In the Manasvir Empire, besides the region from Macnadix City to Olsylvia City, the rest of the regions belonged to the Empire only in name. They weren’t controlled by the imperial throne.
Ever since the Emperor’s strange change decades ago, he had recalled all of the Royal Guard to the capital, along with the majority of the army. Since then, the Royal Guard had blunted itself on the roaming monsters in the central region of the Empire. The remaining five million Royal Guardsmen had long lost their spirit. At the moment, two million guards were stationed in the capital, and the rest were spread across various important cities of the Empire.
It was possible that the Emperor had been replaced by a demon impersonator all those years ago. The order to recall the Royal Guard and clear the central region from monsters had been meant to exhaust the remaining strength of the Empire. During this time, he had also given out many more noble titles, further exacerbating the division within the Empire. Besides the Four Cardinal Warlords, who were the strongest, there was a multitude of weaker lords, with armies ranging from ten to a hundred thousand troops.
These smaller warlords knew that in order to survive, they would have to join one of the Four Cardinal Warlords’ camps. If they didn’t pick a side, they would be the first to fall. The troop strength of the Four Cardinal Warlords was actually far greater than Bella’s estimations. The Northern Warlord, Prince Ernest, possessed 1.2 million cavalry, as well as 1.5 million infantry. His military totaled over 3 million, and he had the strongest military might out of the Cardinal Warlords.
Of the remaining three Cardinal Warlords, in the east, there was Marshall Edwin, who had around 1.2 million troops, as well as a powerful magic corps. However, his allies also had approximately 800 thousand soldiers, which left him only slightly weaker than Prince Ernest.
Grand Duke Yale of the south and Prince Bilberg of the West each had over a million troops. Prince Bilberg even had a 600,000 strong ducal army. Ever since the Grand Duke retired, the duchies in the south had not paid much attention to his successor, Maschuter. In fact, Yale didn’t have any supporter from the duchies. This left Maschuter with a headache. Although she had inherited her position from Yale, the duchies refused to acknowledge her, leaving her unable to command the over one million forces of the various duchies that rightfully should have bowed to her rule.
Maschuter came to Bella this time in order to ask for advice on how to solve these political issues in her territory. Duchess Bellina’s Sarnia Duchy had become a major separatist power in the southern region of the continent. However, Maschuter never expected for Bellina and Baize to be the same person. Marshall Edwin’s daughter, Louise, had also come seeking for Bella. This left Maschuter in an awkward position, as she couldn’t ask certain things in front of the other girl. The Four Cardinal Warlords were in a constant state of tension, after all.
Louise was here for a completely different reason than Maschuter. She simply was on a mission to deliver a letter from her father. She had no interest in politics or military affairs. However, she also couldn’t just give the letter to Duchess Baize in front of Maschuter’s face. Although she didn’t understand the nitty-gritty of politics, all she needed to know was that the other warlords weren’t friends with her father.
Bella herself wasn’t very interested in the Cardinal Warlords of the Manasvir Empire. However, she was satisfied that two of the Warlords would send their beautiful daughters to her. In fact, after talking for so long with these two girls, she already saw them as potential allies. Especially Maschuter, as long as she was able to receive an official investiture of a dukedom from the Emperor, she would become the second female Duchess with territory and power, just behind Bella.
In the capital of the Manasvir Empire, Macnadix City, Bella was currently dining with Louise and Maschuter in the Christian Hotel. Although the food was sumptuous and Bella ate first, thus demonstrating that there were no “special additives” in the food, the two girls refused to eat. Ultimately, the environment was too “dirty” for them. There were naked females as “tables” and sexy dance performances.
Perhaps if it had been those old gentlemen from the Empire, the environment would have been greatly appreciated. However, Maschuter and Louise had never been to such a place before. It was good enough that the two hadn’t been scared off. Although Bella looked sharp in her Grand Duchess outfit, the duo found her personal tastes too deviant.
At the four corners of the dining room, Imperial Envoy Amy and her girls were performing tantalizing dances, their bodies weaving sinuously around silver poles. Bella had a great sense of satisfaction watching them perform. Perhaps if there had been more silver poles, the two young ladies could be invited as “special dancers”. After all, older sisters and younger sisters gave off a different vibe when dancing, and the two were beautiful and young. If they were to dance, they would definitely create a different atmosphere.
Under Bella’s request, the two girls were finally willing to call her Bella, thus avoiding the awkwardness of how to address each other. The two girls spent a while uncomfortably watching the dancers before finally relaxing enough to talk normally with Bella. Alas, it was still impossible for them to eat.
“Duchess Bella, Prince Ernest of the North is planning to push south for the throne. We would like to invite you to participate with the Grim Airship Fleet. You can treat it as us hiring you… As for the hiring fee, if this isn’t enough, then my Yale Duchy can cede additional territory to your Sarnia Duchy as payment…”
Maschuter was the first to lay her cards on the table. Prince Ernest, with the secret support of the Octavia Empire, had recently amassed a large amount of cavalry. After hearing the fake news about the Emperor’s illness, as well as the lack of a successor, Prince Ernest, who had a blood relation with the Emperor, was the first to move. He planned to forcibly take over the crown.
It was uncertain who had spread the rumor of the Emperor’s illness. However, it was true that he had not appeared in public recently, which lent some credibility to the hearsay. Prince Ernest and Prince Bilberg believed the rumors and quickly commanded their armies to move toward the capital. They planned to seize the capital amid the confusion. They could also detain the students taking part in Olsylvia Academy’s Qualifying tournament while at it. There were many nobles and royals from abroad among the students, and they could use them as hostages to secure the recognition of foreign empires.
As long as the United Human Empires Conference recognized their sovereignty, they could hold the throne no matter the rightful succession. On the other hand, Eastern Marshall Edwin and Southern Warlord Duke Yale were a little more level-headed. They weren’t even slightly related to the throne and also knew that a forceful takeover wouldn’t win the people’s hearts. Hence, they decided to sit back and observe the situation. If the two princes couldn’t win the citizens’ support, they could march on the capital under the banner of liberation. Becoming a Lord Protector afterward would be a big win for them.
“Lady Maschuter, you can barely mobilize a fraction of your million-men army. If you only rely on my Grim Airship Fleet of some a hundred thousand, we will arrive long before your army. Isn’t that just a scam?”
“This… I will try my best to mobilize all of them…”
Maschuter lowered her head in embarrassment. She wasn’t as politically adept as Bella. She definitely couldn’t guarantee that all of her troops would listen to her commands. Grand Duke Yale had petitioned the Emperor several years ago to officially approve of Maschuter as his successor. However, whether the Emperor had forgotten or was deliberately slighting Maschuter, after all this time, he had yet to reply to Yale’s request.
Bella’s forces, if one included the Darkness Sacred Region’s demon army, numbered over a million. She was the real warlord of the human continent. Due to the events in the Aldridge Empire, the reputation of the Grim Airship Fleet had skyrocketed, leading Maschuter to want to hire them as mercenaries.
The Yale Duchy was the only faction of the Cardinal Warlords that wasn’t supported in secret by a foreign Empire. Even the Gabriel Empire nearby the Yale Duchy refused to assist them. Thus, Maschuter really was lacking funds and told Bella as much.
The Emperor of the Gabriel Empire knew that Grand Duke Yale was getting old. Therefore, he wanted to secure an arranged marriage between Maschuter and one of his sons before agreeing to support Yale. Maschuter rejected him, thus severing the possibility of foreign assistance.
Bella impassively savored her wine. If Maschuter was willing to give herself to Bella, she would immediately mobilize her forces. However, now was not the time to be hasty.
“How about this, Lady Maschuter, why don’t you stay here for a couple of days and observe the situation? The Christian Hotel is under my control; it’s much safer than some random hotel.”
“Um, Lady Louise, I received your father’s letter. I’d like to invite you to stay here for a few days as well; I’ll give you my response tomorrow!”
“That’s fine then, Duchess Bella. I’ll be spending the night here.”
After hearing Bella’s response, Maschuter and Lousie quickly said their goodbyes and left the secret restaurant. They were too uncomfortable with the lewd atmosphere. Bella didn’t force them to stay either. After they left, she even sent someone to deliver their dinner to their rooms. Earlier, the two girls had been too uncomfortable to eat.
“Interesting, that Marshall Edwin is actually pretty good.”
Bella opened the letter that Edwin had sent through his daughter and glanced over it. Edwin wanted Duchess Baize to take control of the satellite cities surrounding the capital. With the teleportation in those cities under his control, he would be able to send all of his troops in before the northern armies arrived. As a result, he would control all of the satellite guard cities around the capital.
Using so many large scale teleportation arrays would require a vast amount of demonic cores. It was certain that the Aldridge Empire was behind this plan. No other Empire could muster the staggering amount of demonic cores on such short notice. What really interested Bella was the end of the letter. Edwin stated that she could ask for anything within his power as payment, including Louise.
Such an obvious ploy to sell out his own daughter was definitely written without Louise’s knowledge. Bella was almost moved to act, but on closer inspection, she realized the line that said Louise was up for negotiation was in a different handwriting than the rest of the letter. Before she could confirm what exactly was going on, Bella decided to withhold her reply.
Louise and Maschuter had secretly traveled here via teleportation arrays, avoiding the scrutiny of the Imperial Guards. They didn’t know that the area surrounding Macnadix City had already been conquered by the demons. Regardless of whose army arrived first, they would have to fight through the demons before taking the capital. And whether they could defeat the demons was still a big question mark!
The Four Cardinal Warlords were unaware that the capital had been surrounded by strange demonic beings. In all the years they had spent fighting over the border regions of the Empire, they hadn’t ever sent anyone back to the capital to look around. Bella put away the letter; she would have to think about how to reply later.
“Amy, you girls danced very well. From now on, you are my personal dancers. There’s an even sexier dance that’s just waiting for you to personally experience!”
Bella took off the butterfly masks that Amy and the other mature beauties were wearing. Seeing the mixture of embarrassment and excitement on their faces, she couldn’t help but grope them all over.
Amy and the rest could only helpless dance, allowing Bella to freely cover their snow-white skin with fine wine. To make them even sexier, Bella got them drunk. Under the influence of alcohol, Amy and the others lost all memory of the exact occurrences of the evening. They could only remember letting Bella direct them into whatever embarrassing positions she wanted.
For how long the sexy dancing event lasted in the secret room, nobody knew. By the time Bella left the next morning, the dancers on the silver poles had been replaced by General Fanny’s female aides. Fanny and her aides were bound face-to-face with red bindings. Under the influence of the remaining aphrodisiac, as well as the fine wine, they were kissing each other, careless of their surroundings.
Bella slipped her reply to Marshall Edwin’s letter under Louise’s door. Although she had the master key to all of the rooms in the Christian Hotel, in order to maintain appearances, Bella gave up on the idea of intruding on Lousie’s room to take advantage of the young girl.
After some thought, Bella had decided to decline Edwin’s request. She wanted to wait for Edwin to make a better offer. If he really meant to offer up Louise as an incentive, he would include it in the next letter. If he was willing to sacrifice his daughter, Bella would consider changing her original plans to support Marshall Edwin.
As for Maschuter’s request, Bella decided to wait until the end of the qualifying tournament to see how many troops she was able to mobilize before making her decision. The Christian Hotel didn’t lack in rooms, and housing two more wasn’t a problem. Bella had only heard about the fire in the Queen’s Palace this morning and didn’t know whether the rumor was true.
According to the tournament schedule, the students of Olsylvia Academy would be going to the north district of Macnadix City, to the special teleportation array. Once there, they would split into groups and use the teleportation array to go to the three great spawning grounds, where the qualifying tournament would officially begin.
Bella already knew who her teammates would be. After all, she had arranged for her teammates behind the scenes. She didn’t even open up the envelope containing her team assignment and left it on the table. Going by her memory, Bella came to President Isaman’s room. Isaman was standing there in her pure white priestess robe, a stunned expression on her face as she held an open envelope in her hands.
“President Isaman, we’re together again. Please treat me well!”
“Bella, who… Who is your partner! This has to be a mistake. I—Give me back that envelope!”
Bella took advantage of Isaman’s distraction to steal her letter. According to the rules, as the former rank 1, Isaman could change her teammate one time. However, she had to bring her letter of assignment back for it to happen. Hence, Bella stole the letter. How could she let her carefully orchestrated opportunity to slip away!
“No way, I refuse. Just come quietly and be my partner. I won’t cheat you.”
“I want to switch teammates… You, you’ll definitely do something bad…”
“Bella, you were here, huh. President Isaman is here too…”
Isaman helplessly watched as Bella snatched her letter. If she was stuck with Bella in a group, Bella would definitely take advantage of her. She had to get that letter back! However, Kriss’s sudden arrival interrupted her plans to recover the letter.
