Like Barnard Town, Oran City was also located in the southern part of Ximengsi Continent. Despite being the capital city of Owles Kingdom, as it was a small kingdom, the entire Oran city proper didn’t really have a large population. In fact, it couldn’t even compare to the small cities of the larger empires. Just a small force from the “Extremely Dark Empire” Augusta Empire had been able to quickly capture the vast majority of Owles Kingdom’s towns. Now, setting aside the capital, Oran City, the entire Owles Kingdom was practically a conquered nation.
When Clyde and Lucifer arrived in Oran City, there was not even a single foot-soldier guarding the gate. Originally, the kingdom had had a thousand or so soldiers defending the city, but as the Augusta Empire’s army had pressed past the border, many soldiers had lost their will to fight and chosen to run away. In their view, it was better to run away earlier than to stay and court death.
Now, there was only a hundred or so troops defending the city. Over five hundred people had simply abandoned their nation. In addition, when Owles Kingdom’s King Richard the Sixth had fled, he had taken over four hundred soldiers with him, claiming they were imperial guards. He had then fled to Adrian Empire and sought asylum. As for Crown Prince Charles, he had immediately escaped to another empire and hadn’t dared to return to his country ever since the war had started.
The only force that could compete against the “Extremely Dark Empire” Augusta Empire was the “Pure White Empire” Winifred Empire, the principal member of “Victor Alliance.” However, this empire was simply too far away from Owles Kingdom. Although they had already dispatched 30,000 supporting troops, they would probably give priority to the Adrian Empire and support them instead of the small neutral Owles Kingdom since they came from the same faction as Adrian.
There was no way around it though: Adrian Empire’s dish was truly too rotten. Their over 100,000 soldiers had insisted on chasing after the around 10,000 soldiers of Augusta Empire without any good reason. In the end, they had been completely trapped within the other party’s tempo and had been led by their noses. Eventually, Princess Ophelia had intentionally turned around and suddenly besieged the tired, chasing force. After a few rounds, Adrian Empire’s army had quickly lost over 50,000 soldiers, and the remaining 50,000 soldiers had been so scared that they had retracted like a turtle drawing in its head and legs to within its sturdy shell, retreating to their fortified castles and not daring to go to war again.
Clyde and Lucifer strolled around Oran City. Lucifer’s previous judgment had been wrong. Even though the country was on the verge of perishing, the innkeepers still didn’t forget their jobs. They still charged rent. Moreover, they demanded a lot more than normal. This was probably due to human nature as they tried to squeeze the last profits they could in preparation to either desperately flee the city or in stubborn denial of what their kingdom faced. In any case, Clyde and Lucifer travelled around the city, but never found an inn offering rooms free of charge.
“Ten copper coins per day. No credit. Hurry if you want to stay!”
“Uncle, it’s written outside that it’s only five copper coins!”
“Little girl, this is a wartime price increase. The cost will be twenty copper coins if you wait!”
Clyde pulled Lucifer aside and directly left. He had never seen such an increase in price just before a country perished. After all, it didn’t matter. Augusta Empire was an empire that supported slavery. Once they conquered this city, most of the people would be captured and sold as slaves. At that time, no matter how much money they had, it would all be useless. Nevertheless, the welfare of those of Human Race had nothing to do with him. Overall, the current Clyde was still focusing on touring this different world. He didn’t have any thoughts to interfere with Human Race’s warfare. Speaking of those armies, no matter which empire they came from, his one Abyss Stare could finish them all in seconds.
In the somewhat poverty-stricken imperial palace of Oran City, Clyde saw Owles Kingdom’s Princess Seras. Princess Seras’s head was full of long wavy golden hair, and her blue eyes were full of melancholy. She wore a white dress and sat on a recruitment station to desperately recruit mercenaries before the final fight. She had no choice because most of the soldiers had already ran away, and the remaining hundred or so soldiers were old, weak, sick and disabled. They basically couldn’t do anything, which was why they hadn’t been able to flee. Even her father had abandoned her…
The attractiveness index of Princess Seras was not any inferior to the “Extreme Night Princess,” Princess Ophelia, who Clyde had seen before. Although she was engaged to Adrian Empire’s Prince Eric, as her country perished, her fiancé did not come riding to her aid at the forefront of a vast army. It seemed that it had all just been a superficial engagement and nothing more, lasting only in good times.
“Big sister, are you recruiting mercenaries? My big brother does not like working, but he can do it. Just a place to eat and some food to eat would be enough. We don’t need your money.”
“Eh, what a cute little girl! You should leave with your big brother. Once this place is captured, such a cute girl like you will be captured and sold as a slave.”
“Then, what about you, big sister? Are you leaving? You are so beautiful! Aren’t you afraid that you will be sold?”
“I… even if I run away, it’s useless, ai.”
Clyde truly hadn’t wanted to get involved in this kind of matter, but his sister Lucifer had immediately started a conversation with Princess Saras. However, Saras smiled bitterly and kindly advised them to leave. Because King Richard the Sixth had escaped with all the crown treasury, Princess Saras had no money to pay mercenaries. Even now, her current actions were merely meant to half-heartedly motivate the people within the besieged capital. She could only promise to pay any mercenaries after they won. This was a clearly desperate business venture. There was no mercenary who would accept this perilous task when the rewards were so insubstantial. Therefore, the number of people who had signed up for this was very small up until now.
“Lucifer, what are you thinking?”
“Big Brother Clyde, we need a long-term residence. This big sister doesn’t have any schemes. I can see through all her thoughts via her eyes. Isn’t having such an easy to deceive good big sister as landlord the best?”
“Lucifer, you… are you a devil?”
“Yes, is there any problem?”
Under Lucifer’s impetus, Clyde reluctantly took over the task of defending this city. Out of special consideration for her safety, he didn’t get too close to Princess Seras and didn’t talk. Princess Saras was just an ordinary young human girl. If she got too close to him, this Great Old One, she might die without rhyme or reason.
“Thank you. Alas, I cannot even provide you any weapons for my father took all of them.”
“It’s alright, big sister Saras. We don’t need weapons.”
Shortly after Clyde was employed, Augusta Empire’s advance troops finally arrived. They must have already known that the remaining just over a hundred defenders of Owles Kingdom were the old, weak, sick and disabled, which was why, Augusta Empire’s vanguard army only had a bit over a thousand soldiers. They planned to capture the entire Oran City with merely these thousand soldiers.
Although the opposition was only just over a thousand soldiers, they were the part of Augusta Empire’s regular army, the Heavy-Armored Black Knight Legion. Their average equipment’s standard was much higher than many kingdoms. Clyde, who was standing tall on the ramparts, examined his fellow defending soldiers who nervously eyed the approaching army. Clucking his tongue, he sighed at how primitive this kingdom was. All of the defenders only had an iron plate strapped to their chest to function as a kind of primitive armor. They didn’t even hold shields. As for weapon armaments, they had spearheads tied to wooden sticks. Some young fellows who seemed to have never before held a spear wielded only sharpened staves. The disparity in the two army’s equipment was more than a few levels. Perhaps, the kingdom might have still held hope but for the fact that the opposite side crushed them in terms of numbers too. Had Clyde not been there, and Owles Kingdom survived this battle, it would’ve been hailed as a miracle by the forces of Ximengsi Continent.
“Captain Kroh, Her Highness the Princess Ophelia has ordered us to siege the city first and then wait for her arrival.”
“Are you stupid? If we wait for Princess Ophelia to arrive, how will we get any benefits? We should raid the city now and capture Princess Saras first to make a big profit. In the black market, someone is already offering 100,000 gold coins to purchase her.”
Under the temptation of the large sum of money, Captain Kroh, the commander of Augusta Empire’s advance party, decided to not wait for Princess Ophelia. He directly attacked Oran City.
On the city wall, upon seeing the charging Black Knight Legion, the defenders were so scared that they immediately retreated without putting up a fight, leaving only Clyde and Lucifer standing there. Shaking his head at the fleeing soldiers, he lamented their cowardice before remembering that they had at least chosen to stand on the wall against the approaching enemy. Ignoring the dropped sticks and spears around him, Clyde calmly gazed at the charging knights. Because Lucifer’s height was shorter than the ramparts of the city wall, the opposite side couldn’t see her and mistakenly thought that only Clyde was standing there like a fool to defend the city. Of course had they seen Lucifer, they would’ve only pleasantly welcomed the addition of such a cute slave…
