Ximengsi Continent’s southern region, Adelaide Kingdom’s strategic border town, Atad, Suzerain Earl Harrison’s residence, the banquet hall
With Princess Halisi and Miss Vignia leading the way, Clyde joined the aristocrat banquet where Hal repeatedly tested him to see whether he had received any information from those two female knights.
In this aspect, Clyde could be regarded as a veteran. After these two “acting emperors” displayed their acting skills to each other, they ended in a draw. Eventually, Hal finally believed that Clyde had tormented Knight Aike and Knight Ailu in unspeakable ways until they hadn’t even been able to get out of bed. After all, with such a delicious temptation, no man could control himself. What’s more, he had made those two knights drink a lot of good wine and mysterious medication in advance.
Whilst the banquet was still ongoing, a change suddenly occurred. Earl Harrison, the highest commanding officer of Adelaide Kingdom’s troops that defended Atad District, arrived at the scene. He was a relatively fat and clumsy old man with a standard nouveau riche style. Wearing a thick gold necklace around his neck and rings around all ten fingers, he actually excessively wore a very big imperial crown.
If this were another nation, Earl Harrison’s daring action would have been treated as high treason, and he would have been executed. Dukes didn’t dare to play around like this. Even if they had the bloodline of a prince, in front of kings and emperors, all would remain low-key. It was not that they couldn’t wear an imperial crown, but they definitely wouldn’t parade it in public like this since it would invoke an emperor or king’s suspicion, which in turn would cause themselves no small amount of trouble.
Earl Harrison’s face was covered with a crafty smile. He belonged to the same kind of people as Bishop Nichols. This earl was a typical extreme moneygrubber. He didn’t like beauties but craved wealth and treasure. Just a glance at his necklace would reveal his true values. Princess Halisi and Miss Vignia had wanted to buy treasures from Clyde as a congratulatory gift because they knew only Clyde’s wares could satisfy the avaricious character of Earl Harrison. Ordinary treasure would never enter Earl Harrison’s eyes; thus, they could only ask Clyde to think of a solution.
Princess Halisi and Miss Vignia didn’t go greet Earl Harrison. They knew very well that Earl had a special sense towards treasure. The gem undergarments they now wore could also be counted as a priceless treasure. If by chance they were discovered by Earl Harrison, and he wished to see it, then they would certainly fall into an awkward position. It was best not to challenge the senses of this treasure-hunting dog.
“Big Sister Halisi, let’s go back! My old man has looked at this side for quite a few times. Did he notice what we are wearing…”
“Vignia, I also think that might be the case. Mister Clyde, eh… Where’s Mister Clyde?”
“I also can’t see him. He might have gone to some other table. Let’s leave first!”
Princess Halisi and Miss Vignia detected that Earl Harrison often glanced towards their position. In order to avoid an awkward situation, they planned to leave before he could come over. Since this was not a formal major birthday banquet, leaving early would be fine and not arouse too much suspicion. However, these two beauties now discovered that Clyde had gone missing while they had been distracted. After looking around a few times and not seeing him, they thought that Clyde had gotten up to drink somewhere and left in advance. Later, when they had time, they would visit the luxurious VIP room where Clyde was staying to discuss the important matters regarding his treasures.
Clyde had already left the banquet since he had wanted to take advantage of this moment when no one was paying attention to quietly sneak out and follow Young Master Hal. Although Hal looked refined on the surface, he was, in fact, a dangerous person. Not long after the banquet had begun, Hal had pretended as if he couldn’t hold his liquor and left the banquet on his own without greeting Earl Harrison.
Following people was not difficult for Clyde since there were no priests of Light Church in Earl Harrison’s residence. When making preparations, Earl Harrison hadn’t bothered to invite the people of Adelaide Kingdom’s Light Church branch. Thus, without any scruples, Clyde directly used high level shadow magic to conceal himself. This magic was much higher ranked than Hal’s cultivation and was a special ability only Evil Gods could employ. Thus, Clyde didn’t need to worry about Hal detecting him.
Originally, Clyde could have ended Earl Harrison in the banquet site with a single move; however, he had had some misgivings about taking such action in front of Princess Halisi and Miss Vignia; moreover, after learning the affairs of Young Master Hal, Clyde had felt that Hal was a dangerous person who he needed to pay more attention to. After all, taking care of a greedy old man was simple. However, someone devious like Hal could prove to be a thorn. Therefore, he temporarily changed his plan of action.
Through the giggling he heard some ways away, he realized that there were quite a few beautiful ladies following Hal. These Misses of illustrious aristocrat families were fully aware that Hal was getting married to Miss Alicia in a few days. Still, they took the initiative to throw themselves in his arms. They attempted to cultivate an intimate relationship with Young Master Hal, which would suit their political needs later. Clyde, hidden in the shadows, followed from not far away. Controlling his killing intent, he almost couldn’t help making a move to kill Hal quite a few times since that fellow actually dared to fool around with those ladies in front of him but restrained himself as he had more important goals.
Before finding Holy Knight Alicia, Clyde endured and followed this lusty fellow. Just as he was almost unable to control his anger, he realized that after taking several turns, they had finally arrived at Hal’s room, a fairly ordinary bedroom. Nothing unusual could be seen from outside. Standing beside a wall, he carefully observed what happened next.
Those ladies didn’t notice the danger of Young Master Hal and also followed him into the room without any precautions. Since Clyde was relatively far away, he couldn’t clearly hear what Hal said to them but just saw that those ladies enter a wardrobe with Hal. Afterward, Hal turned a candlestick, and the cabinet automatically opened, revealing a hidden door through which the ladies entered.
By amplifying his hearing using magic, Clyde caught a few of Hal’s words before they left. It seemed that Hal wanted to bring these ladies to an amusing place where they could see some treasures. It was such an obvious trap, but those ladies hadn’t suspected a thing. Sure enough, they were doped by Hal’s gentlemanly exterior.
Clyde came out of the shadows but didn’t immediately follow into that secret room. Hal might have not gone far away, so there was a risk of being discovered if he followed them now. Instead, he carefully observed Hal’s bedroom before detecting a Demon King’s concealed aura. Chuckling he waved his arms to forcefully tear apart the disguise magic in place about the room, finally laying bare the true appearance of this bedroom. Like Clyde had expected, he saw runes and a magic ritual array symbolizing a Demon King.
From this, Clyde determined that Hal was worshipping a Demon King to gain dark energy. Generally, the people of this different world couldn’t innately use dark attributed magic, so they were forced to sign contracts with demons to gain the ability to cultivate dark magic. The simplest of such methods was signing a special contract with a Demon King.
It was not compulsory for a human to sign a contract with a demon to cultivate undead magic. However, they would then have to pay a hefty price. In addition, the cultivators themselves were very likely to turn into an Undead. Therefore, many people sought demons to be able to cultivate dark magic since it was a much more pleasant method. For some special reason, Light Church had adopted different ways for dealing with dark magicians and Undead shamans. While they wanted to purify all Undead shamans who practiced dark magic without a demon sponsor, they avoided the important dark magicians, only making some cursory efforts here and there that they would tout for ages as signs of their hatred against them. So far, the records of Light Church making a move against dark magicians were very few.
Clyde understood those Demon Kings’ language and confirmed that Hal believed in a Demon King known as Asmode. Demon King Asmode was a part of the Seven Deadly Sins, legend rank existences among the Demon Kings, and much stronger than that Ancient Demon King Andrisno beside Clyde. While Clyde talking with Andrisno before, he had learned the Demon Kings’ rough classifications.
Demon Kings had ranks. Those Demon Kings who had wreaked havoc on Ximengsi Continent for hundreds of years belonged to the common world type Demon Kings. Those demon kings like Andrisno who had a history of hundreds of years were regarded as Ancient Demon Kings. Above her, there were Demon Kings with over a thousand years of history called Antiquity Demon Kings. The strength of a Demon King was directly proportional to the time of his or her existence. The longer one lived, the stronger one was. The rank above Antiquity Demon Kings was beyond Andrisno’s comprehension limit of Andrisno since she was still too weak to know.
However, the current demon kings were mainly world type demon kings. Ancient Demon Kings rarely appeared. As for the Antiquity Demon Kings, they were almost impossible to find. Demon Kings of the Seven Deadly Sins were legendary existences. Their true bodies never descended to ordinary planes, so they always used avatars to wander about different worlds. Allegedly, these demon kings wouldn’t die even if they were killed. Unlike ordinary demon kings who directly attacked the Human Race, they had a different approach to destruction. Demon Kings of the Seven Deadly Sins craved to lure the Human Race into degenerate debauchery.
After confirming who the Demon King Hal believed in was, Clyde’s expression didn’t change too much. Even if it was a legend-rank Demon King, it still wasn’t an opponent of a Great Old One. Clyde could easily suppress all the Demon Kings of the Seven Deadly Sins even if they combined their strengths. Even if these Demon Kings of Seven Deadly Sins couldn’t be killed, Clyde could casually destroy their avatars.
“That fellow Hal, believing in something bad like this. Furthermore to wilfully believe in Asmode… It’s lucky that he couldn’t find the correct summoning ritual.”
“What’s wrong? Honorable Lord God, do you have any misunderstanding with my follower? Or do you think I am not competent?”
While Clyde was observing the array, a shadow appeared in the room. According to Clyde’s guess it was the avatar of Demon King Asmode. Although it was only a shadow, Clyde could judge that this Demon King was a woman from its outline that matched the figure of a lithe and graceful, beautiful woman. Unfortunately, he couldn’t see her appearance.
The avatar of Demon King Asmode earnestly bowed to Clyde. Although they didn’t belong to the same ranking system, the gap in strength was still clearly defined. Asmode was unclear about his class, so she respectfully addressed Clyde as Lord God. After Hal had initially begun praying to the Demon King, Asmode’s avatar had hid in Earl Harrison’s residence.
“Never mind. Just forget it. I am looking for that fellow to deal with a small matter. Do you want to help your follower?”
“No, no. Lord God, you can deal with him as you please. He is just a trifling believer, nothing more. I can find another one again. The Human Race is innately weak, so it is very simple to find believers.”
Demon King Asmode knew that she was not Clyde’s opponent; thus, she chose to take a step back. She immediately gave up on Hal, expressing that she would cooperate with Clyde. At Clyde’s request, she withdrew the dark energy she had bestowed Hal.
