Volume 9 Chapter 521: The Unusual Atmosphere of the Imperial City and the Unexpected Stealer of the Throne
In the capital of the Gabriel (Swordsman) Empire, Gabriels City (City of Swords), in the underground sewer under the Imperial City District, Bella and Kris were carefully moving forward. This time, Bella and the others had taken the secret pa.s.sage set up by the Darkness Church. It was better than the sewer the other time. At least, it was not as smelly. This secret pa.s.sage that the Darkness Church had built had apparently been modified. It was not connected with other underground sewers.
Bella was not alone. She had brought Kris and Lost Demon King Hailey Layman, who had come to join in on the fun and confirm whether the infected Demon King was still in the palace district, and Poison Refining Loli Betty, who was here specifically to deal with the virus. Bella and Kris changed into a simple set of black guard armor together, looking very ordinary.
Loli Demon King Hailey Layman and Poison Refining Loli Betty were wearing a black gothic dress. The two of them did not need to hide their ident.i.ties. After all, few people had seen them and knew their ident.i.ties. Since Bella and Kris were the leaders of the Southern Alliance Army, they had to be low-profile when out on a mission.
A large group of black figures followed Bella and the others, numbering more than a thousand. They were the Demon Captains, and each of them only had the ability to summon small demons. These three-meter-tall guys clad in black armor could instantly summon over 1,000 Demonic Beings like small demons. In summary, Bella had actually brought a legion of over 100,000 Demonic Beings out.
These Demon Captains had been temporarily transformed by Poison Refining Loli Betty and carried antibodies on them. They would not be infected by the strange gas in the Imperial City. The Demonic Beings they summoned also had similar immunity. Bella had used the Demonic Eye in the sky to count the infected ones in the Imperial City a few times. Due to the obstruction by the black mist, she still could not determine anything.
To be on the safe side, Bella brought this Demonic Being legion to a.s.sist her in suppressing the infected. Dark Creation G.o.d Mary Rose and White Creation G.o.d Mary Lola were still in the Dimension of Darkness, cleaning up and dealing with the aftermath. Since they were not around, Bella did not need to hide the fact that she could control Demonic Beings.
“Bella, where did you summon these Demonic Beings from? Why can’t I summon them? It’s not fair! We’re all Demon Kings. You cheated!”
“Hailey Layman, you’ll know if you come to my room at night to talk about it in detail. I’ll tell you how to do it!”
“No, I’m not going. You must not have good intentions. The girls who have entered your room became strange after coming out, as if they had grown a lot.”
Loli Demon King Hailey Layman simply cut off Bella’s strange thoughts and ran to chat with Poison Refining Loli Betty. The two of them were loli beauties, so it was easier to find common topics to talk about. Bella could only temporarily withdraw her strange thoughts. How long could this loli Demon King escape? She would fall into her hands sooner or later.
Kris had been holding onto Bella’s arm, letting Bella lead her forward. She liked this feeling better; the two were like a couple. From a distance, they seemed like a harmonious family with two loli daughters out for a stroll. If one could ignore the large group of eyesore Demon Captains behind them, the picture would have been perfect.
“What’s wrong, Kris? Are you nervous? I wasn’t even nervous about meeting my father-in-law, so don’t worry about it!”
“Bella, I… I thought you said you were going to investigate the Imperial City and check out the situation in the palace? How… How did it become a meeting… with a father-in-law? I… I’m not ready to think about it!”
“Kris, I tricked you. Otherwise, how could you come out with me? I have to propose marriage no matter what when I meet Emperor Alfred the Third. Otherwise, it’s possible that my father-in-law won’t be the emperor in a few days. Who should I propose the marriage to at that time?”
Bella revealed a conspiratorial smile. She pulled Kris’s hands, making Kris, who wanted to escape from the shyness, forcibly stay by her side. How could Kris think that Bella would propose marriage at this extraordinary time? She was caught off guard. It was no secret to the Gabriel (Swordsman) Empire that Bella and some other besties had an intimate relations.h.i.+p secretly.
However, it was different to openly propose a marriage. Particularly in this special period, there was a sense of taking advantage of a person’s situation. In the history of the human continent, there had never been a precedent of a princess being engaged to another princess. Not only the human continent but the other overseas continents were also estimated to have no such example. Bella was trying to create history in the human race.
Bella was not exactly taking advantage of the situation. n.o.body knew whether the current Emperor Alfred the Third would still be the emperor the next day. As a result, while he was still the emperor, it was better to let him fulfill the promise he made when holding the Hundred Flower Festival. In order to avoid a long night fraught with dreams, it was better to put the engagement ring on Kris’s ring finger as soon as possible.
Kris was not prepared for Bella’s bold thoughts and looked panicked. Bella was relatively calm, though. Before she officially met her father-in-law, Emperor Alfred the Third, she had seen everything of her nominal mother-in-law, Queen Deborah the Fifth. What had she not seen before?
The information about the Darkness Church’s secret pa.s.sage was different than what Bella had learned from Sword G.o.ddess Claudine, who only knew the general information about the underground sewers. The Darkness Church’s secret pa.s.sage was apparently excavated in recent decades. Sword G.o.ddess Claudine had not been to the Imperial City for a long time. She was unaware of the secret pa.s.sage, which was very clean and new. It seemed that the Darkness Church often used it, and there were traces of the perceived clearing of the place.
The exit of this secret pa.s.sage was still chosen to be in the emperor’s harem area near the Star Rain Palace, the resting chamber of Queen Deborah the Fifth. Once Bella and the others pushed open the secret pa.s.sage’s iron door, which was not tightly locked, they could smell the familiar fragrance of the bird of paradise flower. When the infected were rampant, the active human Demonic Beings in the Star Rain Palace had gone missing. The place looked like an empty palace.
The Empire’s Queen Deborah the Fifth and a large number of imperial concubines and several imperial princesses were currently in the Southern Alliance. Emperor Alfred the Third had now really become a ‘loner’. The royal sons and a few kin-related Imperial Dukes were outside the capital deploying troops, plotting to seize the highest control of the empire. His daughter and his women were in Bella’s Southern Alliance. He had nothing else besides the throne.
Bella was not clear of the situation in the imperial capital, but the situation in the Imperial City was peculiar. There were few people in the emperor’s harem area, and nearly no patrol guards could be seen. Due to the infection, over 500,000 Imperial City guards loyal to Emperor Alfred the Third had been wiped out. It resulted in a ma.s.sive dip in combat power. None of these royal guards tasked with defending the Imperial City were left.
Compared to the coldness of the harem, the other districts of the Imperial City were brightly lit; it was a lively scene. Bella ascended to the Queen’s resting chamber, the highest pavilion of the Star Rain Palace. She could clearly see that apart from the harem area, the entire Imperial City was rowdy and jovial. This was not in line with the information that the infection had spread.
“Lady Bella, you don’t have to doubt. This evolved infection is not the same as other variants before. It will choose hosts with strength and parasitize them afterward. Those useless human races are not even qualified as hosts.”
“The antibodies I’ve researched are to keep the infection from spreading to people on our side. The mutated infection’s parent body should be inside this Imperial City.”
As though having sensed the doubt in Bella’s gaze, before Bella asked, Poison Refining Loli Betty took the initiative to explain to her. She did not want Bella to doubt her research results. Poison Refining Loli Betty cared a lot about her work. Even if she was questioned as being too weak, she did not care. However, if the research results were declared inaccurate, Betty would certainly be unhappy.
“Master Demon King, there’s a smell of a lot of living people there. Do I just have to clean up those human beings?”
“You guys stay here. Don’t take action without my permission unless there is malicious advancement.”
Bella had not yet thought of a countermeasure, but the Demon Captains behind her already could not hold their killing desire. They only knew how to kill and had no idea about other things. They followed the Demon King out to the battle and killed the human race. In the eyes of many Demonic Beings, it was the highest honor they pursued in life.
Bella hurriedly ordered and stopped this group of heartless subordinates. It was a bad idea to indulge the Demonic Beings in a killing spree in the Imperial City. She still had to figure out the situation here. There were many handy disguise props in the Stardust Palace’s harem area. Bella soon found a few pieces of palace maid clothing. Kris and the few changed into these outfits with Bella and went out to investigate while dressed as servants.
The others did not have anything. Kris’s silver-white hair was simply too obvious. In order not to be exposed, Bella found a very large servant’s hat for Kris to hide her silver-white hair. There was no obvious exposure to ident.i.ty.
The Imperial City was decorated with lanterns and colored banners. Bella felt that it was in preparation for the enthronement ceremony of the new emperor, which was strange. The nominal heir to the imperial throne, Crown Prince Daniel, was still in the Northern Alliance’s base camp. He could not have come here to ascend the throne. Who was here to do that?
“Bella, these soldiers are not the guards from the Imperial City, nor are they Prince Daniel’s guards. These palace maids look like they were recently recruited.”
“Well, Kris, you’re right. These are not the same palace maids as back then. They’re newly recruited.”
Bella and Kris whispered as they walked. There were many new palace maids that were busy in the Imperial City. No one noticed Bella and the rest of the extra palace maids. Soon, they obtained the latest information from the palace maids’ conversation. It turned out that the one to ascend the throne was the son of the Renald Family’s head, Young Master Reynard.
Bella speculated that the Renald Family might have secretly betrayed the Northern Alliance. The three Imperial Dukes probably were still unaware that the Renald family had defected to a certain Demon King. Under the Demon King’s a.s.sistance, it ascended the throne alone during the Southern Alliance’s confrontation.
After Dark King Gregory had been killed, the Demon King that cooperated with the Renald Family, which was the Demon King infected by Experiment Subject No. 1 or Darkness Emperor Gregory, did not recover but hid deeper due to the mutation of the infection.
Not only the Renald Family, the Empire’s guardian family, but the Hilikas Family had allowed that Demon King to take control. Besides the twin ladies, Calman and Cahlia, who had escaped a calamity as they let Bella take action in advance, the envoy that the Hilikas Family had sent to bargain with Bella was just a deception to confuse her actions.
The Renald Family could hide from the other forces and seize control of the Imperial City through the secret pa.s.sage provided by the Imperial Guardian Family, the Hilikas Family. They were also controlled by the Demon King and had captured the Imperial City in secret. Bella and the rest took the Darkness Church’s secret pa.s.sage, and the two sides’ secret pa.s.sage happened to coincide. If they met in the secret pa.s.sage, the Renald Family people could not even get out alive. The Demon Captains behind Bella were worried about having n.o.body to kill.
Ever since the names of the alliance of the empire’s three families existed, the first family, the Renald Family, was focused on Dolan’s imperial power, while the Johnston Family followed the Northern Alliance formed by the empire’s three princes. The Ignaz Family ranked at the end had secretly colluded with Bella’s Southern Alliance Army. In any case, the first lady of these three families were all in Bella’s hands. She had earned it.
The Eldest Young Master of the Renald Family, Reynard, would ascend the throne as the emperor’s son-in-law. n.o.body knew how this guy got the emperor’s handwriting on the imperial edict of succession, which was indeed the handwriting of Emperor Alfred the Third. As there was still tension between the north and the south outside, the Renald Family planned to let Young Master Reynard secretly ascend the throne. They would then instigate the war between the Southern Alliance and the Northern Alliance.
When the Southern Alliance and Northern Alliance fought for control of the imperial capital and lost, they would take the opportunity to announce the imperial edict of the former Emperor Alfred the Third. With the support of the Demon King, the batch of Sword Sage experts and a few Sword G.o.ds under the Hilikas Family, the Renald Family was confident that they would emerge victorious in this political game.
Unfortunately, the person who played his trump cards first would often be the fastest to fail. The Renald Family had shown all its trump cards from the very beginning and could already be declared eliminated. Bella took out the family token she had obtained from the Renald Family’s Eldest Lady Renath and easily fooled several groups of guards stationed at the gate outside the emperor’s palace.
These were personal guards that the Renald Family had secretly raised over the years. After seeing the ident.i.ty tokens of the direct family members, they could only give way and let them go. For the most important family token, how could it appear in the hands of a few inconspicuous palace maids? These family guards did not dare to investigate, even if they had a lot of doubts in their hearts. This was the rule of the Renald Family. They did not dare to violate it.
According to the original ceremony, for Reynard to ascend the throne as the emperor’s son-in-law, he must have a princess married to him. The original princess who had a political engagement with him was Princess Kris. However, she was still by Bella’s side. In addition to the several famous princesses other than Kris, they were all basically under Bella in the base camp controlled by the Southern Alliance. Who exactly did Reynard marry?
The emperor’s palace was also very lively. Those ministers, who had stayed in the Imperial City before the infection outbreak and could not escape, had changed into a new court uniform in a blink of an eye. It symbolized the arrival of a new dynasty. It was not that these ministers forgot the rightful emperor outside the city, but they had to turn to acknowledge Reynard’s usurpation for the sake of glory, wealth, and safety.
Reynard had already changed into the emperor’s dragon robe. He proudly sat on the throne and looked down on the ministers. Even the patriarch of the Renalds’ family had changed into a dragon robe sitting on a throne that had been made overnight. He had an imperial addiction. When Bella came in with Kris and the others, they were just in time to see the ministers wors.h.i.+p the new emperor.
“Dear ministers, from now on, I am the new emperor of the empire. The empire is named Renald Empire. The remnants of the previous dynasty are mingling on the outskirts of the new empire’s capital. Don’t worry. When the Holy Lord comes out, those guys will be nothing more than cannon fodder.”
“The emperor is wise and powerful. His Majesty shall lead our Renald Empire to a new future.”
“Your Majesty, please ascend as the new emperor.”
The new emperor Reynard had been waiting for this day for a long time. In order to deceive Prince Daniel and many other favorable contenders for the imperial throne, he had taken great pains to pretend for many years. He was waiting for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Just as he was looking down at the people kneeling below the emperor’s throne, he noticed several discordant characters.
Although the people in the entire emperor hall were kneeling, a few palace maids were not, which was an eyesore. Bella and the few of them would not kneel to wors.h.i.+p Reynard, a guy who was not even a false emperor. Kris was angry. Lost Demon King Hailey Layman and Poison Refining Loli Betty had done it out of instinct, though. They would not kneel to the lowly human race.
“Why are these palace maids so ignorant of manners? Drag them out and put them in the dungeon!”
“You’re so brazen sitting there. If not for your sister Renath’s great performance at night, I would have abolished you, a throne stealer.”