CH 483

At the Gabriel Empire’s capital, Gabriels City (Sword Capital), at the Burt Bridge in the center of the Claudina River. The bridge heading to the imperial city was a bustling scene of crowds and carriages. The nobles who attended the Rose Banquet basically came out late in the afternoon. In the afternoon, the bridge was filled with carriage convoys transporting various goods.

The Gabriel Empire’s primary profession was that of the swordsman. Even though they looked down on knights, they did not reject the use of horse-drawn carriages and the like as transportation tools. Bella, Noesha, and the girls were disguised as ordinary civilian women and blended in with a carriage that was bringing food to the imperial city. On its short trip, the carriage stopped no less than ten times for checks, so it could be said to be heavily guarded.

Emperor Alfred the Third’s city guards carefully checked the carriage’s cargo. They originally would have done a body check too, but Poison Origin Betty researched a disguise potion that could make the user look like they had been infected with skin diseases, so when they saw these women who looked like they had leprosy, the soldiers couldn’t even hide fast enough and simply skipped the infection.

“Check everything thoroughly, nothing can go wrong at His Majesty’s banquet tonight. Otherwise, we’re going to lose our heads.”

“Captain, the inspection has been completed. No problems here.”

“Got it, you can go. Move fast, don’t delay the kitchen work.”

The imperial guards carefully checked the carriage goods. They then released them quickly, so Bella and the girls smoothly passed through several checks in a row until they arrived at the imperial city area. Compared to the chaotic powers of the south, the northern imperial city seemed much more stable. Other than members of the royal family and non-titled ministers, nobles did not live here. To prevent the great nobles from plotting a rebellion in the city, Emperor Alfred the Third had decided to send them outside of the imperial city area.

The ministers without titles in the empire had no military power and could not rebel, so they were allowed to stay in the imperial city. Security at the Gabriel Empire capital imperial city was strict, more so than the Burt Bridge. According to the rules, the carriages that were sending goods could only reach outside the kitchen and unload the goods into the backyard kitchen warehouse, which would be the end of their task.

“Here’s your pay. Now hurry up and leave!”

They probably scorned Bella and the girls for their ugly appearances, but the imperial guards didn’t even let them transport the food out of the carriage as if they were worried that they would infect the food with their disease. So, after throwing a few copper coins at Bella and the girls, they tried to get rid of them.

“Sir, I thought we agreed on receiving silver coins, why is it just this?”

“What? We gave you a few copper coins, and you still think it’s too little? Hurry up and leave, or you won’t even get to keep your copper coins! You’re so ugly, and you don’t even look at where you’re at. This is…”

The imperial army captain in charge of the management of the kitchen warehouse had intentionally embezzled the payment that was supposed to go to the owner of the goods. When he saw how bulliable they looked, they secretly deducted their payment. Bella quietly turned around and left. She didn’t even take the copper coins on the floor. Poison Origin Betty behind Bella received a look from Bella as she went over, leaning down to tap on one of the coins on the floor.

In that instant, a white smoke emitted from the copper coins, and the imperial guards were choked by it all of a sudden, directly bleeding to death from their seven orifices. The white smoke soon spread throughout the entire kitchen warehouse, triggering chaos in the imperial city. Thinking that a fire had gone off in the kitchen, the imperial guards rushed over.

Bella and the girls took advantage of the chaos to blend in with the crowd and headed for the palace’s main entrance. There was a great distance between the kitchen warehouse and the kitchen itself. Emperor Alfred the Third took care when changing the palace’s perimeters’ layout to prevent any assassins from entering. The gates of the palace had a policy where the doors would not open until a specific time.

When Bella and the girls arrived at the gates, the gates were still tightly shut. Even though there seemed to be a big fire happening at the kitchen warehouse, the royal guards at the gate still kept up their task of guarding the door vigilantly. Unless they were short of hands, they would not go over to help with the fire. However, Bella was in luck today. There just happened to be a few noble carriages going through the palace gates.

The carriages stopped in front of the gates. Above the carriage was the emblem of one of the three great families of the Gabriel Empire, the Johnston family. The Johnston family was much stronger than the Ignaz family, but their young master Gavin had already joined the philosophical society, the Fraternity at the Olsylvia Academy, so he won’t be participating in this Rose Banquet.

The one inside the carriage was the Johnston family’s Young Mistress Helena. This beauty with aqua hair and sky blue eyes was wearing a blue evening gown as she sat elegantly in the carriage, showing no impatience to the imperial guards’ questioning at all. When Helena was waiting to pass, she saw Bella and the girls wandering outside of the palace.

The average noble would refuse to even look at this kind of ugly-looking peasant, let alone get off the carriage to see them. Moreover, Bella and the girls were now using a disguise that made them look as if they had skin diseases. Helena was a bit of an exception. Unlike the rest of the family, Helena was the most beloved amongst the three families of the empire by the commoners. She was the only noble lady who would help the poor unconditionally.

“Young Mistress Helena, those women look like they are suffering from diseases, you should not go over there!”

“It’s fine. I’m a priest. I can’t just watch them suffer! What’s more, the carriages in front of ours haven’t passed yet. It will be a long time before our turn comes!”

The carriage in front of the Johnston family was the Renald family, the head of the three great families of the empire, and they numbered more than three times the family members of the Johnston family. Since they had to check each carriage one by one, the Renald family took a particularly long time for clearance.

Helena was one of the few people in the imperial capital who boasted dual professions. She was both a swordsman and a priest and had been certified by the Radiant Church. Since the Gabriel Empire was rather discriminatory towards non-swordsman professions, Helena rarely ever emphasized her profession as a priest.

“Please, wait for a moment. What you have on your body is… I see, why don’t you go to a healer? I will foot the bill.”

“Young Mistress Helena, these are not diseases, we are merely dirty.”

Bella was a little surprised at Helena, who had come down to see them. The gold cross hanging in front of her chest was a symbol of the Radiant Church’s priests, which was particularly conspicuous to Bella. Since she was cultivating her priesthood at the same time, Helena’s temperament was a combination of the style of both the swordsman and the priest, so she gave Bella a good first impression as a cultivated noble young mistress.

It was the first time Bella had seen a noble young lady who would take the initiative to ask about the problems of the poor. From this point of view, Helena was much more sincere than Miss Doris, who preached about peace before. Young Mistress Doris of Prince Frauer’s family really did not do anything for the poor. She wasn’t much of an activist.

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“Is that so? Then do you have any difficulties? I will help to the best of my ability.”

“Young Mistress Helena, me and my sisters have come from the countryside as we wanted to see what it was like in the palace. Do you have any shortages of maids? We would like to go in and take a look inside.”

“That’s no problem. Come with me!”

The naive and kind Helena had no idea that Bella was her family’s political enemy and agreed to Bella’s request without even checking to see if she had weapons on her. Helena agreed so easily that the excuses Bella had prepared before were all useless. Helena really was a sight for sore eyes compared to Gavin.

“Helena! You’re randomly picking up civilian women again. Who knows if they’re dangerous… This is the palace; it won’t be good to bring strange people inside.”

“Miss Renath, they’re not bad people. You shouldn’t judge the characters of the common people. They are very pitiful.”

As Helena was about to lead Bella and the girls onto her carriage, she bumped into the Renald family’s Young Mistress Renath. She was the little sister of the current heir of the Renald family, Young Master Leonard. Young Master Leonard was the one who previously had a political marriage contract with Kriss. Even though Bella didn’t like Leonard, his little sister was much better.

Renath was wearing fiery red leather armor, which was just as vibrant as her fiery-red hair. Her tight-fitting leather armor barely covered up her figure. Renath’s character was more on the loud side, and with her hot temper, she was considered an anomaly in the swordsman profession known for composure.

Renath’s fiery-red eyes were looking at Bella with a searching gaze. Like Helena, she had never seen Bella before and had no idea that this was their family’s political enemy and also the person who stole Princess Kriss from her brother Leonard. Renath was waiting impatiently for the carriage in front of her, so she came off to take a look, just in time to see Helena taking in Bella’s group.

The heir of the Gabriel Empire’s head of the three great families, the Renald family, Young Master Leonard, had come as well. He came with Renath, but he was too lazy to get off the carriage. As someone who had met Bella before, if he did get off, then there was no saying that he might be able to see through Bella’s disguise. Helena’s Johnston family couldn’t be compared with the Renalds.

However, Helena also had the status of a priest, and all priests were sheltered by the Radiant Church. Even if she ignored Renath’s request, there was nothing Renath could do about it. The Renald family was considered a big and well-known family in the Gabriel Empire, but they were still no match for the Radiant Church, so they had to give in.

“Miss Renath, they aren’t bad people, so please return to your carriage, don’t mind it. Your family’s carriages are about to be done with the checks soon. Also, aren’t we supposed to wear formal dresses for the banquet? Why are you wearing this type of leather armor? Are you not worried that people will talk behind your back?”

“Hmph, I’ll wear whatever I want. If it weren’t for the old man, I wouldn’t even participate in a banquet like this. All the men attending the banquet are just like my old brother. They’re all hypocritical pricks.”

“By the way, you girls, take this! Next time don’t come to a place like the imperial city anymore. You won’t even know when you’ll be made a scapegoat.”

Renath handed Bella a small bag of things, after which she turned and left. Bella looked down and saw that the small bag contained pieces of gems of various colors. Even though there were only bits and pieces of gems, they were worth much more than general gold coins. Renath’s nature was not bad, but she just has a bad personality. Bella accepted the bag of gem fragments. She won’t refuse any gifts from pretty girls.

After this little episode, Bella and her girls rode in the Johnstone family’s carriage and passed through the imperial city’s checks successfully. Grand Duchess Bellina had a bad relationship with both the Johnstons and the Renalds, so no one would have expected her to take her political rival’s carriage and enter the imperial city area that way.

Even though the guards at the gates were loyal to Emperor Alfred the Third, they had their own thoughts in this political climate. They knew what the situation outside was like and whether the emperor would still be on his throne tomorrow. Under such a situation, they would try not to offend any powerful people if they could help it. Therefore, the inspection of the Renald and Johnston family carriages was just symbolic.

Shortly after Bella and the girls entered the imperial city, many mysterious dark shadows infiltrated the imperial city area from a different direction, trying to seize the position of the fifth party of forces vying for Emperor Alfred the Third’s throne. Taking advantage of the confusion caused by the fire that Bella had set in the kitchen warehouse, they took the opportunity to infiltrate the palace area.

The Gabriel Empire’s capital, Gabriels City (Sword Capital), royal harem area, was where Emperor Alfred the Third’s consorts lived. The empire’s princesses lived here as well. The most conspicuous location was Princess Kriss’s palace.

Princess Kriss and the others who returned to the capital had been grounded by Emperor Alfred the Third. Kriss was currently sitting on her bed in her bedroom with her back to Emperor Alfred the Third, who had come to discuss matters with her. Behind Emperor Alfred the Third stood two old men who looked like immortal cultivators.

The two old men were dressed in simple white clothes without fancy embellishments, but they wore the Hilikas family’s symbol. Emperor Alfred the Third was respectful to these old men and didn’t put on the airs of an emperor at all. These two were Sword God experts. Emperor Alfred the Third didn’t dare to look down on this family that was guarding their empire. The Hilikas family had the power to remove the emperor.

Since the reincarnation passage in this world was in a semi-paralyzed state, the God of Creation could only maintain the basic operations of the reincarnation channel due to the absence of the Death God. It wouldn’t be good for the God of Creation to create another Death God to manage the reincarnation passage without the permission of the new Dimensional Creator as she would be overstepping her boundaries.

If the God of Creation had taken more initiative in such things, then she would not be far from advancing into this realm’s Dimensional Creator. Bella happened to have met the God of Creation last time in the timeline of more than a thousand years ago. After knowing that the Dimensional Creator had not truly disappeared, the idea that the God of Creation could “usurp the throne” was snuffed out by Bella inadvertently.

For many strong human beings, if there were a secret method to make it so that the body was not affected by the passage of time and not get rickety from age, then the soul could choose not to go through the passage of reincarnation. The Radiant Church’s first few Radiant Popes that Bella had previously met belonged to this case. The Gabriel Empire’s top protector Hilikas family’s Sword God level experts were also in the same situation. They did not choose to reincarnate and instead chose to live in seclusion in the human continent.

There were many hidden experts in the human continent, but due to the limits of their race coupled with a lack of guidance from the God Race after their demise, the hidden experts would not be able to defeat the Ancient Twelve Demon Kings even if they trained for ten millennia more. Faced with these two Sword God powerhouses, Kriss didn’t show any respect at all and turned her back to the three of them, looking at the mirror, seemingly dressing up.

However, Kriss was currently being controlled by her dark personality, and the person in the mirror who was pretending to be the reflection was Princess Kriss in her normal state. The one sitting on this side of the mirror was one of the Renegades, Myriad Sword Demon Krysan. The subtle differences between the two were only known by a few existences, such as Bella, so these two Sword Gods clearly weren’t up to par for the task.

“Kriss, why aren’t you greeting the two teachers? The Hilikas family will teach  you how to advance to the Sword God stage.”

“Sword God or whatever is just… Get out of here, what are a few old men doing in a young lady’s room? This is preposterous!”

Myriad Sword Demon Krysan didn’t show them any respect at all. Emperor Alfred the Third was really choked back with this situation. It was the first time he had seen Kriss go against him and couldn’t react to it for a moment. He didn’t know what to say. The impression that Kriss had previously to outsiders was that of a gentle good girl. After changing into Myriad Sword Demon Krysan, she was the complete opposite.

“Alfred, the discipline of your daughter is too bad. Do you need us to educate her for you? One look at this silver hair and I can tell she is of ill health. I think it’s better if you choose another princess to take the spotlight at the Rose Banquet.”

One of the Sword God elders was just about to educate Kriss when she grabbed the hairpin on the table and threw it over. The hairpin transformed into a powerful spiral in the air which instantly sent the Sword God flying out of the room by several meters. The Sword God elder spat out blood and awkwardly crawled up, covered in dust, his face filled with an incredulous expression.

As a Sword God, he had roamed the human continent for many years. Even against experts of the same level, he had never been sent flying by an opponent like this before. In his memory, the only ones who could achieve this were the Ancient Twelve Demon Kings from back then. They had the strength to easily send a Sword God expert flying.

“I’ll say it again, don’t force me to fight you. I… No, she doesn’t like hitting old people. I don’t really care. What kind of Sword God are you? You can’t even catch a hairpin.”

Kriss shut her eyes to rest after she finished speaking, clearly not putting the emperor and the other Sword God in her eyes. But this time, the other remaining Sword God didn’t say anything anymore. Even though they did not draw their swords, their difference in power was clear. This young imperial princess already had the ability to challenge a Sword God.

There did not seem to be any Demon King energy spilling out from Kriss’ body, so the Sword Gods couldn’t tell how strong she is. While they were unsure of her abilities, they didn’t dare to make any moves. Kriss wasn’t a Demon King, to begin with. She used to be a Black Warrior that was mixed in with the human warriors in another dimension in her past lives. If she hid her aura deliberately, then only a handful of people could see through her disguise.

“Kriss, my girl. That man has a bad temper, don’t take his words to mind. If he said anything excessive, then I apologize on his behalf.”

“By the way, I hope that you can attend the Rose Banquet. This is a matter concerning the future of the empire. If…”

“Let Grand Duchess Bellina attend. That is my condition. Otherwise, I’m not going. You can also tell those 68 flies you planted outside to go away as well. If I’m in a bad mood, then I might kill a few of those ants for fun.”

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“I understand, so don’t be angry. It was for your protection. If you don’t like it, I will tell them to withdraw immediately.”

The anger on Emperor Alfred the Third’s face had already dissipated, replaced by a trace of confusion. Even though he had long known that Kriss was strong, her ability to challenge a Sword God head-on was outside of his expectations. After Kriss gave them the order to leave, the Emperor and the two Sword Gods took their leave.

The Sword Saint-level eyes planted outside of Kriss’ palace were also forced to withdraw. Kriss even knew how many people they had. If they didn’t leave, then they would be beaten to death for nothing. Once they left far away, Kriss opened her eyes, and several suspended swords appeared in the sky behind her.

The swords soon turned into sharp-looking Demonic Beings, “Sword Dancers.” They kneeled down on both knees in front of their demon mistress respectfully. Sword Dancers were Demonic Beings created by Myriad Sword Demon Krysan as their strength was on par with the Sword God experts in this dimension. This was the reason why Krysan didn’t care about those Sword Gods at all. People at their level were merely cannon fodder in front of her. She could have as many as she wanted.

“Mistress, if you have any orders, please tell us. We swear to cut down all obstacles for our mistress!”

“Alright, stop thinking about cutting stuff up all day long. Split up and protect Kliveny and the other princesses. I just don’t trust those guys not to make any funny moves.”

While Kriss was still making a fuss in the palace, Bella and the others arrived at the palace. With the contract between her and Kriss, Bella quickly sensed her location. Since she had to go to the dressing room next, she didn’t look for Kriss since she had some eye candy to catch up on.