Badge in Azure

Aini considered how calculative Saleen was and commented, “You are not like a mage at all.”

“You don’t look like one either.” Saleen said and the both of them laughed. Saleen thought in his mind, Aini’s temperament was not as extreme after he recovered his status as a mage and he was easier to get along then. What Aini learnt from his family was something Saleen had never come across. What he learnt from Lex was imperialism and from Aini was the combination advantage of a businessman and a noble. He was a mage himself and that helped him a lot as well.

Aini sighed with emotion. When his capability advanced by leaps and bounds, he practiced no concept of winning or losing. At the end of the day, Aini was also a pure mage. His biggest joy of life was researching about magic. To practice magic without sufficient money would not work. Although a death mage saved more compared to an element mage, it was not that much of a difference. Aini thought if he were to invest some money, he did not need to spend too much time or strength to worry about that. Saleen would be in charge of training, and that would be relied on by his underlinings. The biggest trouble would be Rolande family needing to recruit large number of low level mercenaries from other countries.

The investment would not be too little, but twenty percent of profit would be sufficient.

Saleen told Aini, “This is not like what you were thinking. I have a new plan. This city would only retain the staff for two barracks. If there is need to expand the army, we will build in a mercenary model and I would change most of the rules for mercenary work on the mainland and build my own mercenary system.”

“What? Saleen, are you crazy? The mercenary system now is very good. It requires little investment and it draws back big profits. If you were to change it, it would require a lot of time and it might not be suitable.” Aini objected immediately.

“Aini, have you seen a professional army? Compare mercenaries with them, mercenaries are bullies and loafers. The one who determines the win or loss of a true war is not the mercenary.”

“How is that possible, even the ones selected by the empire were not certain that they would win the war against Sikeqinya’s grade-9 mercenary regiment.”

“There were more than a billion mercenaries that registered in Sikeqinya and a grade-9 mercenary regiment’s staff limitation was ten thousand people. In actual fact, the Dragons and Roses Regiment that had garrisons at the north-east of Sikeqinya had twenty thousand people. The first ten-thousand were the main force and the second ten-thousand were like the auxiliary troops in a regular army. Even those auxiliary troops were elite among the mercenaries. Dragons and Roses Regiment did not form their unit according to the regiment rules. Not only do I want them to make money for me, I also want them to guard the city. It is impossible for me to manage them like Sikeqinya.”

“So you thought it through beforehand, Saleen.” Aini heard what Saleen said and realized that even if he did not bring it up, Saleen would have built a mercenary team anyway.

“Yes, I have written twenty four mercenary rules, brand new rules. So I only wanted the lowest level mercenaries and I want them new. Those older folks were smart and afraid of death, so they couldn’t be trained, let alone be loyal.”

“That is a troublesome matter.”

“Don’t worry. Wait until Lex comes back, we can form the first mercenary regiment as she has sufficient underlinings.”

“You sent someone to get her but there is still no news. I’m not sure…”

“She is a grade-6 mage, stronger than the two of us and by her side, there is…” Saleen stopped himself and did not mention that there was a strong assassin by Lex’s side. He reckoned that the fighting power of the assassin was not any lower than a grade-7 sorcerer. Back then, when the Silver Grand Swordmaster could not escape being killed, was because of the vital attack by Bain.

“Tell me honestly, how much money do you need? I don’t even have one million gold coins on hand.” Aini asked anxiously.

“About money, you could sell your items at a discounted price. I need food and if the Clyde family could transport me large amount of food, I could pay you according to market price.”

Aini forced a smile and said, “There is food, but the north is chaotic. How can I transport them here for you?”

Saleen groaned and said, “I don’t need you for transport. I’ll send Nailisi with the dimension stones. I want them all regardless of the amount.”

Saleen had twenty seven pieces of dimension stones and he could not even use them all by storing food.

“Nailisi… just her alone?”

“I’ll send Jola and a few magic beast swordsmen with her. The city only needs the three Kings. I will also send two grade-4 mages. As long as they don’t run into the mage group from the eastern sea, there won’t be any problem.”

“From what I understand, you would need to pour in large sum of money. Are you not worried about losing your capital?”

“Aini, this trip to the Oceanic Ice Block, I’ve gotten my hands onto a big batch of magic material and I can put them into magic armor. Now with mine on hand, it is not a problem to make weapons too. Your family has professionals, I think they can help me to solve this, right?”

“Actually, you can look to Irene about this. The Williams family are experts in making weapons.”

“Oh? Aini, this is not like your usual style to pass up business.”

“At the moment, we can’t get rid of her. Give her some benefits and there will be more people here to help you. If I help you with this, you would push my price really low and I’m not willing to use most of my capital here.”

“That is true. I don’t have much gold on me.”

“Saleen, as I can’t sleep anyway. Tell me, what are your plans?” Aini pushed the task aside because he really did not want to waste too much of an effort on making weapons. Although the profit was high, it would be a matter of time until Saleen had his own alchemy factory. It was not a long term benefit.

“An ordinary mercenary regiment has no professional segregation. A soldier would do everything. Even if he is a swordsman, he might not be able to master everything, so it is considered a waste. A mercenary regiment would not have auxiliary soldiers too, so the selected one would have to disperse their attention on many tasks. That is an obstacle for training. I want my mercenaries to be the same as a regular army.”

“Isn’t the scale too big?”

“It wouldn’t be. The nobles that hire mercenaries wouldn’t hire ten-thousand of them at once. Most of the time, they would only hire a few hundred mercenaries. If it was a large scale war, they would hire mercenaries in batches, but not hire a soldier camp all at once. My mercenaries would use regiment as one unit, without setting up camp. Every ten regiments would be lead by a general as commander.

Aini heard and understood that instance. In other words, that was to cancel the entire level system of mercenary regiments to allow them to accept any business offer of any level. A small task would only require a regiment leader while the bigger task could be cooperated by a few regiments.

It would then exclude the professional union and Aini was worried.

Saleen knew what Aini was thinking about and he said, “If the professional union has any comment, they could look to Lex directly. Lex is the county queen and within her county, what she says is the law. Our mercenaries were not formed to protect ourselves, but to save cost, they had to go get missions. There was no use for the professional union to make it difficult for us as we do not need their support.”

“But what about the Rolande family? They are our middle people.”

“They are getting twenty percent of the profit. Why would they care?”

“Saleen, it’s difficult to earn your money. Luckily, I did not agree to make weapons for you.”

Saleen smiled and said, “If I don’t do so, how could I tie down the Rolande family?”

“Saleen, please don’t con me. I don’t have many friends. You can’t treat those that I introduce to you like how you treated Irene.” Aini him heard and felt nervous.

“Aini, I am working together with Lex. If the Rolande family does not sincerely want to work together, what do you think Lex would think?” Saleen reminded Aini then he suddenly realized that he was smarter than Saleen in business. In terms of these other matters, he was still not very sensitive though.

“So, there is no harm for you to take some losses here, as Lex would trust you then.” Saleen continued.

“Hmph, I do not need her trust, I am a mage. Do you really think I am a businessman?” Aini complained.

“Mage, so what? Do you know what it is like when you practice magic until the very end?”

Aini did not understand why Saleen brought that up all of a sudden, he shook his head lightly. Saleen replied, “I met a terrifying mage in Holy Rock City. That person was definitely higher than grade-9.”

“What? There is still someone like that on mainland?!” Aini was shocked. That was the first time he had difficulty controlling his facial expression, he looked as though he was burnt by magic.

“This person, takes good care of Lex.”

Aini was daydreaming. He had always thought that the highest level mage on mainland was only a grade-9 sorcerer, but he had never guessed that there was an existence beyond grade-9 living at Holy Rock City. What was the concept of going beyond grade-9? That must be a mage that could cast forbidden curses continuously, without worrying about weak periods.

The flying speed of a grade-9 mage was so fast that the fastest flying bird could not catch up. Once they go beyond grade-9, there would be a humongous change towards the understanding and manipulation of elements. By then, the strong would not be referred to as a sorcerer but as a grand sorcerer.

“Aini, wait until Lex returns, show her more respect. She is much stronger than us now after all and plus, she isn’t that bad of a person.”

Aini nodded blindly and he asked after a while, “Then, what is it when you practice magic until the very end?”

“I have no idea either. If you come across the person one day, asked him yourself.”

“That kind of person would not be in a mood to answer my questions,” Aini said disheartened. Even though he had his own pride, he was not arrogant. His goal was only to become a grade-9 sorcerer and he had never thought of going beyond that. He wasted some time during his youth and that had affected his practice of magic. Aini understood that perfectly so he was much calmer compared to before.

The most troublesome part was that he did not have a complete inheritance. To learn death magic, it would require guidance of a teacher. A strong person was not one that could order a few strong spirits of the dead around.

“Forget it. Let’s talk about equipment.”

“Equipment?”

“Yes, I have used more than half of the magic nucleus that we found in Oceanic Ice Block. I can’t sell them for money so I will use up the rest myself. I have ideas on how we should use those shells of the magic beasts. Your family specialized in making weapons, I would like some of your advice.”