Barnard was a small border town belonging to the Owles Kingdom in the southern part of Ximengsi Continent. Because this town was close to Death Valley, the territory of Demon King Garfield, this small town was rather sparsely populated. Although to be fair, the lack of population was not at all limited to Barnard: all the Human Race’s towns in the entire Ximengsi Continent faced the same concern.
On the second day after the black castle Morpheus of Death Valley had been destroyed by fire, a pair of travelers visited Barnard Town as the sun fell from the sky. Among them, one was a bloodkin Lolita with long silver hair, and the other was a black-robed mysterious person. Walking side by side, the pair casually strolled down the road. The Lolita wore a suit that fit the black gothic lolita aesthetic. The person beside her gently held her hand as they swung their interlocked arms. Due to the differences in their heights, they looked like an older brother accompanying his little sister.
“Lucifer, I already bought clothes for you. Aren’t you…”
“Big Brother Clyde, I don’t have anywhere to go. Are you really cruel enough to watch me be hunted down by Light Church?”
Clyde glanced at the bloodkin Lolita beside him. Her blood-red eyes were filled with mischievousness. Sighing, he decided that he couldn’t do anything about it: it appeared that the Lolita would be stuck to him for the conceivable future. Clyde mused that though this bloodkin mentioned being hunted, the Lolita had never actually been afraid of Light Church from the start. Although he didn’t know what her background was, since she hadn’t gone mad and died after looking straight at him, one of the Great Old Ones, instead merely having her clothes burst, it was impossible for her strength to be low.
A few hours into their journey, Lucifer had decided that the name Clyde fit him. It had been a surreal experience for him because before, he had lived without a name for so long. Precisely speaking, before a few days ago, his entire life had been spent training and cultivating himself to attain immortality. That night, he had never expected to cross the world when he closed his eyes. After crossing the world, he had inexplicably arrived in the black castle Morpheus, the center of Demon King Garfield’s territory. Originally, he had wanted to greet the Demon King and regain his bearings in this unknown place, but the result had been that the other party had directly passed away upon looking straight at him. In one careless moment, when he had tried to alleviate his confusion, Demon King Garfield and his force, which had dominated the southern part of Ximengsi Continent for nearly a hundred years, was annihilated.
According to his speculations, his current body belonged to a certain Great Old One from the Cthulhu Mythos. He didn’t know why he had been summoned to this strange world. Speaking reasonably, although this strange world was dominated by sword and magic civilizations, the appearance of one of the Great Old Ones, an existence of this level, was simply a serious violation of fairness regulations.
Despite possessing deep, bottomless strength, Clyde was still very depressed. The Great Old Ones were not like humans. All of them were existences beyond description. At present, other than this bloodkin Lolita Lucifer, all others who had looked straight at him had died a violent death on the spot; therefore, he had been wearing his black cloak to hide the greater part of his face in fear of causing unnecessary troubles. After all, he didn’t support wanton murder.
“Big brother Clyde, what are you thinking? If we don’t look for a place to stay, we’ll be left without anywhere to sleep once the sky becomes completely dark.”
“Eh, Lucifer, we don’t have any money! Also, don’t call me big brother. We don’t have such a relationship.”
“Okay, big brother Clyde, but it just depends on how you think!”
Lucifer ignored Clyde’s protests; there was no chance that she’d correct herself. Clyde helplessly pulled this Lolita’s hand and went to look for an inn. The situation of this strange world’s Human Race was very awkward. They would always find themselves beat up and crushed by the Beastmen Race, Demon Race and so on, putting them solidly at the bottom of the racial hierarchy. Despite all this, the Human Race was unexpectedly not united. Even while being bullied by other races, they still had countless internal conflicts.
There were many human nations in Ximengsi Continent: Empires, Kingdoms and Principalities could be found everywhere, yet they had never formed a unified alliance. Now, the Human Race was divided into three major factions. An alliance of nations that practiced slavery, an alliance of nations that practiced a feudal system, and an alliance of nations that advocated free trade. Other than these three major forces, there were many neutral nations. For instance, Owles Kingdom where Clyde and the Bloodkin Lolita were currently staying.
The Human Race Light Church, however, didn’t belong to any force. The Papal State was regarded as a hidden fourth force. Those braves who had been chasing after Lucifer were from Light Church. Unfortunately, they had happened to collide with Clyde’s desires, and all of them had been instantly dispatched on the spot. Unfortunately, Clyde didn’t have any of the currencies present on this different world. He was just a beginner, but unlike a tutorial from some type of game, free equipment and starting funds were nonexistent.
“No money!? Why are you even thinking of staying in an inn if you don’t have any money? Go away! Don’t disturb my business.”
In a small family inn, upon learning Clyde had no money, the innkeeper immediately became less polite. He directly ordered them to leave. Gritting his teeth, Clyde resisted his impulse to send this innkeeper toward the afterlife. Ever since he had gained one of the Great Old One’s bodies, he would often feel that he despised human life. It was very likely the subtle influence of his new body.
“Uncle, can’t you be flexible for once? We siblings left our native place, and we truly don’t have anywhere to go!”
“This… there is an abandoned, dilapidated firewood house behind the courtyard. If you stay there, I will not take any money from you two.”
Lucifer employed a little bit of her meng (slang for cuteness), making this innkeeper reluctantly agree to their request. Clyde was left speechless. It seemed that selling meng would never be obsolete, even in a different world. However, since the issue of a place to stay overnight had been finally resolved, he had nothing to complain about. Unfortunately, the innkeeper had been completely honest: the firewood house arranged for them was truly simple and crude to the utmost limit. Any more damage would’ve made it difficult to call it a building. It would’ve been fine if only the door had been broken, with splinters sticking out everywhere, but even the roof had a hole. At least, they could look up and see the starry sky.
“Big Brother Clyde, I guess we’ll have to put up with this. In any case, it’s only for one night.”
“Lucifer, you… Do you really think we need to sleep?”
“This… I will rest first. See you tomorrow morning.”
Turning around to find a comfortable spot on the barren cracked wooden floor, Lucifer was dumbfounded for a while and evaded Clyde’s question. In fact, these two truly didn’t need to sleep because neither of them were from ordinary races. For a while, Clyde examined Lucifer who had turned her back towards him before gazing at the sky and pondering about life. Hereafter, what should he do? He was neither a brave nor a villain. He completely belonged to the neutral category. Neither saving the world nor the destruction of the world seemed to have anything to do with him.
The matter that made Clyde at a loss the most was that it was inconvenient to take advantage of girls with this Great Old One’s body unless he and the other party didn’t mind hardcore play. At present, only the Lolita in front of him could look straight at him without ending up dead. Unfortunately, the other party regarded him as a big brother, so his heart felt uncomfortable about the thought of himself making a move on her. It seemed that he could only envy the imperial harems of other transmigrators. With a long sigh, he stretched and stood up. Glancing at Lucifer to make sure she seemed fine, he trudged outside and sat on the overgrown grass outside with his knees tucked to his chest.
Clyde had just sat down when a huge commotion burst through Barnard Town. A wave of burning arrows fell from the sky, and several of them happened to hit the firewood house in which they were staying, instantly igniting the poorly varnished wood. From outside the town, the sound of hoofbeats and the marching feet of an army rang out, accompanied by screaming sounds. In their flurried panic, no one knew whether they were being attacked by the Human Race or being invaded by the other races.
“Lucifer, quickly wake up. We have to change our location again. Ugg, this world is not peaceful. There isn’t even a place to quietly sleep.”
“Big Brother Clyde, carry me and flee. The smoke is too thick. I’m scared!”
“You are scared… Fine, I will carry you.”
