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Chapter 79: The Return Journey and Adrian Empire’s Troubled Times (Part 1)

Ximengsi Continent’s southern region, vicinity of Steinbeck Fief, outskirts of Needham Plain, a discarded cabin in the forest at the city ruin’s edge

After experiencing a surprise attack by fishmen hunters in the nameless river as well as the resentment-filled torrential rain, the surviving members of Light Church’s investigative team finally welcomed the first light of morning.

The temporary campsite built by Light Church’s investigation team yesterday had been destroyed due to the demonic creatures’ attack. The members of Light Church’s investigative team who had stayed behind at the campsite had all returned to the embrace of Light God. Saintess Suhiya and the others were together with Clyde last night and luckily avoided the disaster. Those demonic creatures had dreaded Clyde’s terrifying strength and missed the best chance to put their hands on these female believers who had lost their defensive abilities.

After the morning sunlight illuminated the cabin’s interior, Clyde opened the wooden door with ease. Saintess Suhiya and the others’ complexions were slightly red: they were still in embarrassing states since they hadn’t been able to find clothing the night before. They had even all handed over their Exorcising Holy Cross necklaces which proved their identities to Clyde for safekeeping. Now, they had nothing on them that could prove their identity, protecting them from being enslaved.

However, Steinbeck Fief Clyde nominally belonged to Adrian Empire, so it was a member of Victor Alliance, which didn’t practice slavery. Even with their current appearances, they were safe for the time being.

“Lord Clyde, there seem to be no villages nearby, and we are like this...”

“It’s okay. I will think of a solution. You all should wait here first... Eh, it seems that you all don’t need to wait.”

Before Clyde even finished speaking, he saw a lot of well-equipped knights, moving towards this direction. The flags they held belonged to Franconia Empire. After seeing the empire’s flag, the complexions of Suhiya and the others changed. With their current appearances, it would not be good to see people; thus, they could only heed to Clyde’s arrangements and hide in the cabin.

The mounts used by Franconia Empire’s heavy cavalry were demonic creatures similar to a camel. The endurance of this kind of cavalry was astonishing. They were suitable for long-distance military excursions. Compared to the knights of Augusta Empire, Franconia Empire’s cavalry were inferior in terms of speed, but in the endurance aspect, they were far superior. Both sides had their own strong points, so it was hard to distinguish which was weak and which was strong.

“Who’s hiding there!”

“Don’t, don’t attack! I am of the same side. I have proof.”

Clyde pretended to be a passerby and greeted this army, holding Augusta Empire’s honorary citizen medal in his hand. Both empires were members of Clark Alliance, so there would be no issues in saying that they were people on the same side.

“Eh, a merchant of Augusta Empire? You came here alone to do business?”

“Under the surprise attack of demonic creatures, I got separated from my companions, and I couldn’t find anyone else, leaving only me alone here.”

Franconia Empire’s heavy cavalries looked pensive. On that honorary citizen medal was Princess Ophelia’s personal imprint, which proved that this medal had been issued by her. It was very likely that the backer of this merchant in front of them was Princess Ophelia. If the person in front of them were an ordinary merchant, they wouldn’t have cared about it, but it was different now because they had to give some face to her.

“Princess Ophelia’s merchant? Doesn’t that war princess rarely do business? How come she issued an honorary citizen medal to a merchant?

“Her Excellency the Princess, see this...”

“This seal is real. It seems Ophelia truly issued it. Sorry, we needed to confirm your identity just now.”

Clyde finally saw the commander of the army, Franconia Empire’s Princess Belair. Princes Belair had long coffee-colored hair with beautiful brown pupils. She wore paladin armor with a helmet exclusive to horsewomen. She appeared more professional than that Princess Natalie he had encountered before. Princess Natalie was a berserk swordswoman, so she didn’t have knight’s temperament even when she had been riding a battle steed.

Princess Belair had a solemn expression; she belonged to an aloof class beauty. Carefully sizing up Clyde for a while, she still had some doubts in the depths of her eyes. In her impression, such a handsome young man like Clyde should basically be a young master of some aristocratic family, focused on looking for stimulation and not becoming a merchant.

“Princess Belair, is there a problem with my seal?”

“No... no, are you really a merchant? I don’t see any of your goods!”

“Goods? When we were raided by demonic beasts, we lost all of them. Princess, if you don’t believe in my words, I can do nothing about it.”

Clyde’s tone was calm, and Princess Belair honestly couldn’t find any anomalies, so she finally chose to believe in Clyde’s words. She didn’t speak about the purpose of this march, and Clyde also didn’t ask about it. This was obviously one of the other party’s secret military affairs, it would be awkward if he asked. However, judging from the direction they were marching, Franconia Empire planned to detour around Steinbeck Fief and attack Adrian Empire from the Needham Plains.

Before parting, Clyde purchased a lot of clothes from Princess Belair. Princess Belair also didn’t ask anything regarding their use. After the trade, she led her army and left, continuing to march towards Adrian Empire’s direction. Since they were making a detour, Clyde didn’t care about them. In any case, they were not charging towards his own Steinbeck Fief. As for the matters of Adrian Empire, he didn’t feel like participating.

After Clyde brought back clothes to the cabin, Saintess Suhiya and others finally breathed sighs of relief. Without cloth to cover up their embarrassment, they hadn’t known how they would return. Although cloth covered their exteriors, they had no undergarments; thus, the walking postures of the three saintesses and the others were somewhat strange. The feeling of being completely bare underneath the cloth made them a bit more careful, even though they were used to wearing appealing underwear.

After journeying for one day, Clyde successfully returned to Steinbeck Fief’s capital city, Stanley City, along with the survivors of Light Church’s investigative team. All along the way, they didn’t meet any accidents. A large distance away from their group, Cursed Queen Lafania and her younger sister Nightmare Queen Mephis led a mummy army. With them as a rearguard, no demonic beasts dared to pursue and attack.

After returning to the palace, Saintess Suhiya reluctantly showed a smile and thanked Clyde. Since the members of Light Church’s investigative team staying behind in the temporary campsite had all been killed, as the leader of the group, she would be held responsible. Before returning to Steinbeck Fief, Clyde had taken them to the temporary campsite to confirm the situation. In the campsite, other than bloodstains, not a single living person had been found, even the corpses had been missing. All those members of the investigative team had thought of only grim possibilities. The gruesome ending of those male Light Church members was obvious.

“Clyde, thank you. That night...”

“Rest assured, I will not tell of it to anyone. Treat it as a secret between us.”

Clyde pledged in all sincerity to not speak about it. After all, he had made a big profit. He had seen Light Church’s three saintesses, Saintess Suhiya, Saintess Maria and Saintess Tiffany bare and also touched them all over. In addition, these saintesses had even taken the initiative to deliver themselves to his doorstep. Thinking about their extremely high prices in that black trade name list, Clyde smirked. That old fox Bishop Nichols still didn’t know that Light Church had lost money.

“That... is there an additional vacant lot here?”

“Suhiya, don’t mess around. The specifications of Steinbeck Fief do not allow for three cathedrals unless it advanced to become a principality.”

“Well, I was just asking casually. You two don’t need to be so nervous! In any case, I am not snatching your man.”

Saintess Maria and Saintess Tiffany immediately interrupted Suhiya and didn’t allow her to speak any more. They two had been forced to run to Steinbeck Fief to escape the arranged marriage, and they had succeeded, even if Light Church’s higher-ups now felt discontented. If Suhiya also came here, then at that time, Light Church’s higher-ups might be unable to remain silent.

In the reception hall of the palace, the saintesses finally changed into normal dresses. Clyde’s younger sister, Bloodkin Lolita Lucifer sat at one side, seemingly lost in thought while looking at these saintesses. No one knew what kind of bad ideas or secret plans she was formulating. With her persistent wicked perception, she could definitely see through what had happened between Clyde and these saintesses.

“Big Brother Clyde, you made them...”

“Don’t speculate randomly. It was nothing; I treated them with sincerity, nothing more. Everything was of their own accord.”

“Is that so? I got it.”

Clyde had to interrupt Lucifer’s curiosity. This wicked girl even dared to make a move on Valkyrie Cynthia, so Suhiya and the other saintesses in front of her could only suffer the fate of being bullied if they fell under her control. After the saintesses left to sort out the report’s documents, Princess Saras came to the hall with some other official documents. Furthermore, behind her were the fief’s General Princess Natalie and Assassin Miss Jenny. They three could be regarded as Steinbeck Fief’s management level, at least on the surface. Clyde and Lucifer were the backstage manipulators.

In front of Clyde, these beauties weren’t very conservative. He didn’t know whether they had been directed by Lucifer, that wicked erotic Bloodkin Lolita, but in front of Clyde, Princess Saras and the others’ clothing were of the revealing seductive series. In any case, he had already seen all of them bare, and it seemed that they had nothing to be embarrassed about.

Princess Saras just wore a white shirt and was in a completely bare state inside. She didn’t wear any panties on her lower part, her white legs were clearly visible. Princess Natalie and Miss Jenny wore black skintight leather clothing, which completely drew the outlines of their figures. All the maids in the palace were basically also in completely bare states. The appearances of these three didn’t give any out of sort feeling.

“Lord Clyde, you’ve finally returned. The progress of the cathedrals has been very fast, so they should pass the inspections of Light Church at the end of the month.”

“Saras, you’ve worked hard.”

“Ma... Master Clyde, according to the latest investigation, Franconia Empire seems to have dispatched troops. The dispatched troops detoured around our territory and made a surprise attack on Adrian Empire from the Needham Plains.”

“Mmm, Jenny, I already know... continue to speak. I am listening!”

There were truly troubled times in the vicinity of Steinbeck Fief. Clyde had just returned, and he immediately received news that Adrian Empire had been attacked. Princess Belair truly acted too quickly. Clyde had had no time to notify Princess Alyssa before Franconia Empire had attacked them.

With the strength of Adrian Empire, even if it had been hurt by Augusta Empire before, Adrian Empire could normally still defend itself without any issues. However, allegedly, a traitor had opened the city gates and let in the enemy troops this time; thus, Adrian Empire’s border defense line had quickly fallen. Now, the enemy troops were already pressing towards the empire’s capital. Helpless, Adrian Empire could only send letters to request for reinforcements, asking every annexed territory to dispatch troops in support of their supreme headquarters and defend the capital while trying to persist until the reinforcements of other nations in Victor Alliance arrived.

Even the remote Steinbeck Fief received the letter requesting reinforcements. Clyde didn’t know whether to laugh or cry upon seeing this letter. He had just 5,000 or so militia, which basically was not even presentable. As for those big Suzerains, in order to preserve their strength, all chose to wait and see, just observing Adrian Empire’s lone army put up a brave fight.