At Manasvir Empire’s capital, Macnadix City’s satellite guardian cities, Chapman City. Macnadix City has no direct access to the magic teleportation arrays for the capitals of enemy countries, the holy city of the Radiant Church, and many other important cities due to the military defense habits of the human empires.
This is to prevent rebels from using the magic teleportation arrays directly and stopping the tactic of troops being sent directly to important cities in order to capture them. If you wanted to get to the capital, you could only teleport to one of the satellite cities some distance outside of the capital, such as this Chapman City. From here, you can get to your destination by foot or by the various other means of transportation.
There were also magical teleportation arrays in the capital of the Manasvir Empire, Macnadix City, but they were one-way teleportation arrays only used to escape from the city, and it was impossible for anyone outside to get in through them.
The students of Olsylvia Academy teleported to Chapman City in batches. The only one who had their venue temporarily changed for the intra-academy qualifying competition was Olsylvia Academy. The “art school” next door, Antoinette Academy, and the other “outside school” Alessandra Academy, were not participating. This effectively avoids the possibility of being spied on by the neighboring academies.
Mentors of all subjects were present and in charge of leading Olsylvia Academy on their excursion, with the main men in charge being Bishop Stanley and the Manasvir Empire’s First Class Clerical Officer McAdam. The principals of Olsylvia Academy did not come. Nobody knew if it was for any other reason, but they were all just absent from this event.
Among the mentors who came, the ones on Bella’s side are the knight division’s Mentor Ingrid and the magic division’s Mentor Catalina. These two mentors had been “recruited” to become the advisors for the Rose Society, but Bella was more interested in Time-Space Supreme Magic Mentor Catalina’s senior sister, Chaos Supreme Magic Mentor Melvira.
If Bella did not remember wrong, then it required three advisors before a society could qualify as a big society. It was only a matter of time before Rose Society could advance into a big society, so it was natural for Bella to prepare in advance. Very naturally, she also set her eyes on Melvira.
During this departure, Bella configured all members of the Rose Society with an exclusive magical contact crystal, as well as a set of weaponry they could use for emergencies. She did not believe that this event would go on smoothly. First of all, this satellite city, Chapman City, was under the control of Grand Duke Gould, who had some indirect gripes with Bella.
Prince Olander’s son from the Nation of Arcana, Aldridge Empire, the magic division’s special class 3’s class mentor, Spiritual Supreme Magic Mentor Orlando, previously had a fight with Bella over Catalina. Grand Duke Gould had a close personal relationship with this Young Master Orlando, and clearly, the two of them were associates.
Over a hundred thousand of the Manasvir Empire’s royal guards were stationed in Chapman City, all of which were commanded by Grand Duke Gould. His family had been running this place for decades, so of the 100,000, a good 80 or 90% of them had likely become his own private forces. Due to Bella’s status as a grand duke, Grand Duke Gould would not dare do anything to her. However, there was no telling if anything was happening beneath the shadows.
Bella had no love for Grand Duke Gould’s family either, and her side was ready to make their own moves too. The hundred thousand or so defenders of Sarnia Duchy had already changed into armor without national insignia or emblems and were armed and ready to intervene in Manasvir Empire should a military incident occur.
Besides the heavily armed royal guards of the Manasvir Empire, the streets of Chapman City now contained many uniformed students from Olsylvia Academy. After rushing here, Bella and the rest of them had to first wait for the announcement of this competition’s rules while waiting for the other students who had yet to teleport.
Bella had changed into her mage clothes this time, and she came out to browse around with her identity as Grand Duke Baize. Besides her “girlfriend”, Princess Kriss, Demon God Angel was also with her. Angel was dressed in a maid outfit, posing as Bella’s “loli maid”. Bella kept her most powerful forces, Devastating Evil Dragon Emperor Lolita and Devouring Holy Dragon Euphenisia, back at Olyslvia Academy so she could prevent anyone from raiding Rose Society’s territory during her absence from Olsylvia Academy.
“Kriss, it’s so quiet here in Chapman City. If I knew this would be the case, I would have asked you out elsewhere.”
“It’s alright, Bella. As long as you’re the one inviting me, I’ll be happy no matter where we go. You had no idea about Chapman City’s current state as well, right?”
Kriss and Bella were holding hands and walking side by side on the streets of Chapman City. As a military defense city, Bella couldn’t really compliment the commercial service facilities in Chapman City. The entire street was filled with shops selling weapons and other equipment. If any uninformed tourists visited this place, they would probably think that they came to a city that acted as a frontline military fortress.
Many smithies could be found on the street as well, and many of the weapons they sold were forged on site. In addition, there were also many shops specializing in military supplies. You could buy all sorts of military horses, emergency healing potions, and military rations. Bella had no idea how to evaluate the military rations of this other world. They were all stuff like dense bread and large bottles of milk. It feels like this other world relies on bread to give them power in battle.
Kriss was easier to please. She was happy enough that Bella would bring her to a smithy or a weapons shop. With Bella leading the way, the two casually wandered to a smithy, with Demon God Angel following them behind them, hugging a bag of snacks similar to popcorn and eating it as she walked. She looked more like a loli little sister coming out to shop with them than a maid.
“What kind of weapons are you looking for? Our goods are 20% off. If you buy a full set of armor, we’ll throw in a shield or a weapon as well.”
“Uh, we’re just looking around, uncle. That’s right, you have a lot of weapon shops here. Even if this is a military guardian city, this is still a little too much, isn’t it?”
The owner of this weapons shop is a simple and honest-looking middle-aged man. He was covered in sweat while beating a piece of red hot iron. The iron had already been beaten into the shape of a sword, and there was constantly the sound of iron being hammered inside of the smithy. After seeing Bella enter, he greeted them while working.
Bella saw the Manasvir Empire’s royal guards on several important lookout points on Chapman City’s streets, and they were wearing full gold armor. The armor they wore on their body were all made of gold. Even the arrows in the quiver behind the archers’ backs were made of pure gold.
Bella learned from Princess Kriss that this was the Manasvir Empire’s way of showing off their wealth as one of the largest human empires. In order to show off, they made all the empire’s royal guards change into this full set of gold equipment. Even though it was fine to show off a bit, this was too much.
Bella doubted the fighting ability of these gold-clad soldiers. It was possible that all of them were crap on the battlefield. Except for the royal guards, the imperial soldiers guarding the heart of the empire were dressed in full silver equipment. The cost of equipping just one soldier here would be enough to feed ten soldiers in another empire.
Bella just wanted to know… If the army and the royal guards are already fully equipped, then who is this equipment being sold to? It can’t all be subsidized, right? Bella’s question clearly made the blacksmith uncle look a little troubled. He seemed a little hesitant, and from the looks of it, this was a difficult thing for him to speak about.
But Bella had her ways. She took out a few gold coins from her pocket and placed them on the counter. The sales here focused on the small margin quick turnover route, so they were mostly priced at a few hundred copper coins, with the most expensive being only ten silver coins. The gold coins Bella gave him were worth much more than what was sold here.
“Uncle, you must be tired from work as well, so here, buy yourself a drink! Can you tell us what you know about this place?”
“Young miss, you have a sweet tongue. Only…if you must know…”
“Uncle, don’t worry, we’re not from the empire. Even if it’s some big secret, there’s nothing they can do to us even if we leave this empire.”
“Alright then. Just don’t tell anyone else…You can’t just go out of this city as you wish, especially if you’re out on short numbers…”
The blacksmith uncle hesitated for a moment, but he accepted the gold coins. He went to the door and put on the “closed” sign and made sure nobody was wandering outside before carefully telling Bella and the others some of the secrets.
“Now, don’t be afraid once I tell you, but the higher-ups wouldn’t even let us spread the news about this. Actually, for more than a decade…”
According to the blacksmith uncle, the Manasvir Empire had not been peaceful the past decade or so. Ever since the emperor finished participating in a ceremony to sacrifice a certain god back then, the entire empire’s capital region had been abnormal. Mysterious beings often appeared to attack the humans, and nobody knew what their origins were, but the bodies of those who were attacked were almost always impossible to find. They died in horrible ways.
What’s more, there’s no telling what the Manasvir Empire’s emperor was thinking, but the first thing that came to his mind after such serious demon invasions were to block the news instead of seeking the other empires or the Radiant Church for help. The forces of the Radiant Church were mainly located in the northern part of the Nation of the Knight, Octavia Empire, so they had no knowledge at all of what happened in the Manasvir Empire that was located at the center.
Over the past decade or so, the demon invasions had already become very severe to the point where the areas outside the large cities were no longer safe. Quite a few small villages were wiped out by the demons, and some small towns had fallen as well. Now, besides the few protected satellite cities, the outside areas were all danger zones.
When Bella and the other first arrived at Chapman City, they were told that anyone who did not have the city lord, Grand Duke Gould’s token, would not be allowed to leave the city unattended, and they would be responsible for the consequences. Bella thought it was a joke at the time, but it seemed now that it was all true.
When the changes first began, the lords of the major guardian cities were still actively sending out troops to suppress it, but they also spent a lot of money hiring many mercenaries to assist in the fight, to little avail. The mutated demons were extremely effective in combat. The allied forces were quickly defeated and suffered heavy casualties. What made the city lords even more disappointed was, not only did the emperor keep silent about their military actions, they received no support of troops or funds either.
Now, the city lords of the major cities simply went about their own business to defend their cities on their own. They could no longer rely on the emperor. This was indeed the case. Only, for several years, the emperor stopped holding rituals for the gods, and he never asked any questions about the four warlords of the empire, allowing them to grow and expand.
Bella was becoming more and more suspicious that something was wrong with the Manasvir Empire’s emperor after the news she received before. The timelines happened to match up, and the residents of each town had to open up equipment shops to protect themselves. The city lords were strict on only allowing the residents to move out privately. If they could not escape, then they would just have to stay here and die.
Kriss looked surprised. Even she had no idea of this secret. The Manasvir Empire had always declared to the outside world that their capital was safe and that it was the safest region in the continent. That false propaganda could be considered a success. The area where mutated demonic beings appeared was mainly around the regions near the Manasvir Empire’s capital, Macnadix City, but no more appeared after a certain distance.
Olsylvia City was not in that area and they had no knowledge of the presence of mutated demons. For more than a decade, the other humans of each empire looked out for their own. They did not investigate deeper into the matter of the Manasvir Empire using mercenaries to act as imperial troops, dispatched to fight outside the nation, and only thought of it as the Manasvir Empire showing off their wealth.
The Nation of the Knight at the north, Octavia Empire, had spent many years defending the north against attacks from demon invasions, and they had no intention of setting foot in the central region. Nobody knew what the Kristoff Empire to the west was doing in the shadows, but they were not very interested in the matters of the continent. To the east, the Nation of Arcana, Aldridge Empire, has historically looked down on non-magical professions, and most of them kept to the coast and did not interact with the other inland countries.
The only southern empire with spirit and leisure, Nation of the Sword, Gabriel Empire, had only just won a war against the beastmen invasion with great difficulty these recent months. The emperor was busy dealing with internal conflicts and balancing the conflict of power between the various factions in the country as well as the distribution of benefits. Even if they really wanted to interfere in the Manasvir Empire’s affairs, they would be too weak to do so. At the very least, it was impossible for this period.
No empire would ever imagine that the Manasvir Empire was only a few steps away from collapse and splitting apart. The chaos in the capital region and the silence of the emperor led the four warlords to mistakenly believe that imperial power was about to collapse, and that the era of a new emperor was to come. Coupled with gossip about the emperor’s illness and the fact that there were no longer any heirs, this further exacerbated the turmoil and tension.
After leaving the smithy, Bella unconsciously held Kriss’s hand tight. This place wasn’t safe either. Just thinking about the fact of the Manasvir Empire’s arrangements for Olsylvia Academy’s students to travel on foot to the capital, Macnadix, wasn’t this a travesty in disguise? If all the roads really were controlled by mutated demonic beings, then if it didn’t lead to their ruin, they would still be helping out the Manasvir Empire in dealing with these mutated demons for free.
“Kriss, let’s just go back and talk to the other girls in the society about this. Let’s not talk to anyone outside about it.”
“Yeah, anything you say. Don’t worry, Bella. I’ll protect you…Nn…”
“What are you saying, silly? I’m a man…a manly lady knight. I’ll protect you… all of you.”
Bella reached out her other hand to cup Kriss’s mouth gently. She was going to just say she would protect her, but changed her tune to include everyone when she saw Princess Ariel coming over wearing a cloak, as well as her little sister Lisha, who was dressed in the normal school uniform. Lisha and Ariel came to tell Bella and the others to head back.
According to Grand Duke Gould of Chapman City’s arrangements, the students of Olsylvia Academy who came to prepare for the intra-academy qualifying competition would stay in the unused barracks in Chapman City, while some of the more important students and mentors were invited to stay overnight at the Grand Duke’s residence. And, he will also do his best as “host” to arrange them a “welcoming” dinner.
As a grand duke, Bella was naturally invited as well. Even though she didn’t want to go, many of her girls from the Rose Society will be there. In order to prevent Kriss from being taken advantage of by them, Bella could only attend. She brought Demon God Angel and a few strong maids. Even if Lolita and Euphenisia weren’t around, it still wouldn’t affect Bella’s battle forces.
The “dinner” was held at night time. It was still early right now, so Bella brought Kriss, Princess Ariel, and her little sister Lisha to continue shopping around the streets of Chapman City, which were filled with equipment shops. This time, Bella’s shopping had a purpose. She purchased a large number of small, sturdy, lightweight shields. Besides Kriss, the other girls still didn’t understand why Bella would buy this equipment, and they were all looking at Bella with strange eyes.
Even though Loli Demon God Angel, who had been behind Bella this whole time, was constantly eating all sorts of snacks, she would turn her head to Chapman City’s walls from time to time, as if she could feel something abnormal appearing. Bella and the others kept on chatting, so Angel didn’t say anything and continued munching on her snacks, checking out the situation on that side from a distance.
The six-meter-high walls on the outer periphery of Chapman City had been extended from their usual three-meter-high walls due to the mutated demon attacks. The royal guards defending the city were a bit lax, and the many years of safe experience caused them to lose their caution. Nobody noticed that strange crawling shadows were starting to climb the walls at the blind spots of the defending soldiers.
