The Manasvir Empire’s Capital, Macnadix City’s guardian satellite cities, Chapman City’s city hall, Duke Gould’s Grand Mansion. News of the disturbance around the barn had already reached here. The royal guards guarding this area were assembled at once, and they quickly headed towards the granary.
According to the Manasvir Emperor’s decree, in the event of an emergency in the city’s granary, walls, or other important military facilities, the royal guards could rush over independently without the need to wait for the city lord’s order. Right now, the only ones left behind to guard Duke Gould’s Grand Mansion were the duke’s own troops, numbering two thousand.
The Grand Duke’s guards had combat abilities about the level of a bodyguard. In terms of quality and skill, they were nowhere as strong as the royal guards who were stationed there before. After the royal guards temporarily withdrew, they began to slacken instead. Even the way they patrolled seemed lazy. When Bella and Top Assassin Noreya came back here, she saw the Grand Duke’s guards sitting around and resting at the mansion’s entrance.
The level of the duke’s guards was way too low. Noreya and Bella didn’t even need their most basic invisibility suits. They just went around the back door and picked the lock. Throughout the entire ordeal, not a single guard caught them.
Without the royal guards, the security level of the entirety of Grand Duke Gould’s Mansion dropped a few notches. Bella and Noreya aimed straight at the duke’s study. In order to get permission to leave the city, Grand Duke Gould’s seal was required as proof on the permit. In general, most city lords liked to keep this type of seal in an elegant place, such as their studies, so as to look like a bigshot. Hence, they couldn’t go wrong by hitting the study.
While Bella and Noreya were infiltrating Duke Gould’s Grand Mansion, the girls of Olsylvia Academy gathered at the practice field of the temporary barracks under Beauty Dragon Knight Ingrid’s directions. Most of the girls on the field were looking at each other, feeling confused.
Besides the girls of the Rose Society who knew what had just happened, the other girls had not the slightest hint. Daylight was gone as soon as they woke up, and they had no idea where the boys and many of the mentors had gone. Many girls were inevitably feeling a bit panicked, but they just didn’t show it on the surface.
Two mentors of the magic division, Supreme Magic Mentor Catalina and Supreme Magic Mentor Melvira, were sitting on the dais behind Ingrid. They weren’t trying to act special or putting on airs. It was just that mages didn’t have quite as much stamina as a knight. During Bella’s “wild party” last night, they had most of their energy drained.
Catalina and Melvira had only just recovered some of their energy, so it was still difficult for them to stand and walk. In order not to expose the fact that they were “pushed down” by a girl, they could only stay seated. As for Bella, they both had different thoughts about her. Catalina was wholly smitten, but there was still a bit of a struggle in Melvira’s heart.
Bishop Stanley had already stepped back. He was a clergyman, so he did not know much about academic education. Therefore, such matters were better left for the mentors themselves to deal with. Moreover, Bishop Stanley was already akin to a grandpa to all these girls, so the generation gap would make the communication hard.
“Girls, please stay quiet. Everything will be fine. The Manasvir Empire has already come to us with the news. Hm… Princess Isaman, you should tell everyone!”
Not good at lying, Beauty Dragon Knight Ingrid was worried she wouldn’t be able to lie as Bella told her to and would have the girls become suspicious. After some thought, she decided to leave this “behemoth task” to President Isaman. She was a princess of the Manasvir Empire and one of the student presidents of Olsylvia Academy. It would be better for her to speak to them.
President Isaman stepped up onto the podium somewhat reluctantly. Of the three Manasvir Empire princesses present, Marionette Master Elaine had little credibility, so barely anyone would believe her. Princess Pamela, on the other hand, was just like Mentor Ingrid—she was a good girl who didn’t lie. In the end, Ingrid could only leave it up to President Isaman.
Bella had definitely set her up on purpose. President Isaman cursed that she would fall into a puddle as soon as she stepped out. It was not that she couldn’t think of anything worse, but rather, the harsher the curse you tried on a demon king, the more useless it was. She might as well curse her to falling into a puddle, as that was closer to reality.
“Well, let me tell you guys about the situation. Everyone, please pack up your stuff. We are going down to the teleportation array in a bit and be teleported directly to the capital, Macnadix City.”
Most of the girls believed in President Isaman’s words. As long as no girls with special statuses were to object at a time like this, they generally wouldn’t doubt her. Besides, the girls who could cause trouble were members of the Rose Society. If they didn’t ask any questions, they had tacitly agreed that President Isaman’s words were absolutely true.
The royal guards in charge of watching after the girls had already rushed over to the granary to suppress the rise of the corpses. Since nobody was staring at them, this was the perfect time to retreat. Grand Duke Gould’s orders to the royal guards were to “protect” the students, not “monitor” them, as there was no way that such a command could be said out loud.
The head of the royal guards clearly did not understand Grand Duke Gould’s hidden instructions. He thought they really just had to protect the students. After seeing the signal fire at the granary, he immediately led all the garrison troops there.
In the back garden of Duke Gould’s Grand Mansion at Chapman City, Bella and Noreya, who had climbed up from the walls, accidentally fell into a “trap” while they were coming down. Since there were no lights at the back of the grand mansion, Bella, who was the first to descend, stepped into a puddle.
Following Bella, Assassin Noreya reacted promptly and stuck her dagger into the wall, keeping herself in place before she reached the bottom and avoiding Bella’s tragic situation. When she saw Bella’s humorously dripping wet state, Noreya held her dagger tightly with one hand and covered her mouth with the other, trying to hide her laugh.
Bella’s embarrassing fall was a hard scene to come by. Even a strict and aloof Assassin Noreya couldn’t help but snigger. The big “plop” when she fell into the water was too loud, and it had attracted the attention of some of the guards. A light came from the corridor. Bella wanted to get up, but the puddle was only half a meter deep. She wouldn’t drown; it would just get her “wet”.
Seeing the guards come over, Bella could only endure the embarrassment and squatted in hiding. How did she end up falling into a puddle today? How unlucky. Which architect was in charge of Duke Gould’s Grand Mansion? They didn’t even fill up this pit!
Several guards were carrying cylindrical magical lanterns and came to the back garden. They didn’t go where the puddle was and just stopped at the garden’s gates. They were a bit too lazy to patrol around the back garden in the middle of the night, so they didn’t continue onwards.
“Nobody’s here, I think. Let’s go. Who’s gonna come rob the Grand Duke’s Mansion at this time of the night anyway?”
“You’re right. Let’s just go grab a drink. Those stiff royal guard guys aren’t here tonight, and nobody’s watching. It’s a good time for drinking!”
Those guards quickly left after whispering to each other. Before leaving, they revealed the location of the garden’s exit to Bella. She also memorized the direction they went off to from the light.
After the guards left, Bella crawled out of the puddle with a moody face and cursed several generations of the person’s ancestors, who had made her fall into that puddle. Very carefully, Assassin Noreya followed behind Bella, worried that she herself would suffer the same fate.
Grand Duke Gould’s Mansion was dimly lit. One could tell he wasn’t a good official just from the looks of it. There was a 9 out of 10 chance he made the place so dark to make it easy for him to do underhanded black market dealings. While walking, Bella and Noreya didn’t notice another guard again, not even a maid. This would get troublesome if nobody was there to lead the way. However, it was a good thing that Noreya was good at prying doors open. They could just check every room.
The backyard of the mansion was where the Grand Duke conducted his various illicit activities, so anyone rarely went by there. Only a handful of his cronies were allowed to enter. Naturally, no one would be here in the middle of the night. Grand Duke Goult’s family had been running Chapman City for years. He was confident that no burglar would ever dare to break into his house, until he met these two “special” burglars today, Bella and Noreya.
Bella and Noreya found a large cache of good wine in one of the many rooms in the backyard, as well as a good number of precious medicinal herbs. Just like their counterparts back on earth, the corrupt officials in this Other World also liked to hide all sorts of possessions in their mansions. As for the wine and medicinal herbs, Bella wasn’t too interested. She didn’t lack in any of these.
Grand Duke Gould’s private cache was also discovered by Bella and Assassin Noreya. The door to the vault was secured with more than a dozen locks, plus a few security magical arrays. Noreya looked at the door contemptuously and took out her tools, breaking open a well-hidden vent on one side of the vault, which was then enlarged in a way that Bella could not understand.
The designer of this vault probably didn’t expect a thief to come in by breaking directly through the vents, so they just designed it to be a little more discreet without any reinforcement. With her superior assassin perceptions, Noreya discovered the vents’ location and found a different way to open the door.
If Grand Duke Gould found out, he would definitely cry himself to death. The dozens of security measures keeping the vault secure had become nothing but accessories. Through this opening, Bella and Noreya entered the Gould Family’s private vaults that they had been using for almost a century.
“Noreya… You must be a repeat offender, right? You’re way too skilled. I’d never even have thought of entering from here…”
“Bella, hurry up and find the Grand Duke’s seal. I have my morals as a thief. I only go after wealth, unlike you who’s lusting after money and sex, stealing people’s hearts, and whatnot.”
The Gould family vault really was abundant. As one of the richest hereditary nobles of the Manasvir Empire, the wealth of this family was far beyond the great nobles of other empires. Even the prosperous Nation of Arcana, Aldridge Empire’s, mage nobles probably could not compare in terms of wealth with Grand Duke Gould’s inventory.
This vault, the size of a football field, was filled with gold sand, which was just gold ground into sand for storage purposes. It wasn’t easy to collect gold coins because of the markings, so the extremely wealthy nobles would grind their gold into the sand to store them.
No silver coins or silver products could be found here. The Gould Family had already become so wealthy that silver was nothing to them. Besides the gold sand and an assortment of gold jewelry, there were all kinds of large gems, emeralds, agates, and whatnot. All the rare gems at the center of the continent could be found here. The Gould family should be very ambitious people, as Bella saw over a hundred crowns in the vault.
No matter which empire it was, the nobles of the human race stipulated that a grand duke should not be allowed to own or wear a crown. According to the rules, the only noble qualified to wear a crown was the prince. To wear or own a crown itself could be considered as having ideas for plotting a coup.
Bella knew quite a few grand dukes who kept a few crowns in private. Plenty of nobles wanted to become king, and everyone knew that they wouldn’t reveal it to each other. It was sort of an unspoken rule among the nobles. However, it was a bit deranged to come to Grand Duke Gould’s level of owning more than a hundred of them.
Grand Duke Gould’s seal wasn’t in the vault, but this guy’s study was just beside this location. There were all sorts of ledgers here, but not a single book, and all of them listed down Grand Duke Gould’s underground dealings with the other nobles. Many aristocrats were involved in his shady business. Bella skimmed over them and put them down. She wasn’t an anti-corruption person, so she could only leave Grand Duke Gould’s crimes to someone else who specialized in this.
After rummaging through the vault and the study, Bella made one last bet with Noreya and arrived at Grand Duke Gould’s banquet hall. The lights were on, so Grand Duke Gould must be there. If the seal wasn’t in the study, it could only be on his person. In order not to sound any alarms, Bella didn’t touch any of the treasures in the vault.
Besides the communal dining room where a portion of Olsylvia Academy’s students were invited for the feast, Grand Duke Gould had his own private dining chambers as well. This was the venue where he hosted his partners in cooperation. Bella hadn’t noticed this place on her first visit, but she just happened to chance upon it this time.
Together with Assassin Noreya, Bella crept over the roof of the dining chambers, just like the assassins of the ancient Orient on Earth. They peeled away the tiles of the roof and spied the situation below. Besides Grand Duke Gould, Imperial First Class Clerical Officer McAdam was inside the dining chamber, as well as the few imperial envoys. Bella got a little excited once she saw the situation, but Noreya looked away after just a few short glimpses. She worded something in her mouth, seemingly the word “pervert” or something of the like.
The dining chamber was gloriously decorated with all sorts of golden furnishing. Grand Duke Gould, First Class Clerical Officer McAdam, and the demons disguised as imperial envoys sat around a table. The dishes were laid out on the table in such a gentlemanly way that even a “corrupted girl” like Bella couldn’t bear to look straight at it.
About five or six beautiful young maidens were lying on top of an oversized dining plate without any clothes. They must have been drugged, as their eyes were closed, and they had fruits in their mouths. All sorts of delicious food were scattered all across their fair bodies. Wasn’t this the pirated version of the “holy” female plate from that certain island country? But this one was way filthier. At the very least, they had thin mesh fabric covering their bodies. But here, they were all laid out in the open.
Besides the erotic display on top of the table, there were also gold cuffs affixing several dozen beauties to the wall on both ends of the dining chamber. Just like the girls on the table, they were naked. Their hands were crossed over their heads, and their legs were spread wide apart, while their bodies leaned slightly forward in a bowing posture.
They wore black blindfolds on their faces with special gags in their mouths. Meanwhile, their ears were plugged up with wads of cotton. Who knew what sort of strange things Gould fed them, but their breasts were bulging with a clearly increased cup size. A drop of milky liquid gradually formed at the “raisins” before dripping down into two golden cups in front of them.
The beautiful young maidens had tears streaked across their faces, but they did not pass out. They knew how shameful a state they were in. An unknown colorless liquid would flow out from the little ball gags in their mouths from time to time, forcing them to swallow it down. This was likely some sort of erotic medicine, which caused the ladies’ breasts to be in this bulging state. There were no signs of them going down at all, and the special white drink was also in constant supply.
The golden goblets on the dining table were filled with this white liquid. Bella could guess what it was: The faint scent of milk, unlike that of a cow’s, had already told her the answer. The beauties chosen to come here were not Olsylvia Academy’s students. They should be some of the pretty civilian girls from Chapman City who were captured by the gentleman, Grand Duke Gould. They were likely untouched nestlings.
This “holy” womanly dish, plus “milk” feast, was so strongly gentleman-like that Bella had to bow to them. She suddenly felt that Grand Duke Gould was still a “great” gentleman. At the very least, some of his ways really made Bella sigh. This was the first time Bella had ever seen a feast of this caliber, and only a few “blood feasts” Bella would see in the future could surpass this in terms of eroticism.
Bella was enjoying the scene so much that she almost forgot her purpose here. Assassin Noreya lurking on the other side couldn’t take the view anymore, though. Taking out a powerful crossbow, she aimed it right at Grand Duke Gould in the center of the feast and began to offer the “supreme gentleman” a “righteous verdict”.
