Ximengsi Continent’s southern region, nearby Steinbeck Fief, outskirts of Needham Plain, Lost Murmans Regal Pyramid Area
Under the pressure of God of the Air Ithaqua, the other kinsmen, and The King in Yellow Hasatur, the armies of Demon and Ghost Realm were forced to accept Clyde’s demands, handing over all members of Light Church’s investigative team.
Demon Realm’s Princess Lilith and Ghost Realm’s Goddess Eresugier didn’t know who the Divine Realm’s goddess who had leaked the secret information was, so Clyde didn’t make things difficult for them. After confirming that all the people of Light Church’s investigative team were turned over, he let them go. Before leaving, Lilith and Eresugier hesitated as if wanting to ask about Clyde’s background. However, they feared the pressure of God of the Air Ithaqua and finally chose to give up.
“Lord Hastur, if there is an opportunity to see you again, I want to discuss cooperating with you.”
“Lilith, throughout all these years, your Demon Realm has been fighting with Divine Realm, and both sides have suffered losses. How can your Demon Realm compare to our Ghost Realm? Lord Hastur, if you don’t mind, I…”
“Eresugier, enough! In those times, our Demon Realm didn’t run away and instead fought head-on, unlike your Ghost Realm. Every time, your Ghost Realm hid in the backstage.”
The fake friendship between Demon Realm’s Princess Lilith and Ghost Realm’s Goddess Eresugier suddenly fell apart. The relationship between Demon Realm and Ghost Realm was not as strong as imagined. Clyde didn’t express his position on the spot and just watched them leave. With these two women in humanoid forms, he had been distracted while admiring their beauty.
After the armies of Demon and Ghost Realm left via their respective teleportation gates, God of the Air Ithaqua thoroughly destroyed those teleportation gates according to Clyde’s instructions. Of course, if Demon Realm and Ghost Realm wanted to attack Ximengsi Continent, it would not be difficult. Just opening a teleportation gate at another location would be enough. Merely, in the next invasion, the priority target of Demon and Ghost Realm wouldn’t be the Needham Plains since they feared Clyde’s Steinbeck Fief.
“Lord Hastur, your subordinate could have completely eliminated them. Isn’t it a pity to let them go?”
“You all can call me Clyde. I don’t want to snatch the work of Divine Realm and those heroes. Those matters should be handed over for a Savior to handle. I have other important matters to deal with.”
Cursed Queen Lafania and her younger sister Nightmare Queen Mephis appeared behind Clyde. After the teleportation gates to Demon and Ghost Realm were destroyed, God of the Air Ithaqua left via the Different Dimension’s Gate with the other kin before sealing it in passing to prevent other Great Old Ones from crossing to this different world.
In accordance with Clyde’s request, God of the Air Ithaqua went to look for a human appearance while helping Clyde keep a lookout over his arch-rival Cthulhu’s movements. Among the Great Old Ones, Cthulhu had the greatest hostile relations with Clyde. As for all the others, Clyde didn’t need to worry about them. If nothing outstanding happened, it was very unlikely for them to come to this not very interesting world because they had no reason.
After the war ended, the dark clouds that had shrouded the sky above Murmans Regal Pyramid Area dispersed on their own. The sunlight finally penetrated the dark clouds and illuminated the ground again. The mummies were different from most demonic creatures and didn’t fear sunlight. Following the instructions of the queens, they sorted out the battlefield while gathering money and goods in passing for Clyde to deal with.
Light Church’s investigative team lay inside the Corpse Transporting Carriage. After finding a relatively far place, Clyde crushed the Soul-Stirring Bell, allowing the souls sealed inside to return to their hosts. Transparent souls drifted towards their respective bodies, and not long afterward, the members of Light Church awakened.
“Eh, Lord Clyde, how come you’re here?”
“Strange, what happened just now? I can’t remember at all.”
After Light Church’s investigative team woke up, all had lost expressions. They had lost all their memories of the time when their souls had been absorbed by the Soul-Stirring Bell. This was also convenient for Clyde, saving him the trouble of having to think of a way to conceal the truth. Basically, Saintess Suhiya and the others didn’t know what they had encountered. Their memories stopped at that moment when they had first seen Demon Realm’s skeletal warriors.
These saintesses didn’t even know about Clyde saving them nor did they have memories of the time when their souls had been absorbed. Despite their being present, they didn’t know any of the matters of Clyde being a Great Old One and his negotiating with Demon Realm’s Princess Lilith and Ghost Realm’s Goddess Eresugier to release Light Church’s investigative team. Clyde vaguely felt like he had lost a little. If he had known this earlier, he wouldn’t have revived them so quickly. Instead, he would have taken advantage of the time when they lacked memories to do many interesting things.
The peace of the Needham Plains was restored. After Cursed Queen Lafania and Nightmare Queen Mephis recovered, the entire Murmans Regal Pyramid Area was concealed by a barrier. Other than Clyde, it was invisible to others. When Light Church’s investigation team reentered the Needham Plains, other than a few ruins, there were no traces of that vast and mighty army consisting of countless demonic creatures.
“This, how should we report it? Don’t tell me we have to say that we saw nothing?”
“Suhiya, we don’t have any physical evidence. Writing anything would be useless. It would be bad if your report clashed with Bishop Nichols’s report since the higher-ups would not believe our report.”
“Maria, that violates our…”
“Suhiya, that Bishop Garfield on your side is an old friend of Bishop Nichols. Do you think he will believe your report or Bishop Nichols’s report?”
“Tiffany, I know.”
Upright “Radiant Saintess” Suhiya had originally intended to report things as they had occurred, but her colleagues, “Punishment Saintess” Tiffany and “Light Saintess” Maria, unanimously persuaded her to do otherwise. Thus, Suhiya gave up her plan. Even if she insisted on reporting the facts, the bishops of Light Church would do their utmost to suppress the facts.
Although the Needham Plains was still regarded as part of Adrian Empire’s territory, the empire had already long abandoned this place. Now, if Light Church suppressed this undead calamity, the official nation ruling over that territory would have to bear one-half of the expenses. If the undead calamity was very serious, they might even have had to bear over 60% of the expenses. Adrian Empire, however, had just lost to Augusta Empire, and their national treasury was empty. Even if there truly were an undead calamity in the Needham Plains, as long as it didn’t threaten any important economic regions, Adrian Empire wouldn’t pay, and generally, Light Church stayed away from profitless business.
Clyde didn’t care about the issue of the relationship between Light Church and Adrian Empire. As a guide, he honestly led Light Church’s investigation team to the Needham Plains to look around and determine whether there were any valuable clues. If there were nothing, they would return to Steinbeck Fief tomorrow. Upon joining Bishop Nichols, they could write down the report for Light Church’s higher-ups.
As Clyde expected, the investigation gained nothing. Other than proving the city ruins of the Needham Plains had once flourished, no other valuable information was discovered. The Light Church’s investigative teams had mainly come to seek evidence of evil forces and weren’t an archaeological team. They had no interest in the city ruins of the Needham Plains.
Towards the evening, Light Church’s investigative team set up a temporary camp beside a nameless river bank in the city ruins. They pitched a couple tents and made a bonfire, resembling open field camping. Although the ancient city ruins would have been even more comfortable, because it was an uninhabited city, they felt an inexplicable oppression about pitching a camp there; thus, Light Church’s investigative team chose this river bank for a temporary campsite.
After the temporary campsite had been set up, Light Church’s investigative team prepared to rest. After eating some exquisite compressed rations, several male priests left for night duty while the rest returned to their tent to read the Holy Scriptures. Even when they were out, Light Church’s members always carried the Light Holy Scriptures with them so as to make things convenient for them to comprehend Light God’s oracle when they had the free time.
Clyde was not a member of Light Church, so he was assigned to a separate tent. He also didn’t carry a Light Holy Scripture and didn’t read Light Holy Scripture in his free time, unlike these Light Church’s believers, so they decided to give him some space. Clyde looked at the sky; the sun had already sunk below the horizon, leaving only a tinge of gold from that sunset glow, illuminating the vast expanse of space.
“Lord Clyde, you can do as you please for now. After returning to Steinbeck Fief, I will record your contributions in the report.”
“That is not necessary, Miss Suhiya. It was a very slight effort, nothing more. You are… Eh, I understand.”
“Mister Clyde, then I won’t bother you. Good night. May God bless you.”
Clyde stood outside the tent and greeted Suhiya. He had originally wanted to ask where Suhiya planned to go, but he saw the two other saintesses as well as several female members of the investigative team carrying a wooden tub and towels. He roughly guessed what was going on and didn’t ask more. He quietly nodded in acquiescence and watched them walk towards the river bank.
The men believers might not care, but the female believers would feel very uncomfortable when sleeping without washing their bodies. As Clyde was about to return to his tent, he suddenly felt an indescribable chill. A gaze penetrated the campsite from inside the forest. From the presence of the gaze, Clyde could conclude that it was not a human’s gaze. As a Great Old One, he could clearly distinguish between the gaze of demonic creatures and humans, with the current gaze clearly belonging to the former.
Murmans Regal Pyramid Area was already owned by Clyde, the allied armies of Demon and Ghost Realm had already returned to their respective realms, and those Great Old Ones had also withdrawn from that Dimensional Teleportation Gate. Theoretically, the Needham Plains should have been safe now because there probably wasn’t a fifth dark force. The appearance of that mysterious gaze broke Clyde’s thoughts. It seemed tonight was doomed to be sleepless. Clyde pretended to enter his own tent to rest, waiting for that mysterious gaze to move away from his tent before acting.
