Badge in Azure

In the room, there were eighty seven skeletons that looked snow white. They were evolving to be jade skeletons. Compared to armor skeletons, the body of the jade skeleton were not as tough. The lifespan of the jade skeletons were longer when it fully evolved though. Even when Saleen become a grade-9 sorcerer, he might not live longer than a jade skeleton.

If a jade skeleton did not die in a war, it could easily live for three to five thousand years. Comparably, the human kind was limited by their body so it would be difficult enough to live more than a century. Among dozens of thousands people, it was difficult to find a grade-9 sorcerer. The lifespan of a grade-9 sorcerer was only about one to two thousand years.

The palace in Holy Rock City had three grade-9 sorcerers, and the three of them were only about seven hundred years old. They were at the prime of their lives. If the three of them did not die, it would be difficult for Holy Rock City to fall into the enemy’s hands.

Saleen observed the skeletons for a moment and redirected his thoughts to the island nations from the eastern sea that tried to invade. It would be certain for the three hundred warships to conquer Lianyun City. It was located at the north of the empire, but there were connecting land routes for war. If those invaders could really stand their ground, it would not be difficult for them to continue to send out soldiers.

What made Saleen worried was, if Lianyun City fell, the first that the Eastern Sea Allied Army wanted to take control would be Phoenix Duchy. He had originally planned to seek gains in Phoenix Duchy.

He made a clean sweep in the war with no sacrifice of life, but that was because he sank his enemy’s warships and made them lose their equipment. They had to fight with bare hands. Topographically, he was at a great advantage. The set up was not thought of at the last moment, but when he decided to build a city there he had thought through a lot of ideas on how to defend against invasion. That one was only one of the many.

Without the magic cannon, the magic array trap would not be able to kill all the enemy’s selected soldiers. If there were a thousand or two of them escaped, it would inflict heavy casualties on his side too. His enemy had quite a number of grand mages after all.

According to Saleen’s original plan, the south empire was the most dangerous place. It shared a border with Titan Duchy and it was influenced by the Cloudflow Empire. He decided to develop in the north as Phoenix Duchy was weak. He did not have many worries.

Who would have guessed that Phoenix Duchy would stir up chaos first. The Empire sent an army to carry out an invasion. The island nation from the eastern sea invaded Lianyun City. It seemed that they wanted to conquer the entire Myers Mainland.

Although it was ridiculous, the three-hundred-thousand strong army could at least keep the north of the empire unstable. It would be impossible for him to run a business in peace.

“Mage Saleen, Aini is here.” The soldier at the door said softly.

“Let him in.” Saleen returned to his table and took a seat.

Aini looked tired when he walked in. Saleen asked, “Why didn’t you go to sleep?”

“I can’t sleep.” Aini said straightforwardly.

“You are most likely worried about the corrupt situation at the north leading to failure of the investment.” Saleen smiled and let Aini take a seat. Saleen’s table was an alchemy worktable. There was a solidified magic array and some experiment equipment. Aini was fondling the metal hourglass before him as he remained silent.

The two of them were suddenly drowned in silence for god knows how long. Then, Aini finally spoke, “Saleen, aren’t you worried?”

“There’s no use of worrying. I have gotten myself into the biggest trouble in the world.” The trouble that Saleen was talking about was of course referring to Holy See. Comparably, he did not put the attack of the island nations from the eastern sea in high regards. The Eastern Sea was too far away after all. It would be extremely difficult for them to send backup. From the confessions of the captives, they could tell that it sapped the vitality of the island nations from the eastern sea to form the allied force.

Even though the Qin Empire was strong, The Great Chanake only brought a hundred thousand people when he made an expedition. If there was one setback with the expeditionary force, they would not be able to stand proud anymore. It was different from Holy See. Holy See was basically the Tanggulasi Empire and was as huge as the Qin Empire. He was merely a mage, even with Sregl Island’s support, the distance between them was still vast.

Saleen remembered back then when he received God’s punishment by the oracle, Genesis. He was thrown into interdimensional space. Genesis died but Holy See had another six oracles. He heard that the one named Fycro was the strongest among them all.

If the Qin Empire did not block in the middle, no matter how perfect Saleen’s city was, it would be ruined by the Holy See.

“If the empire can’t control the north, what do you plan to do?” Aini suddenly asked.

“Can’t control the north? How is that possible?” Saleen asked in surprise. The empire had a huge number of garrisons in its north. In Guderian City. They invaded Phoenix Duchy and that would be Guderian City’s power. From what Saleen understood, it would not be impossible for the allied force of island nations from the eastern sea to fight against the garrisons in Guderian City, even though there was a huge difference in numbers.

The north of the empire had many strong nobles. These nobles formed a tight knit defence net. Within a hundred miles around a city, there must be other cities to support each other.

The distance of a hundred miles was not anything to a cavalry. T an expeditionary force that came by ship, they would not have a large calvary. If infantrymen wanted to restrain the cavalry, they could only fight at their own main battlefield. The speed of movement would be its vital flaw otherwise. In the past, many wars had certified that point. Even when infantrymen put calvary to rout, they would not put off much of the enemy’s living power.

“The nobles in Phoenix would feel aggrieved about it and they would combine forces with the expeditionary forces very quickly.” Aini said forcefully.

“What? Isn’t that rebelling?!”

“They rebel, so what? The empire’s actions had driven the nobles in Phoenix into a dead end.” Aini smiled forcefully. Although he was a mage, he knew where the benefits of a noble were and what their bottom line was. He was imperceptible influenced by what he heard and saw as a child.

Phoenix was an important food production region. If the expeditionary force was supported by the nobles in Phoenix, the north of the empire would change.

Saleen then sharpened his vigilance. If the north of Qin Empire knew that Phoenix was going to stage a rebellion, his connection with the empire would be cut off entirely. By then, what could he rely on to feed his underlinings?

To detour to Sikeqinya from the north mainland through sea route, he would have no harbor for half a year’s time. There was only one way to maintain the trading all year long. That was to drive the ship himself and transport the items with his dimension stones as the Pan’s Turtle alchemical boat would not be affected by seasons.

But if there was one mistake, he would fall into Holy See’s hands and he would be doomed.

Originally, he could take the secret pathway through Chaotic Swamp. Once Phoenix joined force with invaders from the island nations from the eastern sea, it would be impossible for him to get their support. He was a fake residence of Bitter Water Prefecture after all. He could not even save Lianyun City, it would be equally useless for him to use the other sea route that he wanted to use.

“What do you mean?” Saleen thought, Aini was much more experienced than him when it came to this kind of matter. He asked for his suggestions for future planning.

“What option do I have? I am not the king of the empire. Saleen, we could only depend on mining to guarantee our own army’s equipment is not limited by the others. To survive, that will not be enough. The unstable north would affect our business. My investment will really go down the drain. Do you remember that you told me, that you would let me form a mercenary regiment?”

“To make money depending on mercenary? This is too…” Saleen did not say that it was ridiculous but he could not help thinking it. Sikeqinya was a country filled with mercenaries but he knew that many mercenaries worked very hard for half their lives and they did not even earn enough for their old age. He was not interested in the industry at all.

“I’ll fund it and you will be in charge of the training. Saleen, we are the organizers and we would take the largest cut. We would not need to risk our lives too.” Aini said straightforwardly and took out a piece of paper to list down the data.

“Look, this is how much we are putting in. As the north wanted to fight and many nobles relied on their own personal soldiers to guard against their own manor. They would spend money on hiring mercenaries to fight the battle. We train mercenaries and a mercenary regiment would only cost a few hundred thousand gold coins. Helping a city to fight against two times the enemy, we could get more than twenty thousand gold coins.”

“That little?”

“What I meant was net profit. The payment of mercenary is very low and we don’t need to take responsibility if they die.”

“This is… too cold hearted, right?”

“This is the rule, plus you know that mercenaries on battlefield aren’t disciplined. Sometimes, they were just like pirates. As long as they do not fight against themselves, we do not have to restrict them. That was part of their income, they prayed.”

Saleen thought about it and said, “Easier said than done. Where do we hire them from?”

Saleen was convinced with the business of mercenary but the problem was that mercenaries would not fall from the sky and to form a mercenary regiment was complicated. If he wanted his business to take shape, he needed at least more than ten thousand mercenaries. Otherwise, if there were only three to five hundred of them, why not just go and earn on his own?

“Remember I told you that I wanted to introduce you someone from Rolande family?”

“Yeah, I remembered, it was a woman.”

“Yeah, Rolande family is closer to Sikeqinya. They have ways to recruit mercenaries but you can’t have the business all to yourself. I’ll pay the money, she will use her connection and you will be in charge of the training. You can take forty percent while the two of us take thirty percent each.”

Saleen was hesitating so Aini explained, “Don’t consider this being too little. Once there’s a fight, our income would be a lot. If you were to head over to Lianyun city to offer a registered army, Lianyun City would pay you ten thousand gold coins on the spot and help you to feed these people as of now. If they won the war, there would be reward. Rolande family has many connections. If you were to separate more for her, it would be beneficial for you. Lex had strong powers but it is only limited in the one city; Bitter Water Prefecture. Even our Clyde family is in awe of the business of Rolande family.

“I want sixty percent, don’t you reject me first. Listen to me. To form a mercenary is not something that can be done in a short period of time. This requires support of Lex. If she doesn’t give us any endorsement, our army is considered illegal. It would be excluded in every place on mainland so I have to give her twenty percent of the profit. About the mercenary, I have a different idea from you. I want to build it like a regular troop. Your money wouldn’t be sufficient, you would need more from Lex and I.”

Saleen thought if he was going to do it, he might as well make it big. If the Rolande family could recruit sufficient manpower for him, to share them twenty percent was decent enough. He had to be in control of that, otherwise if he was striped of power in the future, he would not have any sort of benefits left.