Badge in Azure

There were two people in front of their troop and they were both on black warhorses. Lex’s swordsmen were once out for many years and did training outside. Many of them had a different identity. The two swordsmen were mercenaries that owned official names in the Professional Union. This time they left, but wore the mercenary badge.

It was not during the march to war, so the two high level swordsmen left their long weapons in the carriage. They did not hang them next to the saddle, but only hung a long sword on their waist. The Qin eight-sided sword was between a heavy and light sword. The force of splitting and chopping on a warhorse was powerful, it was considered a multifunctional weapon.

The person who was shouting for help looked like he was in his thirties, wearing a pink robe. His skin was so pale as though he had been locked in the house for a dozen years without seeing the sun. This person had long sharp eyes and delicate facial features but was stubbly. The color of the shirt was awkward, neither that of fish nor fowl.

The swordsmen at the front drew his long sword and pointed at him, “Step back!”

“Hero, help! I ran into a bandit gang!”

The two swordsmen from Bitter Water Prefecture looked at each other and laughed at the same time. One of them said, “There is only one bandit gang in Bordeaux, not many people know about them. You are the second person in charge of the bandit gang. Did you get robbed by a newly established bandit gang? That’s embarrassing.”

The person was uncovered directly and he just laughed it off, “Acquaintances then, have we met?”

“No, I’ve killed a few of your underlinings. It wouldn’t be weird if we found out anything from them.” The two swordsmen were pointing at the leader of the bandit gang on both sides.

“You don’t need to be so tense. My hands just got itchy and I wanted to borrow some money to spend. If the two of you have a gold coin with you, I will let you pass through. How is that condition?”

The two swordsmen were out all year round and they were familiar with all the robbers’ rules. The leader of the gang could not be trusted. Even if he had scruples due to the capability of the troop, he would not only ask for one gold coin.

“Give him a gold coin. If he doesn’t move out of the way, kill him.” The one who spoke was Narnia, but she was just retelling what Lex had said. In the magic chariot, the mages’ perception was at their utmost sensitive state. Behind the leader of the robbers, there were at least a dozen people. Listening to the rhythm of their breathing, they were all tough fighters.

Lex did not know if the people were ran into coincidentally or already schemed earlier. She threatened because of that, if the other party continued to bother then, they would be in big trouble.

A swordsman took out a gold coin and threw it towards the leader of the robbers. He shouted, “Get lost. If we see your face again, we will take immediate action.”

Being humiliated face to face, the leader of the pack did not seem to be bothered. He raised his hands and took over the gold coin that flew over. He squinted his eyes and said, “Thanks. There won’t be any of our people in front. If you encounter any disturbance, go ahead and kill them.”

The leader of the robbers said that and in a flash, he was hidden within the forest by the road.

“That person’s footsteps were so fast!” Narnia saw the scene where the leader of the robbers left.

“It’s an assassin, but he couldn’t fight against Jola.” Lex saw the scary talent of the robber. The speed of him moving his body, the quiet footsteps, he would be easily schemed if they were in downtown. Lex was always accompanied with a large troop wherever she went, she was not afraid of such a rascal.

There was an even stronger assassin by Lex’s side. All tricks that an assassin might play, were not foreign to her. She was not pressured and she could even gauged that instance that the leader was not Jola’s match.

The two guiding swordsmen were replaced. The two of them came next to Lex’s carriage and Lex asked, “What is going on with the robber?”

“Your Highness, we are not sure. It has always been peaceful in Bordeaux. There is only one gang and they move around the Tanggulasi border most of the time. They do not run big business, there are quite a few strong ones, and the rewards are low. So no one has tiedy to wipe them out.”

“They don’t do big business?” Lex could determine the problem behind that.

Although there were gangs that specialized in small trades, the leader of the gang was not bad. If he were to join the army, he could easily become the captain. A captain was already the highest rank among the low level military officers. One without background, military exploit, and experience could become a captain; he must be outstanding in his talent.

Such a gang could do very big business. Common mercenaries could not resist them. Unless it was a big mercenary regiment, it could not be bothered by the robbers. Such organizations did not do big business.

“Why? What’s the problem?” Saleen did not understand much about the robber. He saw Lex crease her eyebrows so he asked that casually.

“This gang is supported by someone behind the scenes, but I’m not sure whether it’s people from Tanggulasi or Cloudlflow. Maybe he collects money from both.”

Lex made it so straightforward, it would be hard for Saleen to not understand that Lex was worried about the person behind the robber.

“Your Highness, why don’t we chase after them and kill them all?” The two swordsmen outside suggested. There were twenty four of them in Lex’s troop, none were weak. Those robbers had more people, but the swordsmen were confident to kill all of them.

As long as they changed onto skeleton warhorses they were confidant. Skeleton warhorses were not afraid of landforms, they were the most suited for ascending hills and going through rivers. The swordsmen riding on the skeleton warhorses were like mages cast with the windspeed skill consistently.

“We don’t need to. Let Wild Bear go to the front. He can take care of whatever we encounter.”

“Him?” Although the two swordsmen were surprised, they carried out Lex’s order thoroughly.

Wild Bear was two meters tall and he was riding on a magic beast that was rarely seen. On the back of the magic beast, there was a huge bump just like a camel. Its hooves were much bigger and it had horns on its head. Its canine teeth were extended outside of its mouth, it did not look like one with good temperament.

Wild Bear was the cook that Lex asked for from Holy Rock City in West Town. His talent in fighting was extremely high, so Lex brought him back and got someone to teach him swordcraft. After a few years time, he was almost becoming a swordsmaster.

Wild Bear was a simple and honest man. The people from Bitter Water Prefecture liked him, but Lex was afraid that he was cheated. She kept him in the prefect residence all this while. This time she brought him along to let him have more real battle experience.

The swordsmen found Wild Bear and told him Lex’s demand. Wild Bear patted his chest and said, “Don’t worry. If I run into that scoundrel again, I will thump him to death in one hit with my hammer!”

The swordsman heard Wild Bear’s answer and quivered. He fought with Wild Bear before once. Contact with that hammer of his made a weapon either break or fly out of one’s hand. Sword aura that was trained with much effort was useless before Wild Bear.

When such an honest person set their mind on something, it would be extremely difficult to change their mind. Even if the gang had any plans, with Wild Bear’s existence, the only way was to win against him first.

Wild Bear was riding on the magic beast and got to the furthest front of the troop. Jola seized the chance to urge his warhorse and followed him.

Wild Bear was extremely strong in learning to fight, but he could only speak the Qin language and the common language. In Titan Duchy most of them spoke the Titan language and the Cloudflow language. Sometimes there would be the Sikeqinya language, but the Qin language was rarely heard. The Common language was only spoken during business. Jola knew many languages, he followed Wild Bear as he was afraid that he would run into a language that he didn’t know.

“Where did you find Jola from?” Lex suddenly asked.

“I picked him up along the way. Why?” Saleen did not introduce Jola to Lex in details.

There was doubt in Lex’s eyes when she spoke, “His eyes change color, did you notice that?”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“That’s a characteristic of Cloudflow royalty. Did you know that?”

“Mm?” Saleen pricked up his ears. He of course did not know about that characteristic. He otherwise would have asked Jola long ago. Jola must be hiding something from him.

“The Qin royals that practice the royal secret arts, their eyes would have two colors; gold and blue. It exposed the attributes of the secret arts completely. The Cloudflow royal family has secret arts too. Their secret arts would make their eyes change color too. The higher the level, the more colors it changes. At most, there would be seven. I saw at least five colors in Jola’s eyes.”

So called secret arts was referring to unique practice methods for magic and sword aura. These skills were passed down in the ancient families, definitely not for dissemination. One must be in the direct line of descend to be able to inherit them.

There were very little direct line of descendants in the Grukos royal family. Only followers of Lex and Safilos could impart. Due to Lex’s practice of secret arts, she seemed cool since she was young until she had some result from secret arts. After that she felt closer to the normal people.

“Master, I think Jola might really have impregnated the princess of Cloudflow!” Nailisi was suddenly excited.

Lex heard what Nailisi said and started questioning closely, she then found out how Jola knew Saleen.

“That could be understood. A princess that could inherit secret arts in cloudflow, must be some important figure. Jola was chased after, it might not be because he did that, but might be because the princess exposed the practice method of secret arts to him. Saleen, what do you think?”

Saleen closed his eyes and said, “It’s okay. I believe in him.”

Jola was following next to Wild Bear and he suddenly tensed. Just now, there was a swift and fierce aura that locked him down and was ready to attack him anytime. He couldn’t find the origin of the aura!

The person that locked him down was close to the standard of a Golden Grand Swordmaster!

Hair all over Jola’s body stood on end and he nearly drew his sword. He did not know who wanted to attack him, but the aura suddenly disappeared and it was hard to find again. Jola turned around and saw Saleen’s carriage was following close behind without any movement.

That made him feel safer. Him following Saleen might be the best choice. He had never been any big figure. To be able to live better, he had to sacrifice.

“Mm, if you believe in him, I shall let him go then.” Lex smiled faintly and did not bring anything up about Jola again.

“You Highness, don’t let him go. Jola is a very lustful person. He peeped at me when I showered,” Nailisi incited by the side.

“Lex, ignore her.” Saleen saw that Lex raised her eyebrows and he knew that was bad. According to Lex’s character, she hated such unrestrained actions the most.