The central hinterlands of the human Manasvir Empire, "City of the Eternal", Olsylvia City.

Every year, this particular day would be a harbinger of a series of unfortunate events. Even though the Radiant Church had once again emphasized that those events had nothing to do with it, the early arrival of the "Resurrection Day" had caused a flurry of inexplicable panic and horror to spread amongst the student body.
　　
The early occurrence of the "Resurrection Day" was an indication that something huge would happen this year. However, the "Resurrection Day" did not last long. Everything seemed to return to normal and calmed down after just one night. The next morning, when the students of Olsylvia Academy emerged from bring huddled together in fear the entire night, they received a notice that the Academy would be closing temporarily.
　　
Such occurrences were extremely rare and unusual. In fact, this was the first time that something like this has happened within the human empires in the past few hundred years. At the break of dawn, Bella, Lisha, Kriss, and her other dorm mates made their way to the grand hall where the school's opening ceremony had been held at the beginning of the year. Hopefully, the school's leaders would be able to provide an explanation as to what was happening.
　　
The main square of the Frank Civilian Academy within the central campus of Olsylvia Academy was already filled with students who were trying to get to the bottom of things. As this was not a formal closing ceremony since it had been brought forward at the last minute, seats had not been a.s.signed to any of the students. At the moment, the students were seated based on the society that they belonged to. Students who were not a part of any of those societies had no choice but to sit further back.
　　
Bella was seated together with the Rose Society, which had expanded from its initial handful of members into a society that had a members.h.i.+p count of a few dozen students. This was due to Bella's unending efforts to use all sorts of methods to persuade new members to join her society.
　　
When the Rose Society first reformed, it was one of the smaller societies. Since then, it had grown into a large society that would have made the old Rose Society proud. The Wronged Angels Society, led by Charlotte and Demir, was seated beside them. Bella could barely even look at the group of adorable "babes" next to her.
　　
The members of the Wronged Angels Society were either pseudo-ladies or males crossdressed as females. As it was nearly impossible for Bella to make out their true gender, Bella decided to give up and not look at them instead. This was to prevent her soul from being corrupted in the worst possible way. The pseudo-loli, Director Charlotte, was seated in the most prominent position. He gave Bella a little wave and a smile when they made eye contact.
　　
Bella had no choice but to respond. If only Charlotte was still the girl that he was in another world. Over here, he was a cute boy and she did not dare to get too close.

The fraternities were on the other side of the Rose Society. Their faith was unusually unwavering. Even though there were various incredible beauties such as Princess Kriss and President Angelia next to them, none of them took even a little peek at either of them. In this moment, Bella felt almost impressed by their determination.
　　
President Isaman ended up sitting with the Rose Society. Since she said that she was here to visit with her younger sister, Elaine, Bella let her be. However, the next time she did something like this, Bella would have have no qualms about using any of her methods to ensure that President Isaman would join the Rose Society.
　　
Currently, other than President Isaman, every single one of the Top Ten Olsylvia Academy Belles, the chief president and various student union presidents, as well as the Holy Maidens of the Radiant Church, had already been listed as members of the Rose Society. The whispers being spread among the students was that the Rose Society was also known as the "Belle Society". Thus there were many boys who were willing to volunteer as free labor for the society.

However, there was no way that Bella would allow any males to join her "Lily Society". Furthermore, the registration area for the Rose Society had basically been set up next to the fraternities' and the Wronged Angels Society. However, no one knew if that had been done on purpose.
　　
Either way, since the boys still had some sense of self-preservation to protect their moral integrity, they did not dare to approach the registration area. They were afraid that they would be picked up by the "philosophers" next door and be coerced to join their society instead.
　　
"Dear students, I regret to inform you that we have received a notice from the Imperial Union and have decided to close the school for up to two months. The reason for this temporary closure is for the maintenance of the Academy's history. Further details will be conveyed to everyone by their teachers."

"Also, you will not have to worry about your school credits. Based on the instructions from the Imperial Union, the school credits will continue to acc.u.mulate over this period of closure. The territories and other acc.u.mulated points by the various societies will not be affected either and will be maintained until the Academy reopens."
　　
After listening to the speech of the duty princ.i.p.al of Olsylvia Academy, Princ.i.p.al Elvis from the Filomena n.o.bility Academy, Bella finally understood that the request to close the Academy had been made by the human empire's Imperial Union. Other than Olsylvia Academy, other nearby schools such as Antoinette Academy, which was the "arts school", and the "external school", Alessandra Academy, had to close temporarily as well.
　　
Academies all over the human empires were all ordered to close. There was no knowing what went through the minds of the management of the Imperial Union when they made this insane decision. They must have had an aneurysm or suffered a temporary loss of IQ. Furthermore, the Radiant Church was extremely cooperative and had put their full support behind the human empire's combined decision to close the schools.
　　
Bella knew that the truth was definitely not so simple. According to the holy spirit of the third generation Holy Pope McPherson, there was a possibility that the Twelve Demon Kings would make a return. Not long ago, one of the Demon Kings whom McPherson had made a deal with had tried to summon him.
　　
Since McPherson had entered into another deal with a new Demon King, Bella, the initial transaction was now rendered null and void. McPherson was now waiting and observing the current situation before making his move as he had not revealed the ident.i.ty of the Demon King who tried to summon him.
　　
This was the first time that McPherson had experienced a transfer of deals where both sides were Demon Kings. He did not know what kind of relations.h.i.+p both parties had and thus McPherson decided it might be best for him to toe the line for now and remain neutral so that he would not unintentionally offend anyone.
　　
Only a few students decided to return to the cla.s.srooms. Many of them left to pack their bags once they knew that the school would be closing. The male students from the "arts school" who had lovers quickly made plans for one last "crazy romp between the sheets" as a final farewell. Human academies typically did not keep any of their students once they closed.
　　
These changes would not affect any of the student dormitories. For example, private dormitories, such as the one built by tyc.o.o.ns like Bella, would definitely be left alone, therefore it did not matter if the occupants did not move their things. Because of this, President Isaman had moved her belongings over to Bella's dormitory building for temporary storage. There were so many signs pointing to the fact that Isaman's eventual corruption would be inevitable.
　　
After speaking to Teacher Ingrid, Bella found out that there had been quite a bit of unrest within the human empires. At the northern borders, the allied army of the four main demon empires had once again attempted to embark on an attack on the Octavia Empire. They had taken over many of the small islands nearby as a stronghold and the Octavia Empire was now engaged in a long drawn battle.
　　
This was the eighth continuation of the war between the human race and the demon race. Since the mysterious disappearance of the Magical Knight Lisha's team of "Demon Slaying Knights", the demon race had gained the advantage in this war. At the moment, the nation of archers, the Kristoff Empire, as well as the Manasvir Empire, located at the central region of the continent, had activated large numbers of their troops to provide support to the battle in the north.
　　
As for the magical nation in the eastern part of the continent, the Aldridge Empire, it had met with quite a fair bit of trouble. Firstly, one of their s.h.i.+ps had met with a "maritime disaster" while away at sea and many female students from Frederica Academy had mysteriously vanished. This included the President of their student union, Caroline.
　　
Frederica Academy was now stuck in a half-paralyzed state. Without their student union president, the order to close the school was a blessing in disguise. Many of the coastal cities of the Aldridge Empire had been attacked by the oceanic race. This was the first time that the oceanic race, which had remained quiet in the past, had launched an attack of this scale on the human race.
　　
Both of these incidents were related to Bella. As one of the biggest masterminds, Bella kept a straight face when she heard the news, as though she had nothing to do with it. The girls from Frederica Academy as well as the two princesses of the oceanic race had been "held captive" by Bella. Therefore, she definitely shouldered most of the responsibility for what was going on.
　　
As the line of defence in the eastern region was not strong, the Aldridge Empire could only send out a small batch of mages to support the battle in the north. Most of their military had been sent to the east to fight the oceanic race's invasion. This time, the Ogres in the north were playing dirty as well.
　　
According to the intelligence from the scouts in the north, the Ogre army was gathering and had immediate plans to attack the Gabriel Empire in the south. The Gabriel Empire was the basis of the human race's main food supply and was of equal importance to the Manasvir Empire in the central region where the human gold reserves were.
　　
Now, the Mercenary Union had already released large amounts of battle missions, with nearly eighty percent of them being support missions to the south. As the regular soldiers from the various empires were occupied, the empires could only resort to using mercenaries to supplement their military power.
　　
Another option was to recruit troops from the general public. However, it was not worth it to do so in this Other World. The human n.o.bility who recruited troops had to pay their recruits as well as provide food and other equipment. As for the mercenaries, the employer only had to pay a slightly higher fee while everything else would be settled by the mercenary team.
　　
Moreover, if any of the commoner troop died in battle, the warlord would have to generously compensate the families for their loss. If the mercenary got killed, everything else would be handled by the mercenary team. The Mercenary Union would step in if the entire team was killed in battle and would not trouble their employer at all.
　　
Bella's Sarnia Duchy was located right at the border between the human race and the Ogres and she had no clue if it had been implicated in this battle. She intended to take this opportunity to return to her own Duchy to take a look. However, she was not too concerned about the Duchy's safety.
　　
While Bella was away, the Sky Demon King Dolores had sent her a secret report, updating her with the progress of the demonic beings. Since they did not require any provisions to grow, the demonic beings were able to multiply indefinitely. Currently, there were about ten million demonic troops within Sarnia Duchy. Anyone who attempted to attack the area would be in for a surprise.
　　
In addition, Holy Maiden Liz from the Darkness Church and the Radiant Church's Holy Maiden Daisy had joined hands to construct various buildings and structures that belonged to the Darkness Church and the Radiant Church respectively within the duchy. This meant that the Radiant Church had inadvertently recognized Sarnia Duchy as an actual territory. Now, one could only wonder if the emperor of the Gabriel Empire regretted their earlier deal.
　　
If Bella were to return to her Duchy, she would not be able to bring all of her ladies along with her. Other than Mo Wei, whose family lived in the Gabriel Empire, the remaining girls had to return to their own nations to help with their family businesses. Among her dorm mates, Bella could bring everyone along except for Isaman.
　　
Kriss was a princess of the Gabriel Empire, thus she had no problem returning to her home empire. As Noreya, Elaine, and Ariel were more low-key, outsiders did not know of their true appearance. Even though they were all princesses, in the eyes of their emperor, these daughters who had no political value at all were dispensable. This meant that it did not matter if they returned home or not.
　　
Lisha was fine as well. Her not returning home would not affect the results of the battle in the northern frontier. Compared to the past, she felt that it would be much safer to remain close to Bella. Bella had taken count of every girl she had relations with and had gifted each of them a mysterious necklace. There was a rose shaped pendant at the center of each necklace – also known as the "Demon's Heartbeat".
　　
This was a batch of special treasures that Bella had purchased urgently from the City of Sin that would track the location of the wearer in real time. Once it was worn, the magic within the necklace would transform into an invisible soul necklace and follow the wearer's soul. Other than tracking the location, there were other functions as well.
　　
Bella did not wish to lose any of her harem just because she left during the break. It would be a complete tragedy. When she gifted the necklaces to the girls, she made sure that they had put them on before they left. Although, it was comforting for Bella to see that none of the girls had rejected the gift. In fact, every one of them was happy to receive it. Even the ones who were most likely to reject a gift like this, Dragon Knight Ingrid and President Isaman, gracefully accepted their necklaces.
　　
It could have been an illusion, but Bella could feel that President Isaman was like her other dorm mates, such as Lisha. When they received Bella's gift, they both held it up and studied it for a bit before putting it on. As they looked at the necklace, it was as though they had become someone else. Especially Lisha. The expression on her face when she was looking at the necklace clearly revealed her ident.i.ty as the Demonic Dragon Emperor, Elisha.
　　
Fortunately, those dorm mates who might have been problematic had not exhibited any other unusual behavior and put on the necklace. Even their dark alter egos had recognized Bella's status as a friend. If there were any problems with the necklace, they would know. Since none of them had any objections to it, it was basically a form of acknowledgement.
　　
Bella only found out the real reason behind the human Imperial Union's decision to force Olsylvia Academy to close after she returned to Sarnia Duchy. According to human tradition, students were not allowed to respond to any marriage summons. Forced by the circ.u.mstances, the various human empires were faced with a decision to restructure their forces. Thus many empires had begun to form alliances by marriage to solidify their relations with other empires.
　　
This break was basically to allow such marriage proceedings. Luckily, Bella had made her move in time and gave each of the girls who had caught her eye a specialized "tracking system". Her trusted subordinates within the Darkness Sacred Region, the Slime King and Succubus Queen Aisha had collaborated with another Abyss Demonic King, Grisbane, and had put together a strike team.
　　
If any of Bella's "Demon King Concubines" were to be forced into marriage, this elite strike team would show no mercy and use any method possible to rush to the scene and remove the girl from their location. To prevent the Demon King's authority from being undermined, Bella gave her permission for this team to capture the girls in any way they could, no matter how despicable or unscrupulous.
　　
Wearing the "Demon's Heartbeat" was proof that a girl was a "Demon King's Concubine". In the future, if Bella met any girl who would reciprocate her feelings, she would gift this necklace to her. This production of this necklace was rather unique as well. Even the G.o.d Race of this dimension would not be able to detect any of the evil that had been hidden within the necklace. Therefore, Bella did not have to worry that there was any chance that her ident.i.ty would be exposed.
　　
Bella left the Academy in the same ostentatious carriage that she had arrived in and quickly began her journey towards the Gabriel Empire. This time, she was bringing back many new members. The roads were filled with students from various empires in their transport vehicles who were homebound. The entire scene was as busy and bustling as when the students had first arrived in school.
　　
Bella and Isaman's bet could only be settled when they returned to school. Hopefully, their agreement would not have accidentally "slipped her mind". Bella had already instructed her various demonic beings to keep an eye on Isaman and some of the other girls who were close to Bella. They would have to know the girls' every move like the back of their hand.
　　
Before she had left, Bella had visited her old nemesis – Director Carlos of the Golden Legend Society. That fellow had politely greeted Bella and engaged in some farewell small talk. Bella could not even detect a hint of sadness from Carlos. It was as though he felt nothing for his younger sister, Caroline, at all. Who knew, it was possible that Carlos had orchestrated the accident that led to the "maritime disaster".
　　
When Bella's carriage took a turn off the main road and on to a secret path within forest, she saw the Demon King Guards who had been waiting for a while. If she were to head back entirely by carriage, it would have taken up to a week. Bella's time was too valuable to waste time like that and thus she decided to use a temporary teleportation array instead.
　　
"This blood smells absolutely horrible. What's going on? These bodies are…"
　　
"Honorable Demon King, these scoundrels were waiting to ambush and kill you. Therefore we have torn them into countless pieces. However, we did not have time to clean up before Your Honor arrived. Please forgive our thoughtlessness. We accept our punishment."
　　
"I pardon your negligence. Clean this up, quickly."
　　
Bella could see that the gra.s.s patch along the secret path was filled with countless dismembered corpses. Based on the stench coming from the blood, those bodies used to be Ogres. Since when did Ogres have the audacity to infiltrate the central hinterlands of the human empires to ambush and attack a human Grand d.u.c.h.ess? Moreover, their target was the Demon King Bella. Even though their actions were foolish, these Ogres were true brave warriors.
　　
Bella stood before an Ogre's corpse that was dressed in a commander's uniform. This fellow's face was contorted in an expression of pure terror as little had it known that even though his orders had been to attack a human Grand d.u.c.h.ess, it would meet the Demon King's elite guard. It had died a horrific and gruesome death. Basically, none of the Ogres had died with their limbs intact.
　　
Bella found the bottom half of a magical transportation scroll. This was definitely a human magical tool. However, the magical script on the scroll was not the modern script that the various human empires were using.
　　
"It seems like this short break… will not be lonely after all."
　　
She picked up the magical scroll and saw that the transportation magic could only be used once. The return magical scroll had already been used. However, the owner of the scroll had not made it out completely as one of the Demon Guards had sliced the Ogre's arm off when it had tried to escape, leaving the body behind. It was likely that the arm that had been sliced off had returned with the top half of the scroll.

The expressions on those Ogres' faces on the other end of the transportation array when they saw a dismembered hand being sent back would have been absolutely thrilling to watch. Bella had an expression of barely concealed glee. She fully agreed with such displays of strength. Since the Ogres dared to send someone to a.s.sa.s.sinate her, surely they would not blame her if she retaliated with attacks of her own when she got back!