In Ximengsi Continent’s southern part, Clyde, Lucifer and Princess Saras arrived at a small border town in Adrian Empire called Bell Town.
They planned to first find a temporary residence in Bell Town. After their last commission, Clyde was finally rich. The ten gold coins given to him by Princess Olia as remuneration were enough for the three of them to live for a month.
Originally, Princess Olia had intended to give them more, but Clyde declined the offer as he had never intended to raise the price. A mercenerary had to have certain scruples. In addition, at their parting, Clyde politely turned down Princess Olia’s long-term employment offer. Although he had a good impression of this black twin-tailed Lolita, her big sister Princess Ophelia was hard to deal with. In order to avoid unnecessary troubles, Clyde decided to withdraw from her service.
At the time of their parting, Princess Olia had hesitated for a while before giving Clyde a black iron badge. It was a token representing Augusta Empire’s knights. Princess Oliva recognized Clyde who had protected her as one of her empire’s knights. Although he had been privately conferred the honor, the badge was genuine. If someone truly wanted to figure out the secret past behind this badge, it could be complexly confirmed if one went through high level channels.
“Princess Olia, I appreciate this, but I don’t seem to be fit for this badge.”
“No, you have the qualifications. In the future, if you come to Augusta Empire, look for me. Also, I will keep everything that happened a secret.”
Clyde examined the black iron badge in his hand and recalled the words he had exchanged with Princess Olia until Lucifer pulled his sleeve, returning Clyde back to reality. Now, this Bell Town they had fled to was not safe. Not long ago, an important member of “Victor Alliance,” Saxton Empire, had dispatched over a 10,000-man elite expeditionary force to ambush over 2,000 recruits of Augusta Empire’s advance party in Greenton Forest, but the result had been total annihilation. Even their empire’s famous general Warren had died. The leader of the opposition Princess Olia, however, had escaped unscathed.
Although they didn’t know how Princess Olia had accomplished this, that battle had rewritten the scale of power between the “Victor Alliance” and “Clark Alliance” in this region. Augusta Empire had inflicted serious damage on Adrian Empire; in addition, it had gained an absolute advantage over the Saxton Empire’s army until “Pure White Empire” Winifred Empire’s expeditionary army had finally rushed over. Only then had Augusta Empire retreated with a lot of plundered wealth and slaves.
Clyde was somewhat embarrassed. Originally, he had some friction with Augusta Empire, but because he had helped Olia, he had ended up indirectly helping Augusta Empire. He could be regarded as an accomplice. Fortunately, only Clyde and the three women knew about his previous contributions. As long as nobody opened their mouths, no outsider would know of him, the chief culprit.
“Big Brother Clyde, what are you thinking? Quickly help Big Sister Saras buy clothes. Can it be that you truly want to turn her… Ya (TL note: ouch)! Don’t flick my head; it hurts!”
“Cough, cough, Lucifer. You are still young. Don’t think about those adult matters.”
Clyde gently flicked Lucifer’s head to stop this wicked bloodkin Lolita’s delusions. Princess Saras was still maintaining that alluring posture in the carriage; she just didn’t wear the small ball and black blindfold. The black choker hung on her snow-white neck, but the red rope still bound her body in a tortoise-shell binding style.
Saras blushed a little. No one knew whether it was because she had been slowly accustomed, after being exposed in front of Clyde and others many times, to get somewhat used to being free in front of Clyde, but now, she already didn’t care about her princess status. Not being captured by Augusta Empire could already be regarded as being very lucky in the midst of this misfortune.
Saras current identity was a princess of a destroyed nation. Her Owles Kingdom was already done for. According to the rumors they had heard along the way, her fiancé, Adrian Empire’s Prince Eric, had unilaterally announced the annulment of their engagement. Because the Owles Kingdom had already collapsed, it was impossible for him to marry a princess from a destroyed nation. Owles Kingdom’s King Richard the Sixth who had fled with all the money and valuables within the national treasury had not exhibited the least concern for his daughter.
“Princess Saras, don’t care about this girl Lucifer’s words. I will help you find the king.”
“No, Clyde. I want to stay with you two. I am ready to pay whatever price. Please don’t send me away! Even if… you want to…, I can…”
Princess Saras’s voice became smaller and smaller as she spoke, eventually even less discernible than a mosquito’s beating wings. However, that burning hot face of hers gave far more certainty than a hint of her intentions: it could be regarded as a clear indication of her thoughts. Just a moment ago, when she had heard Lucifer’s words, she had thought that becoming a special maid-servant was also not bad. In any case, she owed Clyde significant remuneration, and since she had no money, she could only labor to repay the debt.
Clyde consoled Princess Saras and returned to the outside of the carriage. Even if he had the body of a Great Old One, his soul was transferred from a normal man. Faced with a stark naked blonde beauty bound by a ribbon robe while expressing her willingness to become his special maid-servant while gently blushing, he truly felt that the temptation was too great. It could easily make people lose their self-control. Too bad, the current Clyde could do nothing. If he didn’t obtain the ability to transform into a human form, he would absolutely miss out on all the fun.
“Big Brother Clyde, Big Sister Saras’s special service ended so quickly? Ya, don’t hit my head! I am in the wrong.”
“Lucifer, next time you have such a delusion, your punishment will not just be having your head hit. There will be other punishments too.”
Under Clyde’s gentle punishment, Lucifer finally stopped having these wicked delusions. Sometimes, Clyde seriously wondered whether Lucifer had a succubus attribute, and her bloodkin attribute was just a disguise.
Adrian Empire that had just been baptized by the flames of war suffered an economic recession. In addition, they had to pay a large amount of war reparations to Augusta Empire, making its economy that was on the verge of collapse sink even further. It was like adding hail to snow.
Even Bell Town on the border was affected by the war. There were ruins everywhere. It was unknown whether they could find an inn or not. Nevertheless, Clyde saw a large group of people surrounding a booth. Several men wearing the attire of Adrian Empire’s civil officials held charts to promote sales of something like they were salesman.
“Everyone, don’t miss this big firesale of suzerain positions. As long as you have money, you can be a suzerain! The price is very low. If you miss this chance today, you will never encounter such a chance again.”
“Your Excellency, you have been saying this for a week. Can you reduce the price a bit or slightly increase the rank of nobility given?”
“That’s not possible. The size of the territory we are selling right now isn’t suited for a high rank of nobility. If we increase the rank of nobility, it would contradict our system.”
As it turned out, many suzerains of the defeated Adrian Empire were either killed or had fled to other countries. Thus, Adrian Empire’s vast territory had fallen into disuse. Augusta Empire just plundered wealth and slaves; they were not interested in occupying the land. In order to make up the deficit of national reserves, after the war, Adrian Empire directly offered to sell those territories and the matching position of suzerain to the people.
Equivalent to knights, suzerains were the lowest rank of nobility, and it was very difficult to promote oneself to a higher rank. Although the size of the purchased territory didn’t give the buyer a high rank of nobility, all the expenses of the territory would be settled at the buyer’s own expense, and the suzerain would also not receive an official’s salary. This was clearly a fraudulent sale. Many people were watching this bustling and exciting scene, but only a few wanted to purchase land from the officials. Even after Adrian Empire’s civil officials had started promoting the sales by boasting about them with the most fantastic terms, practically no territories were sold.
Clyde also just watched for a while before preparing to leave, but his sister Lucifer had already jumped off the carriage and joined in the fun. As a result, he had to temporarily dismiss his thoughts of leaving.
“Big Brother Clyde, look! This territory only costs ten gold coins. We can purchase it.”
