In a border town of Adrian Empire called Bell Town, a territory firesale convention was being held by Adrian Empire due to the fiscal pressure of being forced to pay a huge sum for war reparations to Augusta Empire after their defeat. Desperate, Adrian Empire’s imperial family had come up with this idea of selling these ownerless territories for money. This was a common way to raise funds in the “Victor Alliance.” Comparatively speaking, the “Clark Alliance” sold slaves for money.
Originally, Clyde had not been interested in participating in this, but his sister Lucifer had become fond of a territory. The area of that territory was very big, and the price was just ten gold coins. It was cheap beyond imagination. Upon seeing that someone was fond of this territory, Adrian Empire’s officials, who were furiously promoting various land sales, looked somewhat uncomfortable as if that territory had a painful past.
“Little girl, you are still young. Why don’t you consider another territory?”
“Miss, to tell you the truth, this territory had already been abandoned for a long period of time.”
Upon seeing that the person who wanted to purchase the territory was Lucifer, a beautiful silver-haired Lolita, the Adrian Empire’s officials’ tender and protective feelings for the fairer sex were aroused, and they told Lucifer the shameful secrets of that territory. It turned out that this Steinbeck Fief was an uninhabited, deserted territory. In addition, it was rumored to be a cursed area. No one dared to live there, and there was not a single living resident in that territory.
In the vicinity of Steinbeck Fief were many empires, kingdoms and principalities belonging to the “Clark Alliance.” As for the members of the “Victor Alliance,” very few bordered this territory. If it were not for its having neither practical nor strategic value, it would have already been annexed by other parties. It had already been more than a year since this hot potato had been placed in the hands of Adrian Empire, but no one had wanted to take over it, giving the emperor of Adrian Empire a headache. The price of this territory had been reduced, again and again, but even at the insanely low price of ten gold coins, no one wanted to take over it.
“That doesn’t matter. My family’s Miss just want to purchase it; she might not necessarily go there.”
“If that is the case, then there are no problem. Since you family’s Miss wants to purchase this place, we can immediately finish the procedures.”
“You have to remember to tell your family’s Miss to never go there. It is fine to purchase it for fun, but you must absolutely not go there.”
Under the arrangements of Lucifer, Clyde bought Steinbeck Fief with the owner being a certain Miss Sera. He and Lucifer wished to hide behind the scenes; thus, Princess Saras was named owner of this territory. Princess Saras used the alias Sera to obtain the suzerain position of Steinbeck Fief.
Adrian Empire’s officials were impatient to sell the territory. After all, they’d been trying to sell it for far too long. They didn’t even do a symbolic investigation of their identities and simply received the money. Furthermore, they didn’t even check the identity of Miss Sera; thus, they didn’t discovered that Miss Sera was actually Princess Seras of the just perished Owles Kingdom. After the completion of the handover procedure, Clyde’s carriage left Bell Town and proceeded to Steinbeck Fief. Now, Clyde had become poor once more. The ten gold coins he had earned had been spent so quickly.
Clyde sat in the carriage with Lucifer and Princess Saras. Lounging inside, the group waited as their carriage followed the pre-set route. These horses were trained and could follow the road on their own. There was no need to hold their reins and continuously direct them. Unless it was necessary to make a turn or sudden decision, there was no need to command these horses most of the time.
Princess Saras finally put on a white plain dress, parting with her past bare state. Her expression was somewhat subtle as if she missed the shameful experiences of those past few days. No one knew whether she had awakened some strange attributes. Turning back from staring out the window, Clyde realized he was not adept at figuring out her mind. Sighing, he just quietly sat down in a relatively distant position and watched her. Lucifer, however, was sitting next to Princess Saras and chatted with her like they were sisters.
Lucifer’s original intention for approaching Princess Saras was to make Princess Saras sign a dark contract with Clyde. Like that, Clyde would be able to transform into a humanoid appearance by relying on that dark contract. Now, with Clyde’s current appearance of a Great Old One, if people other than Lucifer saw it, they would be in mortal danger.
However, because Princess Saras didn’t have any combat ability or magic, it was comparatively troublesome to sign a dark contract with her. Therefore, Lucifer could only suggest finding another girl who had both sufficient combat and magic abilities to try it. Princess Olia was a relatively suitable candidate. Merely because they had parted too quickly, Lucifer hadn’t had time to set her up.
Lucifer herself wouldn’t do. She had a special reason for being unable to sign a dark contract with Clyde. As for the exact reason, Lucifer chose to maintain her secrecy. Clyde could do nothing about it and could only temporarily give up questioning her. Since he had just crossed to this different world, he lacked experience and knowledge. Lucifer, at least, understood more than he.
“Clyde, you don’t need to spend money again. The suzerain should be you!”
“Big Sister Saras, don’t decline. Big Brother Clyde and I don’t have a genuine noble lineage. In case we were found out in the future, it would be difficult to handle. You, however, are different. At least, your status of being a member of the royal family is real. Even if you were found out, you wouldn’t be criticized.”
Under Lucifer’s persuasion, Princess Saras was unable to withdraw, so she could only accept the position of being Steinbeck’s Suzerain. The area of Steinbeck Fief was vast, at least over ten times greater than her motherland, Owles Kingdom. According to the land area, the suzerain of Steinbeck Fief should at least be a Duke. The territory under Saras’s jurisdiction absolutely matched a principality in area.
However, Steinbeck Fief was an uninhabited region. It was a deserted land without a single resident. When Adrian Empire sold this territory to Clyde, they directly waived the tribute and task to dispatch troops for one year. Since there were no residents, tax basically couldn’t be collected. In addition, no person could be found for military services.
Now that Clyde and others didn’t have any funds, they couldn’t even hire basic servants. Since they couldn’t find normal servants, Clyde intended to look for some irregular servants who would work for free. Because of the non-slavery system of “Victor Alliance,” employment costs were on the high side. The other alliances were different: slavery in the “Clark Alliance” allowed for low-priced slaves to be bought without spending too much money.
Among the neighbors of Steinbeck Fief, only Adrian Empire was of “Victor Alliance.” All other nations belonged to “Clark Alliance.” Basically, this fief was surrounded by hostile forces. Adrian Empire had just been defeated. Once a war occurred, Adrian Empire would definitely not provide support. The sole thing to be thankful for was that Augusta Empire did border Steinbeck Fief, so Clyde didn’t need to worry about encountering Princess Ophelia’s surprise attack. That war princess was active in the battlefield almost every day. She was a completely different type from all other princesses who lived secluded lives.
While Clyde was still thinking about the fief’s management, their carriage was intercepted. A large group of robbers blocked their way. Since the defeat of Adrian Empire, the border areas had become increasingly chaotic. Many bandit bands fearlessly roamed about the less guarded areas.
“Stop! Leave all women and belongings. As for men, scram!”
