Clyde guided one of the leaders of Light Church’s special envoy squad, his acquaintance “Radiant Saintess” Suhiya, to stroll around, enjoying the beautiful sights of a thriving city. After a period of development, Stanley City no longer had that previous uninhabited appearance and had begun to show a flourishing trend.
Naturally, the Suzerain’s residence was a restricted zone. The common people were unaware of the evils concealed inside. In a certain sense, the evils hidden in Stanley City’s castellan residence during Clyde’s age were not inferior to those in the former Suzerain Andrew’s age; in fact, they might have been even worse than the former’s. In the end, Andrew was just a low-level demon lord. Basically, there was no way for him to be comparable to Clyde, this Great Old One level of existence. The two parties were existences of completely different levels.
“It truly is a peaceful town. This kind of life is very good, much better than in big cities. I really envy Maria and Tiffany for being able to choose such a good place.”
“Eh, Suhiya, if you want, you can also choose this place for your cathedral. My territory is pretty big, so you are always welcome to come. I can completely cover the expenses; it’s enough as long as you bring people here.”
“Mister Clyde, I can see that you really are a business-minded person. Being able to promote sales like this, it’s truly a pity that you didn’t become a merchant. But, I still have to reject your offer. Light Church won’t allow it. In fact, even Maria and Tiffany are breaking the rules. It’s just that the higher-ups aren’t checking strictly according to regulations for the time being, nothing more.”
Suhiya looked at the bustling scenes in the streets, and a pleased expression unintentionally showed on her face. She had stayed in big cities for a long time, but she liked these peaceful towns much better. While these two people walked, the other members of Light Church’s special envoy squads followed “Ice Saintess” Shirley to visit “Punishment Saintess” Tiffany and “Light Saintess” Maria, who were both building their branch cathedrals in Steinbeck Fief. Without anyone following them, the pair had alone time as if they were on a date.
Clyde very naturally held Suhiya’s hand. As he saw it, he had already seen her bare, so he didn’t need to mind about anything. At the very beginning, her face had turned slightly red, and she had attempted to struggle free. However, after her few attempts ended in failure, she finally gave up struggling and let Clyde do whatever he pleased. In any case, there were no other members of Light Church here, and there was no problem as long as no one saw this. Still, the main reason was that Clyde had too much strength, so Suhiya had no way to struggle free.
Among the Light Church’s saintesses Clyde had come into contact with, he had seen Maria and Tiffany bare with all their secrets first, but Suhiya was the next one he had comparatively closer relations with. Now, their relationship was close like that of sweethearts passionately in love. However, Suhiya was too shy and embarrassed to bluntly point it out, nothing more. Clyde also didn’t tactlessly mention it. As he saw it, they had antagonistic relations in terms of their true identities, and this relationship was filled with various kinds of taboo feelings, making him indescribably excited.
Suhiya’s complexion was red, but in order to avoid an awkward and ambiguous silence, she cleverly shifted topics to talk about the Light Church saintesses with Clyde. Under normal circumstances without an exceptional case, Light Church’s saintesses wouldn’t be dispatched to small fiefs below the principality level. Light Church would just dispatch ordinary priests to those small fiefs, nothing more.
In addition, even in Light Church’s branches of the principality level where a saintess was allowed to take up post, there could only be one saintess. Two saintesses required the kingdom level. Even in the highest-ranking of empires, only three saintesses were allowed. The current official fief level of Steinbeck Fief was not even that of a principality; therefore, having two saintesses was definitely breaking the rules.
Moreover, in order to swindle people, Light Church had established a system of substitute and trainee saintesses. This system was very defrauding. Light Church claimed that the positions of trainee and substitute saintesses were equal to Light Church’s saintesses, and the fiefs where they were dispatched had to pay large protection fees to Light Church every year as if they were true saintesses.
Under normal circumstances, substitute saintesses were dispatched to principality level branches, trainee saintesses were dispatched to those of the kingdom level, and the true saintesses were only dispatched to empires. No matter whether it was a trainee or a substitute saintess, none could achieve the strength of a true saintess. They had no way to compare with the true saintesses. They were just ordinary nuns or female priests of Light Church who had temporarily changed their titles to swindle protection fees. The charge, however, matched Light Church’s real saintesses.
The nations of Ximengsi Continent were very dissatisfied with this practice of Light Church, but they were unable to publicly complain because Light Church had disseminated this claim under the name of Light Goddess. They could only pay in accordance with what Light Church demands. Steinbeck Fief, which was not even a kingdom, had easily obtained two “real” saintesses; moreover, they didn’t even need to pay extra fees in advance, so it was an exceptional case, unprecedented in history and would not be repeated in the future.
“Radiant Saintess” Suhiya’s explanation made Clyde realize the benefit he had reaped. After speaking for a long time, he understood that he had earned a huge blood profit over Light Church. In accordance with normal procedure, Steinbeck Fief would have had to pay an extremely high price and, at most, would have obtained just a substitute saintess. Steinbeck Fief would have never been able to invite “Punishment Saintess” Tiffany or “Light Saintess” Maria.
However, the matter of tens of thousands of gold coins couldn’t be left alone like this. These were two entirely separate things. If Clyde could seize the Needham Plains, then his fief’s area would increase enough to be promoted. He didn’t plan to let go of Marquis Charles just like this. In the politics of Victor Alliance, money was given priority. As long as a fief’s area reached the necessary standard, and it had paid sufficient tributes to the imperial court, the fief could be advanced by spending money. If there were no problems, then average people could spend money to advance to Earl. As for Marquises, Dukes and even Princes, these positions which were above Earls, they all had connections with the tycoon clans of their respective nations. With their support, anyone could advance.
Comparatively speaking, Victor Alliance was relatively better in this aspect. With money, anyone could advance. In the nations of Clark Alliance, noble blood lineages were the only standard for advancement. Even a wealthy person, as long as his birth was of low blood, couldn’t even become a Knight in his lifetime. He had almost no chance of becoming an aristocrat. In addition, if a higher-level aristocrat were dissatisfied with him, they could take away all his property at any time and turn him into a slave.
This was also the root reason why Victor Alliance and Clark Alliance couldn’t coexist peacefully. The contradictions between capitalists and slaveholders were irreconcilable. The nations of Olan Treaty clipped between them were transitional mounds. The aristocrats over there were standard feudalistic lord types. As for the parliaments, other than jointly arguing with the emperor, they were discussing forums for various large landlords to negotiate and balance land. Ximengsi Continent’s three big alliances of human nations spanned over a primitive slave area, a feudalistic landlord area, and a budding capitalistic area.
Clyde admired “Extreme Night Princess” Ophelia’s bold vision. As the princess of Augusta Empire, which practiced slavery, she wished to conquer Victor Alliance, these nations with a budding capitalistic system. If the social development patterns of Earth were applicable in this different world, then Princess Ophelia’s dream was destined to not be realized. No matter how strong she was by herself, she wouldn’t be able to change this system. Nevertheless, that courage deserved recognition.
“Clyde, don’t think too much. Other than being big, the Needham Plains have nothing. They are also not peaceful. It’s fine to give up that piece of land.”
“Well, Suhiya, I have my own plans about this, but thank you for your suggestion.”
“Clyde, am I meddling too much? If you mind it, then you can treat it as if I had said nothing just now.”
Suhiya was very rational. She knew where to stop. If Clyde really planned to argue with Marquis Charles, that was beyond her control. When all was said and done, it was a battle between Suzerains of Adrian Empire. It had little to do with Light Church. Now, she was going beyond her limits. The dispatched members of Light Church were not allowed to interfere in the political affairs of nations, at least on the surface. In addition, these Light Church’s saintesses were all relatively honest, unlike those crafty and cunning bishops who secretly played tricks and made unknown amounts of profits.
“Big Brother Clyde, are you on a date? Who is this beautiful big sister?”
“Eh, Lucifer, isn’t now the daytime… Oh, never mind…”
“No, little sister, I’m just discussing some business with Mister Clyde! Truly nothing else.”
While strolling around Stanley City, Clyde and Suhiya encountered Lucifer. This bloodkin Lolita wore black gothic Lolita attire while carrying a gorgeous black parasol of exquisite workmanship. A Bloodkin who could walk outdoors in the daytime and call out to a saintess of Light Church with an innocent and pure smile, other than Lucifer, Clyde had not seen a second. But, the most important point was that Lucifer was able to successfully avoid arousing suspicion every time. The saintesses of Light Church never saw through her disguise.
Later, Clyde learned that Lucifer had a peculiar ability: methods for distinguishing her wouldn’t work on her more than once. When he had just crossed to this different world and seen Lucifer for the first time, Light Church’s special force had been pursuing her. At that time, the distinguishing method of Light Church had successfully revealed her identity as a Bloodkin. However, that operation had ultimately failed, and the current Light Church had no second method to recognize Lucifer’s Bloodkin identity.
Unless Lucifer slipped up or took the initiative to make a move, even the contemporary Light Pope wouldn’t be able to see through her disguise if she were right here. Upon facing Lucifer’s mischievous smile, Suhiya blushed and did her utmost to deny her having a date with Clyde; however, her flustered voice and Clyde tightly grabbing her hand, made it too obvious. The more she tried to hide, the more she was exposed.
“Lucifer, I am just strolling the streets with her.”
“Since it’s not a date, Big Brother Clyde, you don’t mind me joining, right? I will take you to a great restaurant. It just opened, so there are discounts and freebies! However, this big sister needs to help.”
