After Clyde met Princess Annie and reached a peaceful agreement, the Undead calamity disappeared on its own. Antaur Town which had originally been covered with dark clouds and a torrential rainstorm reverted to normal. After the dark clouds dispersed, sunlight that had not graced the streets of Antaur for a long time finally beat back the gloom.
The Undead wandering the town were purified by the day’s light. They peacefully collapsed and were reduced to ashes. Looking from afar, it looked as if the entire Antaur Town had been purified by the holy light. Princess Annie’s profession was not that of an ordinary Undead Shaman. After taking over Antaur Town, Clyde promised to provide her shelter and to resolve her contract with Ancient Demon King Philip.
“Master, Princess Annie has an innate psychic physique. If you take her in, there will be conflict with the Light Church. In Steinbeck Fief, there are some clergymen of the Light Church, not to mention the saintesses.”
“That’s not a problem. Those saintesses are all on our side. If by chance they discover her, I will truly convert them. Then, everything will be fine.”
Clyde temporarily made Princess Annie stay with Ancient Demon King Andrisno and Tinas. He thought that with these two demon kings beside her, Ancient Demon King Philip wouldn’t dare to use the contract to forcefully summon Princess Annie. Like that, Clyde’s party would have enough time to break that evil contract.
Steinbeck Fief’s army formally stationed itself in Antaur Town. Since they hadn’t needed to fight, their military strength was completely preserved. Now, Clyde’s side controlled one-third of the Needham Plains. With Aldington River as the boundary, Antaur Town, Joyce Fortress, Ferro Town, and several small villages were theirs. In addition, Clyde had also previously captured the Leopold Lake Area. He now controlled Benson Town and could expand his sphere of influence.
Marquis Charles still controlled the remaining two-thirds of the Needham Plains. After losing Joyce Fortress, Marquis Charles’s party had suffered almost 10,000 casualties without inflicting any serious damage on their opponent. However, he still had over 100,000 troops. After the war, Clyde’s troops had doubled to over 20,000. Relying only on his human troops, it would be difficult to defeat Marquis Charles. After all, that gap in military strength hadn’t changed in essence.
The only thing that gratified Clyde that upon seeing the resolution of the Undead calamity at Antaur Town, Earl Winissa in Olm Fortress on the other side of Aldington River decided to revoke the sacred magic barrier despite not knowing what had happened. After all, continously activating the sacred magic barrier required a lot of energy.
Earl Winissa would have never imagined that the Undead calamity had not been vanquished by the Judgement Light but that an even higher-level dark existence had occupied this place. Still, the restriction against allowing shipping vessels to dock remained in place. Before determining the situation, Earl Winissa didn’t dare to lower her guard. The Aldington River provided rare natural defense in the Needham Plains. Once it was breached, there would be no other good defensive positions. There were only the monotone plains.
Clyde went to the dock of Antaur Town surrounded by subordinates. This vacant place had no more wooden boats. Behind Clyde were Sacred Moon Dragon Knight Princess Verly, Paladin Princess Alicia, and the Paladin’s beautiful knights wearing exclusive knight armor. They all shared armbands representing Steinbeck Fief’s army.
“Earl Winissa’s commanding ability is pretty good. This defense layout…”
Clyde examined Olm Fortress on the other side of Aldington River. Its defense fortifications were very rigorous and even more professional than Joyce Fortress’s. In Joyce Fortress, there had only been arrow towers and some medium-sized mangonels, but Olm Fortress had set up large arrow towers, magic-guided cannons, and magic towers. In addition, according to previously gathered information, Earl Winissa had over 30,000 troops, a thousand-man fleet, and a magic corps. She would be a difficult opponent.
In the human nations of Ximengsi Continent, there were magic legions. However, her magic corps didn’t have mages. Honestly speaking, it consisted of magic users, so they were not comparable to true magicians. The cost of a magician was too high. Even the empire couldn’t afford to hire too many magicians. They could only form a budget magic corps. These soldiers were basically ordinary soldiers who had reached the level of a magic trainee. They were Magic Apprentices who could only use one or two attack spells. After undergoing special training, they had become specialized for the battlefield. They were more cost-effective than putting together a corps of true magicians.
The common magic corps generally used Strengthened Fireball, Strengthen Ice Shard, and other elementary spells that were both quick and cheap mana-wise. Most lacked talent for magic. Nevertheless, if one forego true mastery, learning one or two elementary attack spells was not a problem. Like that, a magic corps could be quickly formed.
“Princess Annie wasted too much, and all the boats were used. There’s not even a single plank left.”
“Master, from the previous investigative report of Her Excellency Lucifer, the magic corps under Earl Winissa uses strengthened fireballs. It is unwise to use a wooden boat to cross the river. Otherwise, the human soldiers will surely suffer serious casualties.”
“Remain on standby. I have already asked Miss Yani to pay Earl Winissa a visit. Let’s see if she can find a gap.”
Clyde couldn’t think of a way to cross the river. He could only wait until he got Miss Yani’s report. Instead, he returned to the already-rebuilt Castellan residence of Antaur Town. The quality of the former decorations had been decent, so Clyde had lightly remodeled the place before claiming it as his own. Upon entering, he immediately saw Princess Annie. Her complexion was now much lighter. Sitting on a table, she chatted with Ancient Demon Kings Andrisno and Tinas since she had once been a believer in the Demon Realm. Upon seeing his arrival, Princess Annie respectfully stood to greet him. After chatting with these two Ancient Demon Kings, she had vaguely realized that Clyde was the one who made the final decisions here.
“Annie, you were too wasteful when you attacked Olm Fortress before. Now, there isn’t even a single plank left.”
“Lord Clyde, I’m extremely sorry. I… I only researched magic before; I don’t know much about making war.”
“Forget it.. I didn’t mean to blame you. By the way, you can’t let other people know the matter of you being a Bardian. It’s not the time to publicly fall out with the Light Church. I will arrange a new identity for you.”
“Lord Clyde, I will obey your arrangements.”
Princess Annie had already replaced her grey robe. Now, she wore a dress Princess Saras had gifted her. Because the size wasn’t completely right, she felt a little uncomfortable after putting on the clothes, providing her inexplicable beauty. Seeing her shy and apologetic demeanour, Clyde couldn’t blame her for wasting all the wooden boats.
The underground prison built by Baron Thomas was now unused. After Steinbeck Fief had taken over this place, they had immediately released all the imprisoned white lambs. However, before they could rejoice, the knight regiment under Princess Alicia had recaptured these war trophies. Their mouths had been sealed using cotton cloth balls, and they had been bound with red ropes. Just after escaping, they had been recaptured.
“You… what do you all want to do, Miss knight!”
“Nothing. You all are under arrest. Now, come with us to conduct the investigation! There was an outbreak of an Undead calamity here, and Baron Thomas was the primary offender, but you all are witnesses and must be investigated!”
Senior Knight Aiku and Aike had serious expressions. Under Clyde’s authorization, they used a flimsy pretext to imprison these war trophies. After restricting these white lambs, the beautiful knights carried them away to seperate rooms for a special investigation. When the white lambs saw the rooms, they instantly became bright red. Wicked erotic items, not unlike the ones in the prison, adorned these rooms. Smiles filled with deep meaning unintentionally appeared on the faces of those beautiful knights as they carried the white lambs towards those tools.
Sky Knight Yani arrived at Earl Winissa’s residence and entered her study. Sitting down on a chair behind a desk, Earl Winissa looked at Yani with surprise. The timing of this junior schoolmate was a little strange, but she couldn’t point out exactly why she felt that way.
“Junior schoolmate Yani, how come you’re not accompanying your elder brother Viscount Aaron in Joyce Fortress and have the time to come visit me?”
“Senior schoolmate Winissa, I… I’ve come at the request of my Big Brother Viscount, but it turns out that if I had come to pay you a visit, you would not have welcomed me!”
“That’s not it! It’s just that… Antaur Town was shrouded by an Undead calamity before, but you… How were you not intercepted by monsters?”
“I made a detour. Senior Schoolmate Winissa, you… if you are too busy, then I will return. It was so difficult to come to see you, but if you have official business, there’s nothing to be done.”
“ I have no urgent matters right now. Junior Schoolmate Yani, there’s no need to treat me like an outsider. I have already arranged for the cooks to prepare your favorite dishes. It’s fine to stay here and play for a few days.”
Yani maintained her pure appearance, but she was now Clyde’s spy responsible for investigating Earl Winissa. While talking, Yani often took advantage of Earl Winissa’s inattentiveness to sneak a glance at the important military maps on the table and secretly note Olm Fortress’s main defenses. Earl Winissa was misled by the former Yani’s pure image. She never imagined that Yani would betray her or peek at her military secrets.
