Volume 6 Chapter 340: Various Underground Deals in the Capital City of Macnadix City on the Eve of the Start of the Qualifying Competition
Volume 6 Chapter 340: Various Underground Deals in the Capital City of Macnadix City on the Eve of the Start of the Qualifying Competition
Translator: The Light
Edits by Grandia
Manasvir Empire’s capital, Imperial Macnadix City, Empress’s Palace, one day before the qualifying competition’s qualifier stage. The Empress’s Palace which was supposed to be heavily guarded was not at peace tonight. The last stronghold of the human race, the central district of the Imperial City was also attacked by demons tonight.
The best plan the Empress had originally could not be sent out before the demons made a pre-emptive attack. Taking advantage of the absence of the Empress’s most capable female subordinates, they sent an army to attack the Empress’s Palace. There were not many guards left at the Empress’s Palace. The previous guards were mainly held up by General Fanny and Guard Captain Amy, but these two had unfortunately fallen into the hands of Bella the demoness.
“Your Majesty, please retreat quickly... the demons have already breached the outer palace gates and are now closing in on our last line of defense.”
“Curses, how did they advance so quickly? I underestimated those two. They’re gods after all...I am only a lonely passerby.”
“Don’t do anything stupid, Your Majesty. Haven’t you always told us to have hope?”
The Empress sat desolate on the throne. She was holding a golden dagger in her hand, and that small hand of hers was trembling violently. The dagger was aimed right at the Empress’s own neck. One could see that she must be hesitating over whether to take her own life.
The Empress’s palace maids are usually dressed in palace maid uniforms, but they had changed back into their armor during this time of crisis, transforming into warriors and preparing to fight. Ever since the changes in the palace more than a decade ago, most of the palace maids were replaced by puppets, while the remaining few were also under the control of the forbidding circle. The newly recruited palace maids every year were just there for show, and would immediately be imprisoned by the demonic beings as soon as they entered the palace, so there were no real palace maids inside the Empress’s palace at all.
Seeing that the Empress was about to take her own life, her attendants all rushed up to dissuade her. But the Empress hadn’t completely lost. She still kept a free teleportation scroll that she could use to escape to a random part of one of the qualifying competition’s hunting grounds. The three locations were discovered and arranged by her, and even the gamble of the disguised version of the “Otherworld Live Broadcast” demonic corpse was opened up by her.
It would not be a bad idea to teleport to one of the three places and wait till tomorrow to ask for help from Olsylvia Academy’s students when they entered the arena tomorrow. Besides, the live broadcast was something that can be viewed by all the humans on the continent. Even though it would cause a major panic, it was better than having the truth buried forever.
The Empress’s only concern was that the teleportation landing on the three hunting grounds was random. Moreover, only one person can be teleported out. The Empress couldn’t bring a single female guard with her. The Empress was considered one of the more special types of transmigrators. She wasn’t as legendary an existence as Bella, nor was she as insane in combat power like Kriss and the other Black Warriors, she also did not have golden finger cheats like the male saviors, such as God Chosen Knight Scott and the others. She hardly had any combat ability, so walking around in the otherworld wilderness that was covered in demonic beasts was just like walking around as a human-shaped ingredient for these demonic beasts to fill their stomachs.
The goblins of the Forest of the Wild, demon imps of the Dusk Valley, and the slimes of the Cloud Sea Basin. Reasonably speaking, those were all scum demonic beings that couldn’t even be considered for free EXP for the other transmigrators, but they were a big issue for the Empress. She couldn’t beat any of them. Whether it was the slimes, the demon imps, or the goblins, being beaten by them was extremely embarrassing for a transmigrator. Every time she thought of this, the Empress would feel her face being covered in cold sweat. She really didn’t want to set the first precedent of such an embarrassing thing for transmigrators.
The Empress had originally saved up countless magic scrolls and precious objects in order to make up for her disadvantages of having zero combat ability, but on the night of the changes more than a decade ago, the treasure room was completely seized by the mutated demonic beings. All the Empress’s treasures were now isolated there. The demonic beings couldn’t open it, but she couldn’t get inside either.
After a loud bang, the final door of the Empress’s palace was forced open as countless black figures rushed in. The demonic beings easily broke through all of the Empress’s palace’s defenses. It was their master who gave the order to let the Empress live many years ago, otherwise she would’ve been offed long ago and would not have survived until now.
Now that the Empress was no longer useful, their master gave the last concise order. The night demons were extremely effective in combat, and a few female guards who tried to stop them were lunged at and overpowered by the demons before they could even raise their shields.
“Empress, go, quickly...This place won’t hold out much longer, you... have to live...”
“Wait, I haven’t decided... Wait... You’re...!”
Without even thinking, the guard closest to the Empress reached over to tear the free magic teleportation scroll she held in her hand. In a burst of dazzling light, the Empress disappeared from the throne, and almost at the same time, a large number of night demons rushed into the great hall of the Empress’s palace.
“Damn it, that woman got away... Attack...”
“For the Empress... Sisters, we have to fight till...”
Due to the disparity in their power, the fight in the Empress’s palace ended very quickly. By the time the little commander of the demons entered the palace, not a single soul had been allowed to escape save for the Empress who was no longer there, and they had all been captured by the night demons.
More than a dozen of the Empress’s beautiful guards had been stripped of all their equipment and were kneeling on the ground at the palace pillars with their hands behind their backs, and they were tied there with black iron chains and forced to hold a black iron rod placed horizontally in their mouths. They were all looking at the invading night demons with looks of fear. Even if they were female guards, they would inevitably feel fear in their hearts when fighting these terrifying and fierce demonic beings.
“Commander, that woman escaped. It’s all because of these damned girls getting in the way. I think we should bring them back as ritual offerings or as demon bearers. All of them look like virgins; they’re even better than that bunch in the imperial palace...”
“It’s not too late to wait till the Empress is back before we kill them. The Empress will be back, definitely. Just lock up these girls here. Right, drug them with some nice potions. We can’t do anything now, but it’s still fun to be able to hear their beautiful voices.”
“Boss is wise! We’ll do as you command!”
The female guards were quickly dragged to the pillars and tied one by one by the demons before they were force-fed with a special arousing potion. Soon, their faces flushed red and they began leaking out shameful and alluring noises. The entirety of the Empress’s palace was now covered in a strange pink atmosphere.
The Empress managed to teleport out in that golden light. When she opened her eyes, she couldn’t recognize the location she was in. This wasn’t the lush Forest of the Wild, not the barren Dusk Valley, nor was it the misty Cloud Sea Basin. Instead, this was a majestic roofless open-air palace with a huge throne with lightning-shaped patterns at the center of it.
Could she have been transported to a hidden map, or did she transmigrate again? While hesitating over her next course of action, the Empress heard a huge roar of lightning and thunder coming from the sky. Holding the golden dagger tight in her hands, she looked up to see a gigantic dragon-shaped monster that was flying towards the palace.
“Who is so bold as to trespass upon my thunder throne?! Disappear, intruder!”
The Empress’s vision suddenly went dark and she was knocked around by the lightning. She only realized that this was the hidden area of the Forest of the Wild as she fell to the ground in a dead faint. This was the deepest depths of the Thunder Canyon, where the thunder lizards made their homes, the nest of the Thunder Dragon. For a transmigrator, this was like winning a special prize. They could beat the super boss and win a super rare ultimate artifact. But for a transmigrator like the Empress who had no combat ability, besides her vision growing dim, she really couldn’t find anything comforting about this situation.
“Hm...this woman...Why does her body have such a strong scent of treasure? It’s too much of a waste to kill it. I’ll just wait for her accomplices to come!”
The Thunder Dragon seemed to be able to sense something special from the Empress. When its humongous body was about to touch the ground, it instantly transformed into a slender and gorgeous young lady. She was naked because she hadn’t worn any clothes when transforming into a dragon. Right now, except for her private parts being covered by dragon-scale underwear, the rest of her was bare. With her snowy-white skin exposed, magical lightning patterns could be seen on it.
“Seeing as you smell of treasure, I won’t kill you. However, the group of adventurers coming in this time seem more than last year’s. They probably won’t find this place, would they? But where did this woman come from...”
At Manasvir Empire’s capital, Macnadix City’s Imperial City. The strange occurrences at the Empress’s Palace quickly subsided. The demonic beings falsely used the name of the Emperor to claim that the Empress’s palace caught fire last night and that the Empress had received a minor shock and injuries during her escape. So, as the Empress needed time to rest during this Olsylvia Academy’s qualifying competition, she would not be showing up until the final round if she was feeling better. But it’s hard to tell how many people actually believed such a lame excuse.
There weren’t just big happenings at the Imperial City alone. Bella had changed into a duke’s formalwear at the eastern district’s Christian Hotel’s secret dining hall and was secretly meeting with two special guests. The Duchess’s golden official costume was designed to be rather masculine, so Bella appeared exceptionally alluring and handsome in the outfit.
Bella could have changed into a high-class noblewoman’s evening gown that revealed her breasts and clavicle, as well as her back, but that was the dress for a formal Duke’s wife. Bella’s political status was that of a duke, not a duke’s wife, so it felt a little strange for Bella to dress that way, so she chose not to.
There were only three people seated inside the luxurious table at the secret dining hall. When Bella came in, she brought none of her girls with her. Seeing that they were just two beautiful maidens, she didn’t think she had to be worried about falling under someone’s plot or whatever. On Bella’s right-hand side was a beautiful maiden dressed in ice-blue magical defense armor. This was one of the four warlords at the Manasvir Empire’s border, daughter of the eastern Marshal Edwin, high-level Battle Mage Louise.
Louise’s long pink hair and pink eyes resembled a heroine of a certain anime from that one island country on earth, but the Louise on this side wasn’t full-chested. She had inherited the usual grace and elegance of most mages. At Louise’s back was her battle magic scepter. As usual, she was in battle-ready mode.
On Bella’s left-hand side was a beautiful maiden dressed in the dark silver armor of a swordsman. This maiden was one of the four warlords at Manasvir Empire’s border, daughter of the southern Grand Duke Yale, heavy Shield Maiden Maschuter. Maschuter was the adopted daughter of Grand Duke Yale. The disheartened Grand Duke Yale could only acquiesce the ducal succession to his adopted daughter, Maschuter, after his death, as his own heir had died long ago during an internal battle over the grand duke’s succession.
Maschuter had pink hair as well; the only difference of it and Louise’s being that hers only reached her shoulders. She didn’t have the beautiful effect like Louise’s with hair going down to the waist. Also, Maschuter’s eyes were a pure azure, giving off the impression of a strict beauty. There was a fortitude in her eyes not found in many beautiful maidens at her age.
The body of the Shield Maiden Maschuter was much better than that of Battle Mage Louise. Their bodies were similar, and they weren’t much different at the bust too. Only, Maschuter’s body was much fitter than Louise’s, with the only drawback being that her expression was too serious. Bella was beginning to wonder whether these dazed moe shield maidens like Maschuter actually knew how to smile.
“Miss Maschuter, Miss Louise, are these delicacies not to your liking? Even most emperors don’t get special treats like these! If they don’t suit your tastes, I’ll call for a replacement!”
“Grand Duke Bellina, you...Your tastes are too...Aren’t you the hero who fought back the beastmen race? Such a feast is... too...”
“Grand Duke Baize, compared to that damned old man back at home, your tastes are even more...We’re...No, we came to talk business with you, not to...enjoy...”
Shield Maiden Maschuter and Battle Mage Louise both had a slight blush at their cheeks. Both of them crossed their arms over their chests and looked on guard. There was nothing wrong with Bella inviting them to a feast, the delicacies were all very expensive and the sincerity was definitely present, but her bad taste caused the beautiful maidens who were seeing this type of feast for the first time to feel inexplicably ashamed.
There were several snow-white ultra-large dinner trays on the table. A few dainty, fair-skinned beauties were lying on their backs on top of them. They were wearing white blindfolds and holding food items such as carrots on their mouths, and various delicacies were sprinkled over their fair bodies. This is Bella’s imitation of “man among gentleman” Grand Duke Gould’s “divine maiden plates”. These beautiful maidens were General Fanny’s female lieutenants and they had already been made unconscious by alcohol. Even without that, they had already been trained and would not have resisted.
Both Shield Maiden Maschuter and Battle Mage Louise had never seen such an erotic feast in their lives and had no idea how to begin. Bella urged them to dine while she herself picked her food and was eating with relish. That satisfied smile gave Maschuter and Louise a strange chill down their backs. The bad taste of this female grand duke was too special. They couldn’t even look straight at it anymore.
Fortunately, she didn’t have enough girls, otherwise, Bella would want to imitate the full offerings of the “great gentleman” Grand Duke Gould, tying several young maidens to the dining hall’s pillars and inviting Maschuter and Louise to taste the special “milk”. However, they already could not accept this scene, so this might be their limit.
At all four corners of the dining table were columns of silver pipes with mature big-sister type beauties with full bodies dancing at each of them. Their bodies were completely bare with a black metal collar at each of their necks with a thin iron chain attached to it. The chains were attached on top of the silver pipes so that their activities were limited to a small circular stage right below the silver pipes.
The dancers were wearing butterfly-shaped masks with red ball gags in their mouths. Maschuter and Louise couldn’t see their faces, but if they knew their true identities, then these three views of these two beautiful maidens would have been baptized.
The four dancers were Manasvir Empire’s Envoy Amy, Prime Minister Anna, and Archmage Ronnie, as well as General Fanny. After Space Time Demon Noesha’s “special care”, they had already acquiesced their identities as the Demon King Bella’s maids. After drinking a special potion, they couldn’t even care about their own shame anymore and began their “charming dance” in the secret dining hall.
Amy and the others naturally knew who Maschuter and Louise were. The four warlords of the empire were all important characters. They felt very embarrassed at first to be dancing this way in front of people they knew, but that sense of embarrassment mixed in with the taboo caused them to feel strangely aroused. Before they knew it, the entire silver pole was covered in strange stains and the air was also filled with the strange scent of lilies.
Both Maschuter and Louise had come to the Imperial City via teleportation so they could seek Bella to talk about the rebellion. They had long known the fact that the emperor was no good, but they still had their differences. Grand Duke Yale had already retired into seclusion so the silly moe Shield Maiden Maschuter was in charge of the southern military affairs of the empire, becoming a maiden warlord similar to Bella.
Louise had been sent by her father, Marshal Edwin, to conspire with Bella. The eastern warlord Marshal Edwin had close ties with the Aldridge Empire to the east, and if they were to work together for a coup, he instantly thought of the Aldridge Empire’s new warlord, Grand Duke Baize of the Angelos Duchy. Similarly, the successor of the eastern warlord, adopted daughter Maschuter, wished to seek military support from Grand Duke Bellina, lord of Sarnia City of the eastern Gabriel Empire.
But who would have thought that Grand Duke Baize and Grand Duke Bellina would be the same person? Neither Maschuter nor Louise expected this, leading to the slightly awkward meeting like the one they were having now. How can they continue this discussion when they were both political rivals themselves?!