Book 9: Chapter 529: The Eve of the Foggy Night Coup That Changed the Course of the Civil War
It is dinner time at Gabrideck City, the base camp that belongs to the Northern Alliance, which was located in the marginal area of the Marz Plain at the lower reaches of the Claudine River that was flowing near the Gabriels City of the Gabriel Empire. Since it was dinner time, most of the soldiers, except for the few that were guarding the key positions, had gone to get their stomachs filled.
Bella, along with Claudine, the Sword Goddess, led an elite team of the demon army towards the business center of the city, the Bert Trading Center, where the Hilikas Family, who were the guardians of the Gabriel Empire, currently resided. Since it was dinner time, all the members of the residence had gathered together to enjoy the meal, making it the perfect opportunity for Bella and her companion to round them up and capture them all at once.
As per her usual tactic during a surprise attack, Bella made the conquering of the opponent’s most elite unit as her priority. The demons that she had specially selected to join this operation were the elite mutant humanoid slime demons. These human-shaped, slimy demons have a special capability where they are able to turn into a liquid form and quickly vanish from the scene, making them untraceable by the opponent.
The height of these slimy demons was the same as an average human soldier and they do not carry any weapons because they were well trained in combat. The use of any weapons at all will only be a hindrance to their combat force. Currently, the Bert Trading Center no longer houses the normal residents that once used to stay here.
During the requisition of Gabrideck City to be used as the temporary base camp for the Northern Alliance army, they forcefully expelled the hundreds and thousands of residents that were residing in the city under the name of the royal family and its empire. Many of these innocent victims of the civil war had fled and found refuge in the base camp of the Southern Alliance that was located not far away.
Unlike the Northern Alliance, the Southern Alliance has more than adequate amounts of provisions and would not need to forcefully appropriate the property of the residents to subsidize themselves. Princess Kriss, who couldn’t bear to witness the state of the refugees that had fled to the base camp of the Southern Alliance, had requested the Southern Alliance assist these refugees whose homes were forcibly taken from them.
Without realizing it herself, the random act of kindness by Princess Kriss had won the hearts of the people for the Southern Alliance. Due to this, the support of the people for her had gradually grown. As they became more influential, those residents of the imperial capital who had originally stayed neutral at the beginning of this ‘Civil War’ had also gradually begun to shift to be in support of the Southern Alliance.
The stalls in the Bert Trading Centerhad been ransacked and emptied out by the soldiers of the Northern Alliance army. This time, “government requisition” was too overzealously done. Not even a single thread or needle was left behind after they had rummaged through. As a leader of a legion herself, Bella looked a little embarrassed by the actions of the Northern Alliance army who did not realize that their actions could make them lose the support of their people. The Southern Alliance that was under Bella’s command had previously used the help of the demons from the Darkness Sacred Region to build its barracks and did not interfere with the life of the residents in the capital area of the empire.
“Sister Claudine, you have also seen that the army of the Northern Alliance are no different from common bandits. Do you still think that the Northern Alliance is standing by the side of justice?
“Bella, we are already here. Let’s discuss it later when we have the time!”
Claudine did not dare to directly answer Bella’s question because she herself felt that the approach used by the Northern Alliance was too forceful and there was no way for her to justify it. However, since she was a Sword Goddess of the human race, she cannot simply abandon her loyalty towards the human race when questioned by the Demon King Bella. As such, the best that she could do is to avoid answering Bella’s question.
The guards of the Hilikas Family had much higher vigilance than that of the general army in the Northern Alliance barracks. Yet, even with that, the Sword Sages that guarded the door instantly relaxed their vigilance when they noticed the arrival of Claudine the Sword Goddess. Since the whereabouts of several Sword Gods as well as the elders of the family remained unknown, along with the missing twin daughters, Calman and Cahlia, the members of the Hilikas Family were in a dire need for a Sword God level master to guide them.
To the Hilikas Family, Claudine, who had long established a deep relationship with them, was undoubtedly the best candidate. Considering the fact that the senior members of the Hilikas Family know that the Sword Goddess Claudine was not dead, no one doubts the authenticity of her identification when she appears in front of them.
The current highest person in charge was the eldest son of the Hilikas Family, Harry Verron. The handsome white-haired gentleman now wore a melancholy expression. Even though there were still many master swordsmen under him, he had learned through recent events that the swordsmen who were only at the level of Sword Sage were not enough to handle their opponents. There were certain entities that could easily overpower and kill Sword Sage level swordsmen and only those of the level of a Sword God could level with these entities.
“Senior Claudine, I have not seen you in a long time. You still look so radiant. Care to share with me your beauty routine?”
“Wait, isn’t this Duchess Bellina? Aren’t you in the opposition team? Why are you here? Did the North and the South reconcile?”
“Harry Verron, your outfit is too… “
“Is there a problem? Duchess Bellina, there are no gender regulations for clothes.”
Bella was speechless looking at Harry Verron who was dressed in women’s clothing. The hair on the handsome white-haired gentleman was considered to be long and luscious. Dressed in women’s armor, he really does look like a beautiful girl with long white hair from a distance. The only problem was that he is flat chested. This crossdressing leader was the second “fake-girl” that Bella had encountered in this alternate world, with the first one being the “pseudo-loli” Charlotte of the Wronged Angels Society.
After a brief exchange, Bella learned that Harry Verron was not only a crossdressing leader, but he was also an alumnus of Olsylvia Academy, and an important member of a philosophical fraternity. Since Harry Verron was good at pretending to be a beautiful girl, his main task in the fraternity was to pretend to be a maiden and impersonate himself as the “female interest” of the other male members. He would then help them to calm the marriage urges from their families.
When he was attending Olsylvia Academy, he did attend various formal events, all of which he did while in men’s attires. This is the first time that Bella was meeting him while he was dressed in a women’s attire and she nearly didn’t recognize him. Considering that Bella was also among the senior members of the fraternity, they did meet on various occasions, but Bella had never personally approached him.
Previously, the Hilikas family had the intention of recommending Harry Verron to Princess Kriss but since he was a firm philosopher, he simply ignored his elders and angered the Sword Gods of the family. When he met Bella and Claudine, his eyes were more focused on their clothing than any other aspect.
Without delaying with petty talks, Claudine came straight to the point as she talked to Harry Verron. At the urging of Bella, she quickly explained her intentions for visiting him and hoped that he would use his influence as the interim patriarch of the Hilikas Family to withdraw them from the ongoing “Civil War” and remain on neutral ground. Harry Verron didn’t even hesitate before agreeing. His only condition was to be compensated with a few sets of beautiful exotic women attire that was not available on the market.
“Senior Sister Harry Verron,… no, I meant brother Harry Verron. Your interest is really unique but isn’t your decision a little too casual?”
“Junior Bellina, ever since I first laid eyes upon the attire on your body, I knew that I had to be your friend. We are both alumni of the same academy. You don’t have to be so polite. I will definitely help you.”
Things were much simpler after Harry Verrron agreed to their request. Under the order of Harry Vernon, the Hilikas Family retreated to the innermost part of the Bert Trading Center and henceforth would not be participating in the battle between the Northern and Southern Alliance. In regards to the order given by Harry Verron, none of the Hilkas Family members had opposed and all of them had unconditionally obeyed him.
Even when they stayed neutral, the Hilikas Family was actually siding with the Southern Alliance. Bella had easily obtained a large number of the Hilikas armor and their unique mask that was embossed with the family crest of the Hilikas Family. The elite mutant humanoid slime demons that were brought by Bella disguised themselves as the soldiers for the Hilikas Family with the provided armor.
Harry Verron didn’t ask for the reasons behind Bella’s need to borrow the armor from him because he had acquiesced to her plan to let her team impersonate the soldiers of the Hilikas Family. Bella and Claudine, who had changed into the armor, led the army of mutant humanoid slime demons that was also dressed in the armor to the nearest prince’s temporary residence, which happens to be that of Prince Brad.
As the brother of Alfred the Third, the former emperor of the Gabriel Empire, Prince Brad was very bad with warfare strategies. With that said, he does know how to enjoy life. A good example is how he has currently taken residence in the Royal Opera House of St. Vanern.
Initially, the Royal Opera House of St. Vanern was built in the capital of the empire, but it became too difficult to manage due to the large crowds often frequent the opera house. Furthermore, all the singing and dancing had made it a very noisy place, so the emperor of the previous generation had relocated it to the largest city that was near the capital of the empire, Gabrideck City. When the emperor had ceased to visit the opera house, it was turned into the entertainment center for the lesser royals and nobles.
The guards that were stationed at the entrance of the Royal Opera House of St. Vanern were all personal guards of Prince Brad. Even when Bella and Claudine were wearing the armor that bore the crest of the Hilikas Family, they were still denied from entering the place. In the end, Bella resorted to using the family tokens that were obtained from the two daughters of Prince Brad, Cathy and Sarah, respectively. With that, she was finally allowed to enter the splendidly decorated Royal Opera House of St. Vanern.
Since there were only two tokens, only Bella and Claudine were allowed into the place while her army of demons were blocked from entering the opera house. The guards were reluctant, but they had no choice but to let the two enter since they were carrying the family token and even then, the guards that were guarding the gate were putting on a strange expression. All the activities that were taking place inside the Royal Opera house were not suitable for a female audience and these guards had no idea what the two ladies were going to do in there.
Once she stepped foot into the Royal Opera house, it became apparent to Bella as to the reason the entry was so strictly guarded. Instead of a Royal Opera house, the interior inside was the scene of a Royal Nightclub. In the dimly lit hall, high ranking generals in military uniforms were scattered around. These generals were the generals that led the army of nearly one and a half million soldiers that was under the command of Prince Brad. Even when they were in the middle of a critical moment, Prince Brad did not forget how to enjoy his life.
Along with the military men were a large number of beautiful dancers in the Royal Opera House of St. Vanern. Only a small fraction of these women were originally dancers from the opera house while most of them were previously normal citizens of the Gabrideck City. These women were captured by the Northern Alliance when the rest of the residents were forcefully expelled from the city. In order to prevent them from secretly carrying weapons to retaliate, all the dancers of the Royal Opera house of St. Vanern were stripped of their clothes and forced to entertain the generals that came to enjoy themselves, in their naked form.
The beauties in this opera house that were carrying trays with wine and food on them had heavy anklets clamp on their feet. Walking itself was a difficult task due to these heavy anklets so escaping would be out of the question. As the generals would pick up the food and wine from these passing beauties, they would occasionally stretch out their hands to caress the bosom and waist of these beauties. As they mindlessly caress them, strange laughter would also accompany their actions.
These beauties that were carrying the platters were considered lucky. Most of them were originally civilians and couldn’t dance. After the generals have mindlessly caressed and fondled them, they would usually be let off. On the other hand, the young and beautiful young women that were placed on the stage of the Royal Opera House were not as lucky as they were forced to dance naked shamefully under the brightly lit stage. The snow-white skin of these beauties was covered with alcoholic drinks. These beauties were being forced to drink before being placed to dance on the stage. If they were to accidentally fall down during their performance, they will be dragged to the seat of whomever fancied them and would be used for pleasure at that very spot.
There were many dancers in this opera house. Each general was being served by more than two dancers who were kneeling by their side. There were also some beauties that were not assigned to any of the military officers and were just standing in a row, similar to those girls in a nightclub that await for the guest to choose them. As there were only around a hundred or so senior generals that served Prince Brad, the several hundreds of beauties that were forced to work here easily outnumbered the military men that were enjoying themselves here. So, it is not unusual for one man to have more than one beauty by his side.
“Dance faster. Twist your waist a little more. If you don’t dance now, you won’t have a chance to dance later!”
“Prince Brad is really wise. This is how a real opera house should be. It’s so much more interesting then singing.”
In Bella’s opinion, these generals of the Northern alliance’s army are no different from the bandits that rob the innocence of a civilian girl. Seeing how Claudine was bursting with anger and was going to personally deal with the scum of the Northern Alliance, Bella quickly held her back. Bella, who had personally experienced much more evil practices, did not think much about this level of sinful act. If she were to save their lives, she would still need to find Prince Brad first before dealing with the rest.
It wasn’t hard to locate Prince Brad. He was placed within the same area as Prince Burdis, who he supported. They were both at the most luxurious audience seat in the entire opera house. Aside from Prince Brad and Prince Burdis, several young masters from Prince Brad’s family were also seated here. The beauties that were serving here were the most beautiful ones in the entire Royal Opera House of St. Vanern. They were the beautiful flowers of the opera house that had yet to be soiled by any men.
Sadly, these beauties were in a miserable state. Their hands were shackled behind their back with chains and their feet were also held together by a pair of anklets. Holding their chest up, a variety of exquisite delicacies were served on the two soft peaks of their chest. The hostesses in this group were also drunk and their faces were flushed. Prince Brad and his companion were clearly old gentlemen. The beauties that were seated on their left and right kept serving them with wines and filling their already protruding stomachs.
At a short distance by their table were around seven or eight other beauties that were forced to sit cross legged in large transparent wine tanks. Their whole snow-white bodies were being submerged entirely into the tank with only their heads left out. Those wines that were served on the table of Prince Brad were all wines that were made with the mixture of the beauties and other exquisite wines.
“That old antique, Prince Angus, doesn’t know how to enjoy himself, while Prince Frauer seems to be enjoying himself more than I ever could. I really can’t get through the two of them. Just separate the land and everything will be solved?”
“Prince Brad, don’t forget that I am counting on your help to get me the throne.”
“That is only natural. I will never forget the things that I had promised. Come on, let’s drink!”
By the time Bella arrived, Prince Brad and Prince Burdis were already drunk and didn’t notice her arrival. Aside from leaving her hair out, her face was covered by the mask that came with the armor. From the outside, one could only tell that she is a girl but could never recognize her identity. Bella felt that her sense of accomplishment had greatly diminished since the first prince that she had worked so hard to sneak in and confront was a drunkard.
“It’s so weird. Why is there water leaking from the ceiling? The water even turned into humans!”
“That, aren’t they our enemy? Is it some slime? It’s…”
“There are enemies, guards!”
After discovering that there were some mutant humanoid slime demons infiltrating from the ceilings, Prince Brad and Prince Burdis instantly woke up their companions. When they saw the demons appear, they wanted to shout and run out but they were quickly covered and wrapped in a transparent jelly-like substance.
While Bella and Claudine entered the Royal Opera House of St. Vanern, the army of mutant humanoid slime demons that were being blocked on the outside secretly turned into their liquid form and entered the opera house through the cracks. Bella had provided these mutant humanoid slime demons with precise navigation and her impeccable guidance was the reason the surprise attack was victorious.
Their seemingly evil method of capturing was not only effective on women, but it was equally effective on men. Initially this attack method was developed to capture the human race to be eaten and has no other evil intention. The other various evil practices which were developed by incorporating their attack method was developed by man much later.
The atmosphere in the Royal Opera House of St. Vanern quickly quieted down. Aside from the dancing girls and beauties who were shivering in fear as they knelt silently, all the high-level generals of Prince Brad’s army had yielded to Bella during the surprise attack. After she had taken out one of the three princes, Bella had arranged for the Sword Goddess Claudine to stay back and look after all the beauties while she herself immediately set off to the temporary residence of the next prince.
“Sister Claudine, I’ll leave this place in your care. Can you explain the situation to these beauties? I’m going to pay a visit to Prince Frauer and Prince Glenard.”
“I understand. I’ll try to find a reasonable explanation for them.”
Claudine watched as Bella left, and the “foggy night coup” that would change the course of this Civil War had silently begun. Bella had every intention to end this Civil War as soon as possible and emerge victorious with the least number of casualties.