Book 1: Chapter 38: The Town of Paknir Before the Fall
The small town of Paknir was situated in the south of the Gabriel Empire(swordsmen), it was a sparsely populated place close to the larger military-based town of Sakerid. When light broke over Paknir today, the townâs residents discovered that there were quite a number of visitors and guests to their small town, all either mercenaries and adventurers.
The residents didnât find this too strange as a detachment from the Gabriel Empireâs royal guards as well as quite a few of the Church of Lightâs templar knights had passed hurriedly through their town just last night. The residents of Paknir guessed that the beastmen were making mustering their forces once again on the border, it wasnât that rare of an occurrence lately.
The Gabriel Empire had sealed off any news of the terrifying outbreak of undead in Sakerid, as such a large-scale and seemingly unstoppable outbreak would surely strike unrest into the general populace. Just like when the Laerte line had been captured by some unknown forces of evil, there were some news that just couldnât be shared publicly.
âHey, did you hear? Theyâve discovered some treasure from the previous dynasty in Sakerid, the royal family and the Church are working together to hide this valuable information from the public.â
âWhereâd you get this fake news, you dimwit, I heard from my cousin who is one of Sakeridâs town guards, that the Empire and Church discovered traces of when the god of light had descended down to our world in Sakerid, and that any light mages that go there to train for one day will beat training normally for a year! Not some dumb past dynastyâs treasure.â
âShut up, you liar, your cousin was transferred to the Laerte line last year, how the hell did he tell you about whatâs going on in Sakerid?â
âStop arguing, Iâm one of our mayor, Baron Jeffreyâs personal guards. The mayor had received notice that some very dangerous monsters had appeared in Sakerid and the Empire needed to hire all these mercenaries to help in the subjugation of those monsters.â
Within the Azure Wind, the most luxurious dining place in the entire town of Paknir, a fat man in extravagant clothing was discussing with a well dressed gentleman. They had ordered an entire table covered with plates of the most expensive dishes that the Azure Wind had to offer for just the two of them, it was quite evident that there was no way that they would be able to finish all of it.
The fatty with the greedy look on his face, golden rings on all ten of his fingers, and a thick necklace set with sparkling gems around his thick neck, was the mayor of this small town, Baron Jeffrey. He was a greedy person who only sought to enrich himself, willing to do anything for money, there was even an unconfirmed rumour that he had previously sold information about the military town of Sakerid to the enemy beastmen forces.
âSir Clement, Iâve already ordered my men to spread the rumours, now there should be at least a few dozen different sayings about whatâs happening in Sakerid right now. Except, will the Empire investigate me after this?â
âWhat are you scared of, Jeffrey-dono? Iâm sure that the empireâs upper echelons would rather you spread even more confusion among the peasantry, so that they can keep secret whatever is truly happening in Sakerid. Anyways, Iâve also bribed your boss Count Spyke as well, thereâs nothing to be afraid of. Here, this is a little bit of my appreciation for you.â
If an outsider were to see this scene they would definitely be shocked, as a baron of the Gabriel Empire was paying such respect to a mere Knight, who was below him in terms of nobility. This was something that was against the strict hierarchy of power in the empire.
This Knight, Clement, was someone who had only came to the limelight in the underground of the Empire over the past month. As Knight was only an honorary title, with no fief, anyone with enough money could purchase the title of Knight from any noble with a fief. However, Clementâs political relations were quite complicated, knowing much of the higher class nobility within the empire.
Apart from his connections, Clement was unnaturally wealthy, being very generous indeed. His âlittle bit of appreciationâ for Baron Jeffrey was a small box filled with gold bars. In all of the human empires, gold bars were used as currency for beneath-the-radar transactions, it could be said that behind each gold bar hid a dirty transaction.
âKnight-sama is quite generous, here, I still have two important pieces of information to sell you. Except, this might be betraying the agreement I had with the previous buyers, you seeâŠâ
âSpeak, weâre good friends, are we not!â
âThis is⊠Clement-sama, itâs like thisâŠ:â
Seeing the beautiful pure-white gemstone on the table between them, Jeffrey immediate threw all sense of virtue behind him and quickly spilled the beans, betraying all those who had purchased these two pieces of information before Clement.
After quite a while, Baron Jeffrey left the Azure Wind with a look fulfillment on his face, holding on tightly to the diamond as if it would disappear if he loosened his grip. It seems that the deal had been completed.
This little fatty is quite useful, just a bit greedy. Demon King-sama should be arriving soon, I should hurry and go welcome her and tell her what the human just told me.
Clement left through the door soon after Baron Jeffrey, no one would suspect that this well dressed gentleman wasnât a human at all. Clement was one of the most welcomed subordinate dark suzerains of the Dark Sanctuaryâs demon kings, ăMaster of Facesă Clement. Clement was currently carrying out demon king Bellaâs orders and had infiltrated the Gabriel Empire several months ago and had gathered large amounts of valuable information as well as using large amounts of wealth to buy countless âconnectionsâ within the various tiers of the Gabriel Empireâs nobility.
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At the entrance to the town of Paknir, a party of adventurers were walking in, the reason why people knew they were adventurers and not mercenaries were because of the fact that they werenât wearing any armbands that signified what mercenary company they belonged to. Normally, mercenary companies would be given special armbands by the mercenariesâ guild with their companyâs emblem as well as their companyâs level, from F to SSS there were a total of 9 levels, with SSS being the highest level.
What drew all the attention towards this party of âadventurersâ was that the party was composed entirely of girls. The party had six knights, one archer, one assassin, and four lolis that seemed to be their servants. It was a shame that their faces were masked by ugly looking clown masks and their figures were hidden by a large black cloak. If it wasnât for the weapons in their hands, it would have been hard to determine what profession these girls were in.
Bella looked a little depressed as she rode upon one of the warhorses that they had just purchased, this time, apart from the two âprincessesâ of the Dark Sanctuary, the two lolis Lilith and Lilian; all the other girls of the Dark Sanctuary were now accompanying her. The party was comprised of six knights: Bella, Dolores, Eleanor, Irene, Lisha, and Roland, the archer Annie, the assassin Lola, as well as the three goddess level lolis and the princess of the demon world. Hadias.
After receiving Krissâ call for help, Bella had quickly assembled the Dark Sanctuaryâs beauties to create this ârescue partyâ. Bella was rather mad that she had been interrupted at such an important moment, but because the one who had interrupted her was Kriss, Bella couldnât exactly take out her anger on Kriss.
It was fortunate that Bella was already around 70% done the âconquestâ of Lola and Irene, on their chests was a mark that only demon kings could see, that mark was something demon kings gave their subordinates when they were given the title of general within the ranks of the demon kingâs army. Bella had learned the steps for doing so during her time in Lishaâs memory world, based on when Lisha had bestowed the title upon the demon marshal, Rebecca.
Irene joining the Dark Sanctuary was something that Bella had planned for a while, Lola was more of something that came as part of a âpackage dealâ with Lisha as her follower, as Bella and Lisha had made peace with each other already Bella couldnât deny the addition of Lola to the Dark Sanctuary. Anyways, Lola was one of Lishaâs best friends as well as something akin to a personal servant for her, if Bella conquered Lisha, Lola would naturally be unable to escape the her fate anyways.
Right now, both Irene and Lola averted their eyes from Bella, as they had been just narrowly avoided being completely eaten up by Bella. Even thinking back on it now, they could feel their face heating up.
âNee-sama, were you doing something fun just before? Why didnât you call take me with you! Just call me and Iâll be there in seconds.â
âNee-san, werenât Lisha and Lola our enemies, why are they with us now?.â
âNee-san, thereâs something strange, before I didnât notice because of the distance but I can feel something familiar from Lisha-nee, the last time that I felt something like this was from Kriss-nee.â
As for the questions that the three lolis: Mia, Angel, and Noesha were throwing at her, Bella could only answer them one by one. Because they had asked their questions quietly while beside Bella, the other girls in the party who were following behind them werenât able to hear the questions that the lolis were asking Bella.
âYou adventurers over there, our mercenary company has already booked this entire inn, if you want to⊠woahâŠâ
A burly man who had blocked Bellaâs path wanted to say something, but Bella grabbed his hand before he could finish and threw him across the room, cutting the burly man off before he could finish his words.
âThis friend over there, our Tempest Mercenary Company doesnâtâŠâ
âCut the blabbering, weâre here to make trouble. Hurry it up, weâre in a rush here.â
A middle-aged swordsman in heavy armour blocked Bellaâs path, he was the leader of the Tempest Mercenary Company and he couldnât exactly just stand and watch as his men were getting thrown across the room, even if Bella had made quick work of a high-tier swordsman.
âThereâs going to be a show here, the Tempest Mercenary Company is a level C mercenary company, there are a few hundred of them here in Paknir right now, these girls might be in for some trouble.â
Seeing the possibility of a fight, quite a few mercenaries and residents of Paknir surrounded the inn to watch. The security of Paknir wasnât great, the number of the town guards were few, along with the fact that personal conflict between mercenaries and adventurers were something that fell within the jurisdiction of their respective guilds rather than the townâs administration, meant that fighting between mercenaries and adventurers as well as other mercenaries were quite commonplace.
Looking at the hundreds of burly mercenaries that had surrounded their party, Bella wasnât worried at all. No one in her party could be considered weak and it wouldnât be hard for them to wipe the floor with these mercenaries, it was that there were just too many onlookers at the moment and it would be a bit annoying for Bellaâs party to show their true power at such a time.
âCan everyone do this old man a favor and stop the fighting? There are more inns than just this one here. To the fellows of the Tempest Mercenary Company, Iâm sorry for what these adventurers have done because I was the one to hire their help, theyâre still young and you know how hot-headed young people are, right? This was all just a misunderstanding.â
The Knight Clement showed up in the nick of time to stop the fighting, seeing that it was Clement who stepped in, the onlookers all dispersed. Right now, everyone with a bit of connections in the Gabriel Empire(swordsmen) knew who Clement was and how he had quickly taken to the limelight in just over a month and had connection with many members of the Empireâs nobility.
âIf it isnât Sir Clement! Iâll do you a favor and take my men elsewhere for now, except that this friend of mine has a family at home that depends onâŠâ
âHere is a little piece of my gratitude for you and your men, captain-sama!â
Seeing the heavy bag of gold coins that Clement handed over, the captain of the Tempest Mercenary Company knew that he should stop and accept it. This bag of gold was enough for three months of their companyâs expenses even if they didnât take any commissions during that period, it would have taken the Tempest Mercenary Company at least half a year to make this amount normally. In times like this, it was the intelligent choice to now towards the power of the wealthy.
âIt seems that youâve fit in quite well, Clement! Was a bag of gold all that it took to bribe those mercenaries, isnât that kind of cheap?â
âThis⊠demon king-sama and the honoured guests of the Dark Sanctuary, this subordinate has already prepared the things that were requested, please come with me to the manor.â
Clement couldnât really answer Bellaâs question as he was just a dark suzerain who was a bit smarter than his peers. Clement didnât have much interest in human currency and if it wasnât for the fact that the demon king Bella had some interest, Clement wouldnât have bothered collecting such a large amount of human currency.
In all of the human empires, common peasants probably wouldnât ever need to use gold coins, which were the exclusive currency of the rich and nobility. Amongst the commoners, those who used silver coins weâre already considered well off. Bella didnât have any use for human currency in the Dark Sanctuary so she didnât have knowledge of what an entire bag of gold coins meant to a small group of mercenaries.
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In a wooded area outside of Paknir, the Tempest Mercenary Company had met their end, the gold coins that they had received earlier were all taken by their attacker. The companyâs captain looked towards something with a look of terror on his face, the last expression that he ever showed on this world, because not long after he made this face, his head separated from the rest of his body
âThat damned Clement, always making me do this kind of stuff for him. I donât understand humans, whatâs so important about a bag of metal circles?!â
ăBone-corroding Dukeă Adrian sent the severed head on the ground flying with a kick, still holding the bag of gold coins in his hand. At this moment Adrian looked more like a bandit chief than a dark suzerain.
âAdrian-sama, thereâs something strange about these corpses. Look, theyâre getting back up and attacking us!â
âWhat the hell? Turning undead in front of me, a dark suzerain? Sound the signal, gather all the Bone Crushers in the area, the upper echelons of the Dark Sanctuary are in town today, itâs time to show them our loyalty!â
The members of the Tempest Mercenary Company who had been slaughtered began rising up one by one, the scene here bore strong resemblance to that of Sakerid, when the townâs residents had been killed by the undead and joined their ranks quickly after.
âAdrian-sama, these undead seem unfazed by our swords, theyâre even trying to bite us!â
âGrind their bones to dust, I want to see how theyâre going to get back up without any bones!â
The virus that was the source of the out break didnât have any effect on Adrian and the special evil beings, Bone Crushers, under his command. The thousand Bone Crushers made quick work of the several hundred newly risen undead, who were no longer able to continue getting back up after having every bone in their body ground to a pulp.
Back in the small town Paknir, isolated cases of zombies had already appeared, with the occasional scream of terror being heard. It seemed that the virus had already spread from the military town of Sakerid, the current state of the Church of Lightâs templar knights and the detachment of the empireâs royal guards which were deployed around Sakerid was unknown.
âAdrian-sama, undead like these have started to appear in Paknir, whatâs our next course of action?â
âImmediately gather all the Bone Crushers, weâre going to go help demon king-samas. These filthy undead arenât deserving of being ended by the demon king-samas, itâs best to leave the dirty work to us. On your way, find and tell ăShadowless Demonă Tanpur to keep an eye on the situation in nearby towns and villages, he should be in the area.â
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In a rather elaborate manor within the town of Paknir, Bella and the others were waiting. This manor was owned by one of Bellaâs subordinate dark suzerains, Clement. Currently, the manorâs gate was locked and blockaded from the inside with furniture and other heavy items.
Bella and the others had started to hear the screams from outside as soon as they had entered the manorâs gate. It was rather fortunate of them to have entered the manor when they had, the streets outside had fallen into a state of chaos, with infected seeking out and attacking those who were still human, increasing the ranks of the undead.
In reaction to this sudden outbreak, the townâs mayor, Baron Jeffrey had quickly ordered all of the townâs guards back to his manor and barricaded themselves inside. Jeffrey chose to ignore what was going on outside his manorâs walls, the town guards numbered only 100 and there was no way that they would be able to suppress all the undead outside.
Although Bella had heard from Kriss quite a bit about the strange outbreak in Sakerid through the communication stone, but she hadnât expected that this outbreak to spread so fast across such a large area.
If the virus was allowed to keep spreading, Bella might actually have to go borrow some nuclear weapons from ăMachine Creatoră Andrea to try and put an end to virus and stop it from destroying the entire world before Bella got a chance to explore it all.
What was worse about their situation was that Bellaâs party were now in the same dilemma that Kriss and the others were in, their clothes had already began to darken and started to show signs of fading away. If they didnât figure out something soon, they would end up unclothed in no time at all, meaning that they wonât even be able to leave this manorâs gate in case some lucky pervert was still alive outside.
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