Near the Manasvir Empire’s capital, Macnadix City, in the Guardian City, Chapman City, the City Master’s Mansion. Bella left the banquet early but got lost on the way to the hot springs.
She didn’t know what that bastard Duke Gould was thinking. Although the banquet hall was brightly lit, the outside hallways were utterly dark. Due to the lack of light, Bella didn’t notice the map on the back of her hot springs admission ticket.
While wondering where to go, Bella detected a girl’s presence behind her. She didn’t turn around because she discovered that this girl wasn’t a human. For a Demon King like Bella, she could easily detect the girl’s sinister aura. However, Bella didn’t want to expose herself, so she didn’t say anything.
Although Bella could discern whether or not someone was human, she couldn’t tell if the other side was Demon King or something of an even higher rank. Accidents happened all the time, just like now, where Bella had been mistaken as prey.
“Big sis, are you looking for the hot springs?”
“Big sis, are you looking for the hot springs?”
“Big sis, are you…”
They continued to whisper softly behind Bella. That sound possessed a mysterious mesmerizing power against humans. However, Bella wasn’t a human. Hence, this evil magic did absolutely nothing to her.
“You’re too annoying! Scram!”
Bella suddenly spun around and threw a fist at the demon’s face. It crashed into a white, human-form demon. The demon normally relied on its terrifying visage to scare people, but somehow, it ended up encountering this strange human that didn’t follow the script. It wasn’t expecting Bella to turn around and instantly attack.
Bella’s forceful punch destroyed the demon’s head; it couldn’t scare anyone anymore without a face. However, the demon’s body was akin to a slime. After suffering Bella’s brutal strike, it dissolved into liquid and attempted to flee.
Unfortunately, Bella liked being thorough. She swiftly drew the Great Evil Slaying Sword and pinned the demon to the floor. In a flash of golden light, the demon dissolved into a stinking puddle of water.
“I’m so unlucky. Not only did I not find the hot springs, but I also got so dirty. Now I definitely have to find the hot springs.”
When the demon died, it exploded into a fountain of stinky water. Bella hadn’t expected it and was soaked as a result. She couldn’t return to the banquet like this. Luckily, she had caught a glimpse of the map on her admission ticket when the Great Evil Slaying Sword flared with golden light.
Bella didn’t know how the demon had managed to infiltrate the mansion. However, she soon discovered several imperial soldiers’ corpses not too far away. They were clad in silver armor. The scent of blood that she had detected earlier came from these soldiers.
They looked as if they had died horrifying deaths. Their faces were contorted with terror, eyes wide, and blood leaking from all of their orifices. They had been literally scared to death. If she had turned around earlier, she likely would have gotten a fright too. However, she definitely would not have suffered the same end. A demon king being scared to death by a demon, that would be too embarrassing.
The demon was pretty unlucky as well. It hadn’t managed to find any good prey before being splattered by Bella. Bella stowed her sword before swiftly leaving the crime scene. The demon had already become a puddle of water. If another patrol of soldiers discovered her with the corpses, she would have a hard time explaining things.
Not long after Bella’s escape, a patrol squad clad in eye-catching golden armor arrived. Once they discovered the bodies, the guards carefully investigated the surroundings. After failing to find anything related to the attack, they swiftly carried away the corpses. Judging by their practiced motions, this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened.
Bella decided that once she saw another girl going to the hot springs, she would join her and follow her along. Although Melvira had already been gone for half an hour, she was probably still in line for the hot springs. Bella still had a chance.
However, Bella didn’t find a girl. Instead, she saw the wretched figure of Gould’s majordomo, Henry, walking along the hallway. He moved like a thief, sneaking along the hall while constantly throwing glances over his shoulder. Why would he act like this in the mansion that he was in charge of? There was definitely an unspeakable secret behind this.
Bella changed her plans and began following the young majordomo. She wanted to see what he was up to. Usually, a large noble house would employ an old, experienced majordomo to take care of the things. Hiring someone so young definitely pointed to some sort of scheme.
Henry was extremely alert to being followed, almost discovering Bella several times. After a while, Bella finally followed Henry to his destination. It was actually the small building next to the hot springs. This guy, he better not be planning to peep. If he was, Bella would give him a “righteous destruction”.
The layout of Gould Mansion’s hot springs facility was similar to that of Island Nation Doemann’s: It was an open-air facility. The springs were surrounded by a wooden fence, which isolated two sections of hot springs. Although it had been advertised as girls-only, Bella saw that half of the hot springs were for women, while the other was reserved for Duke Gould’s family.
The only thing that separated the two halves was a wooden fence. This wasn’t easily visible due to the thick mists lingering around the springs. Bella strongly suspected that there was a secret peephole left in the fence for “gentlemen” of the Gould family to use.
Bella had already slipped into her invisibility suit. As long as she didn’t attack first, Henry would never be able to detect her with his measly strength. This structure was on a small hill, which was the source of the hot springs. The hill was about the same size as some of the taller buildings in the Ducal Mansion. At over six meters tall, it was almost the same height as Chapman City’s walls.
The hot springs spilled forth from the top of the hill. The spring waters flowed down a man-made waterfall and through some channels into the pools below.
Bella followed Henry into the building, but what she saw left her stunned. An enormous amount of aromatics were placed within, which were used to add various scents to the springs below. Besides the aromatics, large amounts of medicines were also present. Judging by the smell, these medicines weren’t anything good; they were similar to aphrodisiacs.
“Hehe, I’m going to pour these medicines in…”
Henry picked up a few bottles and was about to pour them into the hot springs. Just as Bella was going to stop him, something else beat her to the act. A watery tentacle extended from the pool of the source spring and stabbed through his back.
“Water elemental… Why did it appear… here…”
With an expression of shock, Henry slowly collapsed to the ground. His killer, the water elemental, gradually walked out of the source pool. Bella could tell without even looking that it was yet another demon infiltrator. A normal summoned elemental would never attack with a tentacle like that.
After killing the majordomo, the water elemental dissolved back into its watery form and slipped into the hot spring. Thanks to her invisibility suit, the elemental hadn’t noticed Bella’s presence.
Bella quickly left the crime scene. She decided to check on Melvira and the rest after discovering a demon. She had a hunch that there wasn’t only a single demonic infiltrator here. While thinking, Bella entered the female changing rooms.
Bella had left too quickly and didn’t see what happened afterward. That evil water elemental reformed and threw the medicines that Henry hadn’t had a chance to use earlier into the spring water. Since it didn’t know which spring Henry was planning to put the medicine in, it simply dumped all of the medicine, as well as the aromatics, into the source pool. Now, something fun would happen.
After arriving at the hot springs’ perimeter, Bella discovered that the mist here was even thicker, a “Full Capacity” sign hanging from the fence. She didn’t believe that at all, though. The banquet had just started, and there was still a long line of girls waiting to enter, who seemingly hadn’t seen the sign. There was definitely something amiss.
Bella sneaked around the main entrance before climbing up the fence in order to get a better view of the inside. Although she was invisible, she was afraid that the abnormally thick mist would have some sort of special detection function, so she decided to play it safe.
Bella’s worst fears were confirmed. The evil water elementals had already pulled off their attack on the hot springs. Bella saw the other girls that had already entered were sprawled out weakly on the ground, faces bright red.
Three young beauties were struggling to stay conscious: Supreme Chaos Magic Mentor Melvira, as well as her two students, “Emerald Sixth Chapter” Florentine and “Golden Eighth Chapter” Emiga. They were barely keeping up a defensive array.
Florentine’s long emerald hair framed a pair of innocent light green eyes. Her main focus was Life Magic, and Bella’s first impression of her was that of a gentle and shy girl.
Emiga had long golden hair and amber-colored eyes. She stood awkwardly behind Florentine. Her specialty was alchemy, and without her potions, her abilities were severely limited.
Melvira had an ugly expression on her face. No matter how powerful a human woman was, they would still be caught unprepared when ambushed in the bath. She never expected to be attacked in the middle of Chapman City Master’s Mansion, and in the hot springs to boot.
Although Emiga and Florentine were both members of the “Eight Chapters”, they were both auxiliary mages and didn’t possess much combat power. The two girls were limited to helping Melvira maintain the defensive array. If they had been any other members of the Eight Chapters, perhaps they wouldn’t have been stuck on the back foot.
Since the three had been on their way into the hot springs, they didn’t even have a single tower to cover them. They were completely naked as they defended, their appearances drawing Bella’s pity. The three girls’ snow-white skin was covered in strange pink blotches. They were sweating and breathing heavily, as well. Bella suspected that they were at least partially affected by the medicines; otherwise, someone of Melvira’s power should have been fine even if she was dragging around two support mages.
Bella couldn’t immediately go to help them. She still didn’t know how the three girls had been drugged. If she couldn’t accurately assess the situation before she intervened and was also drugged, she would just be running straight to her doom. It was better for her to continue to observe and analyze, biding her time for the perfect moment to act.
The evil water elementals surrounded Melvira’s light magic defensive array, “Holy Light Barrier”. They continuously attacked the array, forcing Melvira on the verge of collapse. The thick mist surrounding them was effectively soundproof. Any passerby outside wouldn’t hear anything from within.
“Professor Melvira, hurry up and escape. Don’t worry about us. If you don’t warn people about the demons here, even more girls will suffer…”
“Emiga, prepare to use our full power…”
“Don’t be stupid, I will never abandon you two… What is this power!”
As the three were arguing, a meteor shaped demon slammed into Melvira’s “Holy Light Barrier”. The destructive impact instantly shattered their defense.
The three women coughed blood while staggering to the ground as their consciousness became blurry. The effects of being drugged, which they had been barely able to suppress earlier, began to overwhelm their senses. Melvira was still barely able to stay on her knees, but Florentine and Emiga both collapsed.
“It is impressive that you’re able to withstand one of my full-powered blows. It is too bad that you don’t have your equipment, or things might not have ended like this!”
“Who are you? This place belongs to the humans…”
“You don’t need to know. Take them away…”
That meteoric attack had come from a demon whose body was cloaked in shadows. Its type couldn’t be determined, and its anthropomorphic voice was genderless as well. However, its manner of speaking seemed slightly mechanical.
Under the shadow-clad demon’s instructions, several evil water elementals surrounded the girls to take them away. That was when Bella finally made her move. If she didn’t act now, and if those male saviors pulled a “knight in shining armor”, those girls would become someone else’s “dowry”.
Bella summoned the mount that she was temporarily sharing with her little sister, Lisha. Golden Dragon Princess Laceman appeared in a flash. The golden dragon used its enormous bulk to charge directly at the black shadow, scattering every water elemental standing between her and her target.
The mysterious shadow had spoken arrogantly earlier, and now, it met Laceman’s charge head-on. However, the golden dragon’s tremendous momentum sent the figure back almost six meters. The darkness surrounding the figure still remained, though; it was clearly very powerful.
“So it is a royal of the Golden Dragon Tribe. No wonder her strength was so… However, you cannot defeat me, absolutely…”
“Stupid demon, who’s trying to fight. I’m just here for a walk. Goodbye now, retarded demon.”
Laceman let out a piercing laugh before her enormous golden figure swiftly became transparent. Bella had used a temporary contract to summon her, so Laceman would return to Bella’s pet space after a single attack. This was a classic “hit and run” tactic. Laceman, after following Bella for so long, had learned some of her owner’s sneaky habits.
“Golden Dragon wench, don’t think that you’re out of my reach. Even your family’s old man isn’t my match…”
“My master is way scarier than you; you can’t scare me! Oh right, here’s a goodbye gift. You don’t have to thank me!”
Before Laceman completely faded away, she raised her jaws to the sky and unleashed a golden plume of dragon breath. The noise was loud enough for everyone in Chapman City to hear. Laceman did this to catch the attention of Chapman City’s Royal Guards.
Although the Royal Guards wouldn’t be an issue for the cloaked shadow demon, the commotion would likely draw the male saviors from Olsylvia Academy, who could easily deal with this demon. The shadowy figure would be forced to flee.
“You bastard… Hurry up and take them… “
By the time the shadowed figure realized what was happening, the girls in the hot springs had all disappeared. Bella took advantage of Laceman’s charge and “stole” away the girls. In terms of kidnapping, she had yet to meet her equal.
The enormous commotion drew the attention of the patrolling royal guards in Duke Gould’s mansion. The guards converged on the hot springs, but by the time they got there, the only thing they found was the body of Henry the majordomo.
The Rose Society members at the banquet received Bella’s message to retreat. Lisha and the others gradually left the scene. After rescuing the girls at the hot spring, Bella had decided to withdraw. This place wasn’t a good location for a pitched battle.
