Book 5: Chapter 272: Investigation of the Mysterious Dead City, Angus City, Start!
Book 5: Chapter 272: Investigation of the Mysterious Dead City, Angus City, Start!
Angus City was located in the eastern Nation of Arcana, the Aldridge Empire’s central region. It was where the magic convention between Olsylvia Academy, Listabel Academy, and Dimiost Academy was held.
There, Bella had met Listabel Academy’s student president, Alephia, as well as Dimiost Academy’s student president, Gladdis. Back then, Bella didn’t have the time to be able to eat them up; she was only able to thoroughly ogle their bodies. Perhaps, she would have another chance on this journey.
In a single night, the entire population of Angus city had disappeared, turning it into a dead city. The impact of losing an entire city was even higher than when Bella instigated the “Underground Black Market Fight.”
The Radiant Church had already sealed off the entire area. However, the new leader of the Church’s Law Enforcement Team, Mathilde, was still scrambling to consolidate her power. At the same time, the other three great factions were unwilling to risk their resources and manpower on such a dangerous investigation. Therefore, responsibility for the incident was left to the Aldridge Empire.
On the ground floor of the Hausmann Hotel, in the main hall, Bella was wearing a full set of light knight’s armor while drinking with the head of the Eye of Darkness, Sally Roy. The two beauties ignored their image and took shots after shots, their drinking style put many men to shame.
“Bella, that’s all I know about the Angus City incident. I don’t know what the Twelve Academies are up to, but the missions this time aren’t limited to only students. I’ve even been tasked to spread the word through the Eye of Darkness. The rewards are really good, though, there are junior-grade divine artifacts. They look to be part of the Ares Set.”
“Big Sis Sally Roy, do you know anything more specific? I was planning on going there to test my luck…”
“Bella, please don’t take this risk. You have so many stable assets, why don’t you just sit back and enjoy the spoils of your hard work? The mercenary groups that went there still haven’t returned, this is just as bad as that grave robbing mission.”
“I’ve said everything there is to say, though I get the feeling that you won’t listen to me. Is the Skeleton Tower’s Tower Master’s daughter, Kleina, with you? You can’t just hide her forever! What about Randall? That bastard is still looking for his fiancee.”
“Randall, that idiot, his fiancee isn’t here. Kleina though… Let’s just drink, don’t talk about depressing stuff!”
Obviously, Bella would never admit that she was sheltering Kleina in the hotel, and Sally Roy didn’t call her on her evasion. Although Sally Roy was interested in Bella’s true identity, she wasn’t at the point where she’d be willing to go against her own Eye of Darkness society. Seeing Bella’s reluctance, she didn’t press for more.
Bella instructed her underling, assassin Lola, to follow Sally Roy after she left. Although she trusted Sally Roy, she didn’t trust the rest of the Eye of Darkness. After all, the underground society was very chaotic.
“Lola, take your Demon Thieves and watch over president Sally Roy. That bastard Randall isn’t an honorable man, he might try something unsavory.”
“Understood, I’ll arrange it… No, I’ll go in person…”
Lola knew what Bella was really planning. Her demon king master’s evil proclivities were well known. However, Bella had never mistreated any of her conquests, she was very good to all of them. Lola couldn’t argue with her, and could only join her in depravity.
The registration for the Angus City venture was located in the Central Students’ Union. The next morning, Bella headed up toward the building with her roommates as well as several student presidents. Chief Student President Angelia was there to welcome them. Since several mercenary groups had already been lost, the registration process was much more strict.
“Bella… Royalty and the core members of the academies are not allowed to go. Also, the only heir of high nobility is not allowed. Therefore, Princess Kriss and the rest… Huh, President Isaman, when did you join the Rose Society? I seem to be the only one that hasn’t joined your Rose Society. Did you girls all plan this behind my back?”
“Chief President Angelia, that… I just had a passing interest and figured I’d join. You don’t have to worry about me. It’s best if you stay far away…”
Before Isaman could finish her warning, she was muffled by the two student presidents standing beside her. Ivy and Lucia couldn’t wait for the chief student president to join them.
Technically, everyone that Bella had brought was a princess or a core student, even herself; Felia was a princess after all. After a round of haggling, Angelia reluctantly allowed Bella, Lisha, and Kriss to go to Angus City. These beauties’ power was publicly acknowledged. If they went, at least there wouldn’t be any issues with personal power.
Mage Ariel, Assassin Noreya, Puppet Master Elaine had been much more secretive with their strength. Angelia judged them as too weak to go on this adventure. However, these three princesses weren’t inferior to Kriss or Lisha in battle strength at all. Bella comforted the trio before making them promise her to maintain the Rose Society’s assets in the academy while she was away.
Isaman, as a Student President, was also unable to participate in this event. This also included the other student presidents accompanying Bella. As further insurance, Bella commanded Devastating Evil Dragon Emperor Lolita, Demon God Angel, Great Evil God Mia, Interdimensional Illusion Demon Noesha, and Poison Origin Betty to remain on standby in Olsylvia Academy. These lolis would prevent any untoward attempts from the dark forces of their neighboring academy, Alessandra Academy.
As for the Male Saviors, God Chosen Holy Sword Akmans and God Chosen Knight Scott had already set out earlier. They probably thought that this would just be another ordinary monster farming expedition. However, Olsylvia Academy was now empty; Bella needed to make sure that several powerhouses were left behind to hold down the fort.
Although Angelia had declared that royalty would not be allowed to go to Angus City, on the day of departure, Bella saw many royals from the Euphemia Imperial Academy heading out. The mission to investigate Angus City had been declared by the principals of all of the Twelve Academies. On top of the Ares’ Set, the successful student’s academy would also receive a 30 point reward.
These points were for the upcoming Human Empires Twelve Ivies Battles. With a thirty point head start before the event even started, this would be a huge advantage for whichever academy was able to claim the prize. With such a huge prize, even Angelia had to loosen her restrictions. In fact, she was personally leading a group off to Angus City.
Before leaving, Angelia left Lucia, Isaman, and Maria with responsibility for Olsylvia Academy’s affair. These three student presidents were organized and responsible, and her secretary, Holy Swordsman Cynthia, would supervise them. Of this four-person Temporary Management Committee, three belonged to Bella, and the fourth was already half a step in Bella’s room. The highest authority in the academy would be controlled from behind the scenes by Bella.
Bella and her friends rode a giant flying demonic beast, a Forest Giant Eagle. Its huge 10-meter body could easily serve as a transportation vehicle. Although it had an intimidating appearance, it originated from the Elven Continent. Its threat level was barely at D-rank.
Bella almost pitied the eagle. This thing had grown so big for nothing, it was barely the equivalent of the D-rank Forest Demon Wolf. Even the C-rank Earth Demonic Bear that Bella had fought back then when she was still weak was stronger than this bird.
Humans imported this flying beast from the Elven Continent specifically for use for transporting personnel to reach locations that didn’t have the teleportation array. It was absolutely not a beast of battle, these birds were so weak that they wouldn’t even dare approach a battle.
The teleportation array at Angus City had stopped working as soon as the disappearance had occurred. It was unknown as to what caused this, as normally, the array would have a very powerful defense. An ordinary demonic beast would be unable to destroy one. It was apparent that the situation in Angus City was dire.
As Bella flew onwards astride the Forest Giant Eagle, Lisha and Kriss leaned against her on her right and left, as if they were taking a nap. However, Bella could feel their attention on her. The two girls’ dark transformation forms had plenty of encounters with Bella, especially Demonic Dragon Emperor Alisha. It was likely that this hidden attention was from their dark forms.
Angelia was near the head of the eagle, talking to the summoner who was piloting the beast. Around them, there were many other Forest Giant Eagles; it looked as if the other academies had caught up. Due to the distance, Bella couldn’t make out the academy banners hanging from the other eagles.
Lolita and Bella had talked earlier, and Lolita had told her that the person, who was responsible for the mess in Angus City, was on par with herself in terms of power. She was unwilling to disclose their name, although she did say that they weren’t part of the World Destructor’s camp, rather they were like Noesha and Betty, a Chaos Bringer.
The Chaos Bringers had a long history of conflict with the Saviors. They were hunted by the Saviors all the way up until the sixth generation leader of the Chaos Bringers came into power. The leading loli Chaos Bringer, according to Betty, was convinced that Bella’s original identity as the Sacred Demon God Samantha was her big sister.
That loli Chaos Bringer leader had fought countless times with Samantha’s big sister, the leader of the World Destructors, over who would get to spend alone time with Samantha. Every time, the end result was the three girls hanging out all together. Bella would even occasionally encounter some of those memory fragments in her dreams.
Bella also faintly recalled as if there were sometimes more than just the three of them, a mysterious fourth person. She would hide away and secretly observe the three of them with eyes full of jealousy. The only time her gaze mellowed out was when she looked at Samantha. However, Bella couldn’t remember exactly who this mysterious fourth girl was.
There was a further benefit to this journey, which was that the perpetrator of the Angus City incident knew the method to dispel the ten thousand years old curse on the fifth generation Radiant Pope, Roxanne. Bella was actually looking forward to this the most. As soon as the curse was dispelled, she would line up Roxanne and Goldsmith on her bed and “enjoy” them together. That feeling of blasphemous pleasure was something that Bella loved.
“Duchess Bellina… Duchess Bellina, really now, are you… Are your ears bad?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, I let my attention wander. I haven’t seen a fellow student as beautiful as you before! Could you tell me your name?”
“Duchess Bellina, how could I compare to the beautiful Princess Kriss sitting next to you! You really know how to sweet-talk a girl, I am Brittany Effie, you can just call me Effie. I hope my ugly little sister, Ariel, didn’t scare you too badly! After all, you two do live in the same dorm.”
“So you were Princess Effie, you can just call me Bella, you don’t have to be so polite. Princess Ariel she… She’s fine!”
When Bella awoke from her recollections, she realized that a beautiful student was trying to talk to her. It looked like she had spent a long time trying to get Bella’s attention as well. Her cute cheeks had a faint blush over them. She had pure black hair, black eyes, and wore a set of black mage robes.
Brittany Effie was the second princess of the Aldridge Empire, and the big sister of Bella’s roommate, Princess Ariel. The two had been playmates when they were younger. However, as they say, a girl changes 18 times when they grow up. Ariel grew uglier and uglier whereas Effie became more and more beautiful. Eventually, Ariel cut off all of their interactions due to a sense of inferiority. Afraid of court gossip, Effie also didn’t go looking for Ariel.
Princess Effie came to talk to Bella to find out how Ariel was doing. Bella could only awkwardly lie that she was doing fine. Truthfully though, the real Princess Ariel had already committed suicide several years ago. The current, blindingly beautiful Princess Ariel was actually the reincarnated Black Warrior. Although she still had some of the old Ariel’s memory fragments, she was no longer the same person.
She was the same as Lisha and Bella. It was a good thing that Bella had repaired her body’s prior owner, Princess Felia’s relationship with her sisters Irene and Luce. Bella decided to help mend the relationship between Effie and Ariel. After all, if she wanted to marry Ariel later, she would have to rely on Effie’s power as a high ranking princess of the Aldridge Empire.
Effie was a rare Dark Mage. She knew many evil magics and possessed the moniker of the “Third Chapter of Taboo.” She was one of the Eight Chapters of Olsylvia Academy’s magic branch. The Eight Chapters were eight beautiful mages, of which Bella had already conquered three: the “Second Chapter of Sanctity” President Lucia, the “Cerulean Fourth Chapter” Sylvia, and the “Crimson Fifth Chapter” Serena. If she could conquer Effie, then she would have acquired half of the Eight Chapters.
Effie seemed like she emphasized politeness. Earlier, even though Bella had ignored her for a long time, Effie still spoke to her politely. Bella was very interested in such a polite student.
“That’s good, Ariel can avoid the power struggles within the royal family this way. Does she have enough money? If not, could you please give her these 20,000 gold coins for me! It’s my leftover allowance from this month. I know my father cut her allowance from 10,000 gold a month to 10,000 a year. That’s not enough, is it…”
Bella gawked as Effie handed over a magic storage card. She cursed the Blood Skull young master, Randall, inside her hurt. She had thought that he was quite wealthy, but he was nothing compared to these mages. He was an embarrassment of a young master of the Four Great Evil Organizations.
“That… Consort… Princess Effie, you should give this gold magic storage card to Ariel yourself when we get back!”
Bella acted as if she had an “epiphany” as she tried to steer Effie to reconnecting with Ariel. Bella really liked Effie’s name, a Princess Consort, that would be amazing. Bella wouldn’t give up until she had an “encounter” with Effie on this journey. It would also be difficult to pull this off under the watchful eyes of Kriss and Lisha.
“We’re not even close to Angus City yet, but there’s a strange cloud, what’s going on… Everyone pay attention, there might be something strange going on ahead.”
Angelia’s voice of confusion interrupted Bella and Effie’s conversation. Bella looked up and saw a large stretch of five-colored clouds in the sky ahead. It was slowly approaching the Forest Giant Eagles. It was obvious at a glance that those clouds weren’t normal, five-colored clouds were strange, even in this alternate world.