The large fire finally extinguished itself after an entire day. After the fire died out, Steinbeck Fief’s army took over this ruined town. Clyde’s side had had only about 100 casualties but successfully captured Ferro and slaughtered over 2,000 enemy troops at very little cost.
The commander of Ferro’s defending troops, Baron Haydn, successfully escaped. Under Lucifer’s instructions, her Bloodkin subordinates intentionally let Baron Haydn and several hundred trusted subordinates of his leave. As for the remaining 3,000 defenders, most were wiped out on the path leading to Joyce Fortress. If Baron Haydn had had great commanding ability and been a talented person, perhaps another story might have occured. His ending might have been very different since it was very likely that Lucifer would have made sure to bury him forever on the path leading to Joyce Fortress. Sometimes, there was fortune in being stupid.
Although Steinbeck Fief’s army had obtained a great first victory and defeated over 5,000 troops serving Baron Haydn, this had little effect on Marquis Charles. Compared to Marquis Charles’s 120,000 elite troops, the annihilation of Baron Haydn’s soldiers was not a big loss. Moreover, the troops of Baron Haydn were miscellaneous mobs, not the elite troops under Marquis Charles. Even if there were completely wiped out, it would matter little.
According to the investigations of the enemy’s situation by Andrisno’s ghosts, Marquis Charles had divided his troops into several groups and stationed them in important places, defending and controlling the entire Needham Plains from fortresses and strongholds. For the most part, they were divided into four military fortresses. The first was Joyce Fortress, which was close to Ferro. An army of over 15,000 troops under the command of Viscount Aaron was stationed there. This army contained the personal troops of Marquis Charles. Well-equipped, they had a combat power far higher than the defeated army of Baron Haydn’s.
As for the three remaining important military strongholds, two were Grand Tonitas Fortress at the center of Tonister City, which had over 30,000 troops under the command of Earl Royle, and Fortress Olm along the bank of Aldington River with 30,000 troops under the command of Earl Winissa as well as Marquis Charles’s marine troops, a fleet composed of over 60 warships. Winissa was one of the few female earls in the Adrian Empire. Allegedly, she was not even 20 years of age and had inherited the peerage of her father, Earl Winger.
When Earl Winger had died of illness, his sons had already migrated to their wives’ families in other empires where they had even higher power and position. Thus, they were not particularly interested in returning to the Adrian Empire, this kind of third-rate empire, to inherit the Earl’s position. After receiving weak excuses several times, Miss Winissa reluctantly replaced her brothers and took the position becoming one of the few female earls in the Adrian Empire. This was a great deed since the highest peerage a female aristocrat could reach was an Earl because of internal restrictions. In other human nations, women could become Grand Duchesses or Princesses or even Queens, Empresses, and other such rulers.
Earl Winissa was also a Paladin, but she was much stronger than Clyde’s Paladin Alicia. Earl Winissa was comparatively special even among other paladins since she had a flying unicorn mount. Compared to Princess Alicia, who was bound to the ground, she was much stronger. Clyde’s younger sister, the Bloodkin Lolita Lucifer helped her big brother gather a large amount of information on Earl Winissa due to ulterior motives. When Clyde saw the information, he was somewhat embarrassed. From her hobbies to her three sizes, everything was revealed. He wondered how Lucifer had obtained this information; it was as if she had personally gone to measure it all.
“Big Brother Clyde, are there any issues with the information? I’ve looked into it, and Miss Winissa has no sweetheart. Nevertheless, that Baron Haydn we just defeated seems to have some interest towards her. In addition, Earl Royle’s son, Baron Luoge, is also one of her pursuers.”
“Sister Lucifer, are your Bloodkin subordinates paparazzi? There is no information about their military deployments, only this type of information…”
“Big Brother Clyde, you misunderstand. My subordinates are specialized for investigating these matters. If you wanted information on military matters, then you should seek Andrisno. The ghosts under her are responsible for those matters. If you want the information on the terrain, then look for Queen Lafania. Her cursed eagles are best for that. My lovely children are experts in this respect!”
“Eh, so you all are actually dividing the labor.”
After some simple repairs, the castellan residence of Ferro Town became the temporary command center of Steinbeck Fief’s army. At this moment, Clyde was meeting with several important commanding officers of the allied monsters forces to discuss their future strategic arrangements. Quietly remembering the information his sister had given him, Clyde focused on the representatives of the other three monster armies: Ancient Demon King Andrisno, Undead Queen Lafania, and her younger sister Cursed Queen Mephis.
Excluding Lucifer, who wore a cumbersome, black gothic loli dress, the other three wore thin, black lace-edged nightclothes. The cloth was so thin that their undergarments, which belonged to the bold, revealing appeal series, were visible. Unlike the beauties of the Human Race, Andrisno and the others weren’t shy, so they retained stoic dispositions. Their faces didn’t have even a hint of shyness. They were completely open before Clyde because they felt that there was nothing wrong with being honest and open in front of their master. It was no shameful matter.
Because of Lucifer’s presence, it was not good for Clyde to lay his hands on Andrisno and the others. For the time being, he could only enjoy them with his eyes. Compared to Lucifer’s juicy gossip, Andrisno and Lafania provided much more serious information. They presented a detailed report of Marquis Charles’s troop deployments and a map of his military structures. Marquis Charles directly commanded over 40,000 personal troops stationed in Bach Fortress at the center region of Needham Plain. There were two paths leading to Bach Fortress, one was a waterway, and the other was a land route. They were blocked by Earl Winissa’s Olm Fortress and Earl Royle’s Grand Tonitas Fortress respectively.
“Lord Clyde, I’ve already discussed it with Lafania. It is comparatively better to break through to Bach fortress from Olm Fortress. As long as we break through Joyce Fortress in the front, we can travel along Aldington River and launch a surprise attack on Olm Fortress.”
“Lord Clyde, Grand Tonitas Fortress is located at one of the few hilly areas of the Needham Plains. It’s a place that is easy to guard but hard to attack. Our siege weapons will not be able to assist us. If you plan on only using the human army under Princess Saras and the others to attack, the price we pay will be very high. Even with a conservative estimate, over half the troops will be lost.”
“Big Brother Clyde, my intelligence is also useful here. As long as you defeat Earl Winissa, you can smoothly reach Bach Fortress.”
“Sister Lucifer, I understand the reasoning, but isn’t this bullying a woman?”
Clyde looked at Lucifer in helplessness. The blood-red eyes of this Bloodkin Lolita shone in wicked excitement. Only the gods knew what she meant by defeat. According to the information she had provided, Earl Winissa was a beauty. Her attractiveness index was very high. Unknowingly, Clyde had been influenced by Lucifer.
“Lord Clyde, according to the information of my investigations, it seems that Marquis Charles doesn’t trust Earl Winissa very much. Only because she was the daughter of his friend did he reluctantly let her cooperate. Nevertheless, when he arranged for Winissa to guard Aldington River, they had a conflict regarding the supply lines, and a crack appeared in their alliance. We can incite Earl Winissa to defect from the Marquis.”
“Eh, Mephis, do you have a plan?”
“Lord Clyde, the hearts of the Human Race always have a weak side. We can grab that weak point and seep in. Hasn’t that always been what we devils were good at? When Earl Winissa was still a Miss, she was very kind-hearted. You should know that it is very easy to grab the weak point of a kind-hearted person. At that time, using the people she treasures, I can…”
“Cough cough, Mephis! We are discussing a normal military plan!”
Clyde interrupted Mephis quickly blackening statement in time. As he saw it, there was no need to enact such a diabolical scheme. However, with her Cursed Queen attribute, most of Mephis’s plans were very dark, unsuitable to Clyde’s sensibilities. At least for now, Clyde didn’t want to use such dark means to deal with girls.
In this simple and crude temporary meeting room, there were also a few dancing girls who had lacked the time to run away. They were the special maids who had accompanied Baron Haydn. After throwing them some gold coins, Baron Haydn had forgotten about them. Afterward, while the castellan residence had burned, they had been unable to immediately escape because they couldn’t find their strewn-about clothes. Thus, these white lambs had directly become the war trophies of the victor.
By the time Clyde first met them, these white lambs had already been washed and cleaned. A faint sheen of water droplets still covered their body, although it might have been sweat or some aromatic oil… The hands of these white lambs were bound together with iron chains above their heads to the ceiling. Moreover, each had one leg suspended in the air with an iron chain, leaving only one leg on the ground, assuming the shameful posture of “a golden rooster standing on one leg,” and providing easy access for certain activities. These white lambs were incomparably red but couldn’t complain due to the small red balls in their mouths. To cement their statuses, they had red leather collars attached to iron chains. These spoils of war had frightened expressions and trembling white figures, anxiously watching those dark existences who completely controlled their fates.
Originally, these white lambs had naively thought that the new master of Ferro would be an aristocrat of the Human Race and wouldn’t make things difficult for them due to their special profession. Yet, who would have thought that their new master unexpectedly wasn’t a human but rather a terrifying devil? Now, their futures were unknown. Perhaps, they would be turned into sacrificial offerings and used for various demonic rituals. Looking at their skillful bindings, Clyde suspected that this must have been the work of those Bloodkin subordinates under Lucifer. It was impossible for the monsters under Andrisno and Queen Lafania to be so skillful.
“Big Brother Clyde, these cuties were servicing Baron Haydn before. Since they are our enemies, how should we deal with them?”
“Cough, cough! Sister Lucifer, you… wipe your drool before speaking. Andrisno, Lafania, what do you think…”
“Lord Clyde, we don’t have any objections. It’s best to give them to your Lord Sister!”
Clyde had only wanted to probe them but had not expected that Andrisno and Queen Lafania would have such a “strong desire to survive.” Upon seeing Lucifer’s surreptitious gaze, they directly surrendered the white lambs to this wicked bloodkin Lolita. However, it was for the best. Being given to Lucifer, they would at worst become blood-servants, but if he gave them to the other two, they would die in various kinds of dark rituals. They would have no chance of survival.
“Sister Lucifer, deal with them after the meeting. Just… don’t kill them indiscriminately…”
“Thank you, Big Brother Clyde! I try to avoid death; wasting food is a big crime.”
“Oh, that’s right! Lord Clyde, we must pay attention to the underground ratmen. I suspect that they are cooperating with Marquis Charles. They might carry out a surprise attack on our rear.”
