evil-aligned despite being hurt by her holy sword. Since their aim is to wipe out the humans in the city as needed, Halisha counts on Nasrene to attack the militiamen. Remedios tries to attack Naserene but was blocked by Vijar. As Nasrene's attack spells almost reach the militiamen, Ainz intervenes and shielded them with Wall of Skeleton. The militiamen cheer for the Sorcerer King for saving them while Remedios was agitated for cheering the undead. She assumes that he was waiting until the paladins had died and plan to make an entrance in front of the people. She decides to leave things to the undead and led the militiamen to another battlefield.

As Remedios and the militiamen left, Ainz is frustrated by her action without showing gratitude for helping her. He thought they will fight together or politely leave them to him, but instead, he was being treated rudely and dumping it all on to him. Annoyed by this, Ainz uses a death spell and instantly killed Vijar and Halisha with the exception of Nasrene. Seeing the demi-human had resisted by his death spell, Ainz takes cautious and let his opponent attack first, but only for demi-human's attack nullified and immediately killing her with Reality Slash.

Neia was resurrected by Ainz using True Resurrection, a ninth tier spell. He gives her a Purple Potion to heal herself. Then Ainz proceeds on eliminating the demi-human trying to climb the city walls and sent some of his undead forces to the encampment. Neia finally understands what justice is and answers to Ainz that his Majesty is justice which stuns him. The paladins and militiamen arrive at the city walls as reinforcement, Ainz tells them to take Neia to safety and will handle the rest. As Ainz use attack spells on the demi-humans, he pondered that he made a huge mistake, he should have prioritized Neia Baraja over Remedios since the plan was to help Remedios and being in debt to him had been a complete failure. Ainz watches the fleeing demi-humans from the Soul Eaters and wonders if the Soul Eater consumed more souls and stay permanent.

After wiping out the demi-humans besieging the city, Ainz returned to his room. He contacts Demiurge to meet him in Nazarick and inform Albedo as well. Neia enters his room to express her gratitude towards Ainz on fulfilling her obligations as squire to him. Ainz informs Neia that he will return to his country for a while and asks Neia if anyone saw the power of the bow that he lent to her. Neia tells him that many people saw the amazing power of the bow although they're killed in the battle which shocks Ainz, he fails again to promote the rune weapons. Also, Neia tells Ainz that the people whom His Majesty saved also wish to express their gratitude towards him. Receiving their gratitude, Ainz tells Neia to inform them that he's glad to receive their gratitude. Neia then left to convey his message to them while Ainz returns back to Nazarick.

Prince Caspond, Remedios, Gustav, and Ciriaco Naranjo are gathered for a meeting to discuss the aftermath of the siege. They discuss the causalities of the Liberation Army and the reports about mysterious undead beings that the Sorcerer King created that destroy the demi-human army. Caspond asks them on what to do if the Sorcerer King loses to Jaldabaoth. Remedios spoke up that they need to call Momon, but shut down the idea even if Momon defeated Jaldabaoth, the discovery of the lie could trigger a war between their country and tells Remedios to stop thinking dangerous things that endangered their nation. As the discussion goes on, Caspond would like to thank the Sorcerer King's power and saving them from peril despite the paladins' effort. The agitated Remedios throws her helmet at the wall and glared at the Prince saying that was a victory paid for by the lives of the people of the Holy Kingdom and not the undead, who was only flying around and seeing it as a war game to him. Seeing Remedios' outburst, Caspond tells her to rest since she witnesses too many deaths has upset her. Before she could do that, she has been thinking that Jaldabaoth and the Sorcerer King are in league with each other, but Caspond dismisses it since he recalls the Sorcerer King wanted the maid demons. Caspond orders Remedios to get some rest and visits the wounded.

After Remedios left, Gustav apologizes to Prince Caspond for his captain's actions. As he apologizes to Caspond, the prince continues to discuss on the matter of the succession since the North is exhausted while the South still has the ability to fight. It's very likely the great nobles from the South might end up becoming the Holy King. In addition, the Southern nobles will request them that Captain Custodio take responsibility for the whole affair and place her under house arrest since she failed to protect the Holy Queen, but in truth, they see Remedios as the enemy of southern nobles including the paladins she led since she was in the Holy Queen's faction. They need to start thinking about their plans from now on. They will continue to raid prison camps and driving out the enemy without having to draw on the strength of the South. All that matters is that the balance of power is preserved in the end.

Back in Nazarick, Ainz was greeted by Demiurge, Albedo and Lupusregina Beta. Ainz discusses with the two about introducing a flaw into the plan. During the course of their activities in the Holy Kingdom, Ainz will cause problems as needed and Demiurge will amend the plan in response. Since the two guardians understood, Ainz is going to amend the part of the plan to spread the news of his death which causes Albedo to protest the idea while Demiurge calmly accepts the idea. The two argue and glare at each other. Ainz calms the two down and asks what would they do if he died. Albedo states that she would seek out the perpetrators and eliminate them, while on the other hand, Demiurges provides an answer that he would gather information and prepare for his master's resurrection. The two have conflicting plans argue about priorities. They are brought back to focus by Ainz, who reasons their very argument was the basis of his rationale. Ainz states he wishes to use this exercise to see how the rest of Nazarick will react in the event of his death. He assigns them to prepare the rest of the Guardians and NPCs for disaster drills. In addition, he asks Demiurge to order his summoned Evil Lord to fight a serious battle with him the next time they meet.

Back in Loyts, Neia has been training a new team of archers and is their supervisor, The city is currently suffering an overpopulation problem as many of the demi-human camps have been liberated and sent back to the city in order to regroup and prepare a counterattack. Ainz meets up with her again and before they continue discussing, a wall of flame appears, signaling that Jaldabaoth has arrived. Both Neia and Ainz fly to the prince's meeting room and discuss the plans on how to proceed but before they could finish their talks, Jaldabaoth burst in through the wall and greets everyone along with the demon maids. Remedios tried to slay the demon but proved to be too powerful and with one swing sent her flying along with whatever left was of Calca's corpse. Jaldaboath meets the Sorcerer King and challenges him to a duel which the King accepts. Neia is worried that the Sorcerer King has already used too much of his mana and would be at a disadvantage, but Ainz assures her and everyone that he will be fine and with that, he left the room in order to face the Demon Emperor.

Once Ainz had reached the main city square, Ainz met up with Wrath and the Maids, he discussed the details of the duel, they should fight as if they were serious and if Ainz were to lose he would stay inside of Nazarick for a year. The Summoned Wrath agreed to this and the maids agree to it too and also inform him that they are not the real maids but Dopplegangers under Chacmool who are playing the maids. The fight started off well with Ainz analyzing the situation and preparing countermeasures, however, it was also around that time that he spotted something off like the battle maids were more powerful than they should be and than realized they had been buffed by Aureole Omega's command skills. He admired the preparations they took but not impressed by their lack of skills. He focused primarily on beating Shizu, who's snipping abilities had become a hassle, in the meantime Neia and the rest of the Holy Kingdom's residence were watching afar and were taken by the comprehensible battle they are witnessing. Not long after the figure of Ainz fell down in the distance and the Demon Emperor fell down in front of the Crowd, badly beaten but still alive.

Everyone is shocked at the sight of the demon and he, in turn, mocked the Sorcerer King was a worthy opponent but using his power to save the people was a wasted effort and is what got him killed. Neia refused to believe his words and filled with anger from the demon's insult pulled an arrow out of her bow and tried to shoot him but Jaldabaoth quickly moved back to avoid the arrow. Confused by the Demon Emperors' action as Neia is just a low-level opponent normal attack would not effect him. Jaldabaoth looks at the arrow and the bow that she used and asked if it was made by the ancient magic of runecraft, and said if that is true it might even be able to kill him. Neia Baraja refused to acknowledge the demon's accusation as she wanted to keep the Sorcerer King weapons ability secret, and kept shooting arrow after arrow with Jaldabaoth avoiding each one while trying to speak about the runecraft. Once the last of her arrows were spent, the Demon Emperor fled the scene in order to recover.

After the Demon was gone, Neia was frantic to get a rescue operation underway to find the Sorcerer King in the direction he fell. But Remedios thought they should focus on other matters as she believes he was defeated by Jaldabaoth as he said. Neia was angry that she would believe the words of the demon so easily and accused her that she might have been seduced by his words. Just as they were going to clash with each other, Prince Caspond and Gustav stepped up in order to establish order. The top priority right now was to gather information on everything that just occurred, and figure out what the next step they should take. At the moment at least Neia had to accept this but was not at all happy about it.

After a few days, Neia had been suffering serious exhausting due to all of the worry about his majesty whereabouts, so much so that her eyes were baggy and had to keep the visor on to prevent scaring people. While waiting for the higher-ups to do something, she continued training her archery squad and slowly recruit help to form a rescue party. It was around this time that she met with Prince Caspond to discuss it, but was cut short when his presence were requested by the other soldiers before she left, she did hear the word Demon maid from her sharp senses.

Later, she met with Prince Caspond, Remedios and Gustav in a meeting along with a surprise guest that was a representative of the Zern Race. The Zern wished to seek aid from the Humans, in order to rescue their prince as he was being held hostage by Jaldabaoth and that they're races who were forced to be part of his army. In return for their help, they will switch sides and aid the Liberation Army against the Demi-Human alliance. Sensing this good opportunity, Caspond agreed and after the Zern representative left, he requests to carry out this mission but with the aid from one of Jaldabaoth's Demon Maids. Shocked at this revelation, Neia questioned how is that possible, they brought the Demon Maid in chains into the room and apparently, it was revealed that just before the Sorcerer King disappeared, he gained control of the Demon and ordered her to aid the Holy Kingdom with anything they need. Still not completely convinced, Neia requested some time to think about before she makes her decision.

Neia decided it is worth a try but would need to get to know the Demon Maid first and see if she is trustworthy to work with. She met the Maid who is staying in one of the Cities abandoned Noble Household under house arrest, after a bit of a rough start, they got to know each other and Neia started to trust her after both parties agreed that the Sorcerer King is a magnificent ruler and sharing chocolate shakes.

A few days later both Shizu and Neia had managed to infiltrate the city by hiding inside barrels being taken to castle Kalinsha by the Zern. Next was to rescue the prince from inside the castle, which they managed to do under a covert operation, they fought the Vah Un Guards who were in charge of the Prince's custody and after some struggle, they managed to kill them off.

They managed to reach the Zern Prince Beebeezee and informed him of the current situation, including the fact his father the Zern king was dead. So they all agreed to meet with the other Zerns at the meeting point to figure out what to do next. The Zern know that if they try to escape they will be hunted down and eliminated, but if they stay they would still live under subjugation and cruelty and that Jaladabaoth has already proven not to be trusted, as he killed their king despite assuring them he won't. Neia offered a third option, to go to the Sorcerer Kingdom as refugees under the protection of the Sorcerer King, but the Zerns and the prince was not assured they will be protected as the kingdom is ruled by an undead, but Neia with help from Shizu assured them they would be safe and the prince decided to take the chance in trusting the words of his saviors. It was also around that time that the Zern figured out that one of the Jaldabaoth demon commanders will be in the city, and the Zern decided to use the chance to cripple Jaldabaoth's command structure by eliminating the said demon. All of them agreed to the plan with the prince included will help carry out the plan.

They meet the Demon and are surprised that it holds the two heads of both the Grandmother and the high priestess Kelart. The whole group engages in battle with Neia, Beebeezee, and Shizu fighting the Demon while the rest of the group fights his minions. All the while the Demon continues to try and sell the Runecraft promotion but continues to be shut down by Neia. After an exchange of several blows of different attack spells and hand to hand combat, Neia got blinded by a Blindness spell but with the help of Beebeezee on her shoulder she managed to deal one last strike with her bow to cripple him, while Shizu delivering the final blow. Now the Demon Commander is dead and so are his subordinates, with that they celebrated briefly before rejoining the Army in taking over the city. With this done, the Holy Kingdom gained a new ally and the city of Kalinsha was retaken.

A few weeks after the city had been successfully liberated, the entire Northern Holy Kingdom forces moved into the city as their new base of operations. The Zern had kept their end of the bargain and defected from the Demi-human army coalition. Most of them went to the Sorcerer Kingdom to seek refuge, but 200 of them stayed behind to gathering intelligence on both the demi-human army movements and to find any clues where the Sorcerer King might have landed.

Back in the city, word of Neia and Shizu's exploits began to spread around, and Neia has been using her popularity to recruit people into her cause to finding the Sorcerer King and the spread the name of his glory to all the masses under her banner. Her popularity and the number of people she has gathered is getting some negative reception from some of the higher-ups. But they're not in a position to do anything about at the moment, as Remedios is now in an almost unstable state due to the word of knowledge that both the Holy Queen and now even her sister were killed. The only thing keeping her sane enough to work with, are the combined efforts of both Prince Caspond and Gustav.

The higher-ups heard of the news that the southern armies had managed to break through the defense line of the Demi-Human Alliance and would join the rest of the holy kingdom armies. Prince Caspond set up a meeting with all the heads of the southern noble families, in order to assess the situation and figure out what to do from there. The nobles were also assessing the worth of the royal family, now that both the holy queen and the high priest are gone. Some of them tried to see how to gain a foothold in the royal family's influence, either to get more prestige or to further raise their authority. All that in order to gain better control of the Northern Kingdom territories. Caspond, on the other hand, was moving carefully to gain their help, but balance his authority so that the royal family won't appear weak. After careful consideration, all parties agreed to the mission on liberating the city of Prart and form a force of an army of 100,000 individuals for the battle in the coming days.

A few days later, the Army came about in the outer skirts of the occupied city. Neia and Shizu were ordered to stay at the rear with the Archery Squad. While it was said they were in the rear in order to protect the back-line of the army, it was deduced that they were there in order to limit their movements. So as the holy kingdom's army to save face, in this operation by doing accomplishments without them, all while keeping an eye on them.

As the battle was taking place, a word got around that Remedios had managed to eliminate the scale demon, the commander of the demi-human armies and the tide of the battle was turning for the better.

In the meantime, the nobles and the Prince were in the nearby command tent discussing current affairs, how the battle will end and the future spoils. But as the battle was about to be won, a Wall of Flame spread around a large area of the force, signaling that Jaldabaoth has arrived with his wounds finally healed.

The battle had drastically turned, and the casualties are climbing with numerous of their forces dying one by one just by Jaldabaoth walking in the field, with his fiery aura. The southern noble force leaders completely dumbstruck as to how it is this happening. Now that the southern forces have truly experienced the sheer might of the demon emperor first hand, they are completely at a loss as to how to deal with this situation. At the same time, a word has finally come in that another large demi-human army is coming from the other side of the battlefield. With not many options left, the remaining army leaders have no idea as for how to proceed from here.

In the battlefield, with not many options left, Neia and the rest of the Holy Kingdom army are cut off and have resolved to fight until the end. For maybe cause enough of a gap for the royal members and high nobles to escape to the south. However, as soon as the other demi-human army is in sight, they realize they are composed of a different army, with the liberate orcs and zerns form part of the alliance, and in the distance the sight of the Sorcerer King leading them. Neia and the others scream with joy that the army is on their side and the Sorcerer King has returned.

Neia with tears in her eyes as well as Shizu, Caspond and other leaders meet with the Sorcerer King and discuss where he has been. He explains during his first loss, he went around the Abelion Hills, slowly liberating it and form a new alliance with the freed demi-humans. He leaves things at that and fights Jaladabaoth once more. And this time, after several exchanges of attack, Jaldabaoth disappeared in a blazing light. The Demon Emperor has finally been defeated, with this, the remaining demi-human alliance quickly deteriorated and cut down. In the end, the reign of the Demon Emperor has ended for good, and the battle of the Holy Kingdom is over.

After a few days pass, the Sorcerer King and Shizu are preparing to leave, and Neia along with members of her followers are there to bid them farewell. A task, normally associated with the royal members and high nobles to do, but they are to busy with post-war restorations, so Neia and her followers are present in their stead. Neia is a bit perplexed, at having to see his majesty that she has devoted to serving left, but the Sorcerer King has to go back to E-Rantel to continue his rule. He is grateful for her services and offers her to join him, even offers her the chance to revive her parents as a reward for all she has done. But Neia refuses, knowing that it will be too much to give to a mere squire and that her foremost duty is to restore her kingdom back to its right full glory. But she's grateful for his generosity, and bids farewell to her mentor Shizu as well. With one last request to ask of the king before he departs, she asks for the honor of calling him, Ainz-sama, much like Shizu has been doing and the Sorcerer King accepts. With that, the Sorcerer King and his delegation leave, with one last salute from Neia and her followers, they raise their flags and pray for the longevity of the Sorcerer King.

In the carriage, Ainz contemplates all the events that have occurred and is not looking forward to the work that awaits him back in E-rantel. At the same time, he asked how Shizu was doing and was delighted that she had made a friend. He promised that in the future she can spend more time with Neia when she has free time and is comprehending if he should offer more incentives for other denzins of nazarick have similar time offs.

Back in the Holy Kingdom, Prince Caspond has just settled the latest affairs and dismissed his subordinates. It was then around at that time Demiurge appeared in order to see everything is in check. At the same time, it turns out the real Caspond has long been dead, and he was replaced by the Doppelganger and his real body is being preserved in order to be used later. He contemplates how his plans have exceeded expectations, and that his Master has managed to accelerate his plans for the Holy Kingdom by a number of years, in particular, Neia Baraja in gathering the masses to his side. At the same time, preparations are being made to set up a civil war between the north and south in order to further decrease their influence, with Remedios Custodio being guided to take all the responsibility for the loss of the Holy Queen and her sister, all of that to prepare the Holy Kingdom for assimilation by the Sorcerer Kingdom. And with that Demiurge leaves, Doppel-Caspond looks out of the balcony with the Shadow Demon and Hanzo standing at his side in secret (for his protection), contemplating where his future subjects will be heading next.

Chapters

 * Chapter 4: The Siege
 * Chapter 5: Ainz Dies
 * Intermission
 * Chapter 6: Gunner and Archer
 * Chapter 7: Savior of the Nation
 * Epilogue

Trivia

 * Ainz's supposed death has already been foreshadowed in Overlord Volume 11's epilogue, where Lupusregina Beta told Enri Emmot that her master was defeated and killed in battle with Jaldabaoth.
 * This is the first volume to feature an updated character sheet.
 * The summoned Evil Lord Wrath and the Greater Doppelgängers of the Erich String Orchestra are playing the respective role of Jaldabaoth and his Demon Maids.

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