Badge in Azure

Dark Blue had advanced to a True might. His blue eyes had a total of 12 pupils in them, which served as a key part of his life-saving skill. At the brink of advancement, Dark Blue had endured pain and given up a part of his life in order to restore the skill.

During his fight with Jola, he had relied on that skill to severely injure Jola, who was the superior sword wielder.

The red-robed level ten mage was quite young. He followed right behind the Grand Duke. “This Metatrin guy sure is grand, uncle. I never expected to see Dante’s Sequence used on city walls.”

Grand Duke Iron Blood liked his nephew very much. It was not a good time to talk, but he asked, “what about it? Is it very difficult?”

“Difficult in terms of human resources and manpower. Accomplishing it needs a lot of mages. Metatrin City probably is near Alchemy City in terms of power.”

“Hehe, you have a point.”

On a carriage behind the young mage, Imposa’s broken metal-like voice was heard. “Master!”

“Relax. I’m here to sign the treaty. Metatrin City could be nicer and I still wouldn’t want any part of it. My sight is set on Alchemy City. The Elemental Hand has been pressing on me for over 100 years, wasting a precious chunk of my life…”

“You’ve my gratitude, master.” Imposa stopped talking.

Grand Duke Iron Blood was relieved. Imposa was powerful enough to have the Grand Duke on guard against him, and he was afraid that the mage would decide to turn on him.

He did not need to worry about his subordinates’ equipment with Imposa around. While his nephew had been able to advance after working hard, his proficiency at alchemy remained poor.

“You’re being too kind, Grand Duke. We weren’t able to be a part of the deal in Daliang City, and Alchemy City took quite a lot from there. I see that Saleen and Alchemy City won’t be able to stay in the same boat for long. Getting this treaty signed benefits me as well.”

Saleen came from within the city to welcome them while they chatted.

Saleen wore a brimming smile and dressed up for the occasion. Grand Duke Iron Blood laughed as well, as if they had never been each other’s throats.

“Welcome to Metatrin City, Grand Duke!” Saleen did not fear the Grand Duke’s status as a True might. They were less than three meters away, and their horses were nose to nose.

The Grand Duke was impressed with Saleen’s courage. Even if Saleen had special methods to enhance his body, as a level ten mage, he would only be comparable to a black metal grand swordmaster.

A level True might would not even break a sweat dealing with a black metal grand swordmaster at a distance of three meters.

It was incredibly bold for Saleen to appear like that while also showing immense sincerity. The Grand Duke was put at ease.

“Your Highness, about what happened between us before…”

“We’ve been enemies. No holds barred, everything was fair game!” Saleen said.

“Glad to hear that. Well lead the way, Your Highness.” The Grand Duke saw Saleen different from he heard from rumors. The mage was so decisive with his actions that even veteran nobles paled in comparison.

Saleen turned around and nodded at Imposa in the carriage. Imposa was taken aback seeing Saleen. The young mage’s powers are enhanced again!

It was entirely normal to Imposa. Saleen was definitely a genius.

Genius mages did not necessarily have to be the ones whose magic chords grew quickly but the ones who had the opportunities show up at their door and knew how to seize the opportunities.

Mages carried out countless experiments during their lives, and the success of more than half of the experiments depended on luck.

Saleen was very lucky. Imposa was envious of him, opening the curtain of the carriage and nodding to Saleen.

The entourage entered the city and Saleen took the Grand Duke to his palace. He did not arrange for the nobles to meet, but instead had the accommodations of the Grand Duke’s men arranged.

The merchant group was arranged by the town hall to stay in the west side of the city.

Grand Duke Iron Blood was a level ten true might, which meant that he needed little rest. Saleen brought his followers to talk about the treaty when he was done arranging accommodations for the Grand Duke’s men.

Negotiations were a breeze. Saleen and the Grand Duke exchanged thoughts about how things were in Qin. Both forces and turf did not even seem to have any clash of interests. Saleen had no plans of invading Qin for the time being, unless the Qin Emperor died and Prince Safilos ascended to the throne.

Saleen asked for Guderian City to serve as the core, and the west side starting from the canal were given to Saleen, while the Grand Duke attacked Qin lands east of the canal.

They were not true military allies, but when one party was out on a campaign, it would be the duty of the other to cooperate, such as mobilizing forces to pressure the enemy’s rear.

In accordance to the principle of mutual nonaggression, they drew out their plots of Qin’s lands in detail on the magic map. Saleen took the west of the canal while the Grand Duke took the east. They also discussed about carving up the Cloudflow Empire.

Grand Duke Iron Blood requested that Saleen take control of the Separation Sea, keeping the Titan Duchy firmly in his grasp, while the Grand Duke intended to take the east side of the Cloudflow Empire as well as most of the coastal cities.

Saleen had no disagreements with that. However, in the second part of the plan to carve out Cloudflow, they would need to join forces against the Holy See.

It was the most detailed part of the treaty, since if they intended to take control of Cloudflow, they would have to do something with the Tanggulasi Empire at the north.

After a round of detailed discussions, they agreed that it would be difficult to clear out the Holy See’s forces, so their frontlines would be laid somewhere south of Red River. More importantly, the Grand Duke asked Saleen to mobilize the Ancient to join forces with his Ancient to take out Black Dungeon Island.

That was where they first disagreed, as Saleen wanted to take out the Sikeqinya Empire first.

Grand Duke Iron Blood said to Saleen, “the Tanggulasi Empire is all talk and no show, making them far easier to deal with than Sikeqinya. Sikeqinyans are difficult to conquer because they are ready to turn on you if someone pays a higher price.”

Saleen knew that part of the Sikeqinyans well. “Sikeqinya is where I came from. Ceylon City is now in my control and the Holy See’s forces have no way of going up north. If we built a huge base around Ceylon City, then we would be able to take Black Dungeon Island out in a pincer attack.”

The Grand Duke was unwilling to attack Sikeqinya for Saleen as he knew that Sikeqinya was Saleen’s birth country. Saleen probably intended to take the empire for himself while he took the Tanggulasi Empire.

They argued for quite a while before Saleen said, “the Tanggulasi Empire’s worth is far above Sikeqinya. If it hadn’t been for the Holy See taking control of the empire, with Tanggulasi’s inherent material resources and climate similar to Qin, the empire wouldn’t be so poor. Taking out Tanggulasi would benefit you far more than it would me.”

Seeing how the Grand Duke was unmoved, Saleen continued, “Do you know that my final goal isn’t actually to take some land? I’m a mage just like Imposa, and my final goal is to search for the deepest secrets of magic. I had to build my own kingdom because of the beef I have with the Holy See. I need the power of a nation to crush the Holy See!”

The Grand Duke seemed to be finally moved by Saleen’s words. He pondered for quite a while before saying, “my family has been around for thousands of years and we have a very, very long and dark history with the Holy See. How about this then? Let’s settle our treaty. Unless the Holy See falls, it’ll be mutual nonaggression between us. As for attacking Tanggulasi or Sikeqinya first, let’s decide on that after we’ve taken out the other places. With Holy Rock City’s power, it might take a few hundred years after all.”

“Alright, how about this then? The treaty lasts for 100 years. After that, we’ll see if we intend to keep working as allies.” Saleen knew that the Grand Duke had no intention of dividing the entire mainland evenly with him.

He wanted everything and only allied with Saleen out of desperate need. Saleen’s naval forces were very powerful and the Grand Duke needed his approval to go on a conquest at sea.

“Well, 100 years it is then. Your Highness Saleen, would you please have the mages draft the treaty?”

Saleen nodded and called mages to his side, ironing out the details between the negotiations and writing them down on a contract scroll. The contract was tight.

Saleen and the Grand Duke asked their mages to read the whole contract again when the writing was done, confirming that there were no magic traps, before both parties signed a contract that would last 100 years.

The treaty stated that Saleen was to never mention anything about being attacked by Grand Duke Iron Blood, and Grand Duke Iron Blood was to never mention anything about Saleen taking an Ancient warship away from him.

Saleen finally felt far safer. They were very close to each other. Saleen dared not get so close if he did not have the Figure of Fate.

If the Grand Duke went on a rampage and killed someone, he probably would not be able to come out alive.

With the treaty signed, they began to trade.

Saleen took the initiative. “Grand Fuke, before we trade, there’s a piece of news I’d like to sell to you. Do you want to know what Alchemy City bought from me?”

“You have my trust, Your Highness. Name your price.” While they were allies, important intel required currency transaction. The Grand Duke did not mind that bit of money spent. He knew that Saleen would give him his money’s worth.

“I don’t lack magic nuclei or any of that. I need a dragon, one that is at least level ten,” Saleen threw out a very exorbitant price without hesitation. One level ten dragon, nothing else.

“No problem. I’ll get someone to deliver it in half a month,” the Grand Duke answered.

“Right, the Devil’s Horn of Alchemy City bought 600 ship’s worth of metal ore. I can give you the list of goods bought and I’ll throw in another piece of news. The Devil’s Horn is said to intend to use the ore to build metal walls. Master Imposa, I take it you know what that means.”

“I do.” Imposa took the list that Saleen prepared and took a look, saying, “Your highness, the Devil’s Horn’s people deceived you. They are not trying to build any wall, but they are going to build a warship larger than the Ancient!”

Saleen chuckled. He had known that the Devil’s Horn would not tell him the truth. Crafting a warship would require too many special metals, and the types of metals that could be forged on his island were complete.

The Devil’s Horn would be able to refine ample materials from the 600 ships worth of ore.