Badge in Azure

“In that case, please state whatever you need, Great Mage.” Bifano decided to play an expedient, he thought that Saleen would not dare demand too much of him in front of Lex. By allowing the mage to state the demands, he would not lose too much.

“Your Highness…” Saleen looked at Bifano’s chiseled face, but did not continue talking.

Bifano waited for a long time, but Saleen never spoke a word. Finally, Bifano could wait no longer, and he realized Saleen’s intention. Saleen was trying to point out that he himself could wait, but Bifano could not. The Cloudflow princess would arrive very soon. If Bifano did not shift his assets before then, he would lose that opportunity forever.

In any empire, a princess was entitled to a manor, and she could also own private soldiers. Since the princess held such a high status, she could easily bring ten-thousand men over.

Seeing that Bifano laughed bitterly, Saleen then said, “I am a mage. You will not be able to give me the things that I desire. On this trip, I simply took it as a direct journey to my objective, no one knew that there would be a detour of thousands of miles. Do you know how many magic nuclei my magic war chariots have to consume each day?”

“It’s only magic nuclei. Master Saleen, feel free to use my resources for the consumption of the journey,” Bifano said with alacrity.

Lex interrupted, “Bifano, this is where you are wrong. Saleen owns a city, he doesn’t lack magic nuclei.”

Lex was already slightly upset when she understood Bifano’s motives. At this point in time, she decided to help Saleen coerce Bifano. The benefits Saleen wanted were not for himself anyway. All of it would go to the development of Metatrin City. Currently, Lex’s cash flow was also tight, otherwise she would not have agreed to Bifano’s request.

At the end of the day, her power paled to that of Holy Rock City. The past few years of lockdown had caused the Bitter Water Prefecture to lose income from commercial activities. Relying on farming alone would not be able to support two camps of soldiers sufficiently.

Lex had a high level of vigilance. Seeing that Bifano tried to act intimate the moment they met, she already knew his intentions. She actually could have made Saleen the scapegoat, but Saleen and Sika seemed extremely intimate lately. If news of this got leaked, it would seem like a Caucasus person and her were vying for the same man.

As for Bifano’s motive, Lex was extremely repulsed by them. There were two secret mountain channels west of Bitter Water Prefecture which would lead to Loulan. One channel was connected directly to southern Loulan, enabling swift access into Titan. If Bifano became a Bitter Water Prefecture citizen, he could naturally use this secret channel. Once the situation got better, he could simply deploy troops into Titan in order to seek revenge.

Lex did not believe that Bifano was in the dark about the existence of those secret channels, which was why she was annoyed. She wanted to help Saleen extort Bifano because of that. Even though Bifano knew Lex for a longer time, Saleen and Lex had experienced life and death together. Saleen and Lex were friends who shared a common secret.

Lex did not even need to consider the issue of familiarity.

Since Lex had said that, Bifano could not possibly cajole Saleen anymore. He only said, “I will be responsible for the consumption of all the battles during this journey. Furthermore, I will gift five-hundred warhorses to you, they are all pedigree Titan warhorses.”

Saleen then chuckled, and said, “I don’t want the castrated ones.”

“Of course not!” Bifano forced out a smile. Even though Titan had premium horses, the level of production was low. The Titan warhorses were regarded as a quality species throughout the whole mainland, but it was not easy reproducing them. Since Saleen had a city and army, the Titan warhorses would definitely tempt him. Saleen wanted the warhorses which could mate though. Titan would not have so many of such good horses either. If all five-hundred warhorses were converted into gold coins, each warhorse would be worth at least one-thousand gold coins.

“I am not short of magic nuclei. The gems on the two magic war chariots which I have brought along this time round are being depleted though.”

“Okay, we shall go collect the gemstones right away.” Bifano had straightened his thoughts. If he could obtain the Pink Army’s base and set up a place of refuge in Loulan, before sending people to look for a place to settle down in the Alchemy City, he would still stand a chance of regaining the land of Titan in the future. It was no big deal giving some benefits to this mage. He had agreed to give Lex twenty percent of the materials in the treasury any way.

“No hurry, you can discuss the itinerary first. Another thing, we aren’t the only ones on this expedition right?”

“I cannot lead the regular emblem groups, I can only bring along five-hundred soldiers. The Cloudflow people will find out in less than a day otherwise,” Bifano stated matter-of-factly. If he lied, Saleen might possibly state more demands along the way.

“How many mages are there in Fire Dance City?” Lex had asked this question. In order to conquer the Goddess of Myers’ temple, having the key alone was not sufficient, adequate manpower was also required. The Pink Army would have at least two-thousand swordsmen stationed there and there would not be too few mages either. Previously, that marquis from Tanggulasi was well-versed in magic and martial arts. The number of skills handed down was countless.

Lex was most fearful of the mages in the Pink Army. The commander could actually avoid the fatal blow delivered by Bain.

“Titan has no mage’s platoon. An emblem group would only have a grand mage. A brigade would be allocated either a grade-3 or grade-2 mage, then there’s no more mages.”

“So few?” Sika interrupted out of astonishment.

Bifano got extremely glum. This was Titan, not Qin. It was already very impressive that a brigade would have a mage. An emblem group would also have a grand mage. Such a ratio was already considered high in Cloudflow.

“It is indeed too little.” Lex furrowed her brows. She did not want to be involved personally in the invasion of the Pink Army’s base this time around. Just like how Bifano was a grand swordmaster, but he would not charge at the front either. Lex did not even want to send the mages working under her. This time around, she only wanted to help Bifano open the doors to the temple, she did not plan to partake in the rest of the issues.

Be that as it may, if Bifano owned too few mages, many accidents would occur during the battle.

“Why don’t I recruit a few mages from Fire Dance City?” Bifano probed.

Lex sneered, “Aren’t you afraid that your secret might be leaked? Or are you planning to silence them afterwards?”

Bifano’s heart shuddered. Actually, he had had this thought, but he realized that there were two grand mages right in front of him. If he claimed to have that intention, Lex might be outraged.

“Acquire some scrolls, it will be best to get the higher level ones. Even if the scrolls are not utilized, you can store them. At the very least, the scrolls will not depreciate.” Saleen had made a very good suggestion.

“That is the only way I guess.” At this point in the discussion, Bifano had lost the mood to strengthen his relationship with Lex. He sent some people to lead Saleen to the treasury to get the gems and magic nuclei. Afterwards, he arranged accommodation for Lex and her entourage. In the evening, he wanted to host a banquet, but he was rejected by Lex and Saleen.

In the princess’ castle, only a few rooms were lit. Most of the castle was draped in pitch darkness. It was a cloudy night, one could barely see their own fingers in the dark.

Saleen made his way to Lex’s room openly. After entering, he closed the door and cast a magic lock.

“Lex, do you trust Bifano?” Saleen went straight to the topic.

“Why do you ask?”

“When he looks at you, his eyes are filled with evil intentions.”

“What does he dare to do? If he hurts me, Holy Rock City will definitely flatten his duchy to salvage their pride.”

“What if he has come to an agreement with Holy Rock City? If he can contact you, why can’t he get in touch with Holy Rock City?”

Lex stood up abruptly and turned around, staring at Saleen. Saleen looked into Lex’s eyes calmly, feeling serene.

“I can’t think of any advantages he will attain by doing so. If he had really done it, why can’t we retaliate?” Lex’s eyes beamed with arrogance.

“If that’s the case, does it mean I can leave him alone if anything happens?” Saleen probed.

Lex’s eyebrows were tightly locked, then she said, “Saleen, we don’t have any allies right now. Without any evidence, I don’t wish to touch Bifano.”

“Then forget it, I was still planning on getting a fortune.”

“Nonsense. If he dies in our hands, there will be trouble too. The Grand Duke of Titan might ride on the wave and give up his power, and the Cloudflow emperor would use this as an excuse to negotiate with the Holy Rock City. The Holy Rock City can’t wait to sell me out, and I will not give them a chance to do so.”

“Lex, I am just making a remark, don’t act so uptight. If he harbors any ill intentions against me, don’t blame Nailisi for acting swiftly. I won’t be able to stop her.” After finishing his sentence, Saleen turned and left Lex’s room.

As Lex gazed Saleen’s back view, an unexplainable feeling welled up in her heart.

“Since when did this youth grow up, having his own ideas, he can no longer be controlled easily.” Of course, Lex would not wish for Saleen to remain sentimental and reckless. Such a change undoubtedly made her feel that something in her heart had flowed away, like an elapsing river which was surging forward, boisterous and irreversible. Lex rubbed her eyes, as she thought to herself, “Didn’t I wish for Saleen to become like this? Now that he has done it, why do I feel so depressed?

Back in Saleen’s room, the lights were dim. The princess’ castle was a vital military installation, there was no extravagance, only practicality. Nailisi sat in front of a pillar restlessly, using her fingers to fiddle with the flames. Under the candlelight, her hair gave off a demonic green glow.

“Master, you are back.” Nailisi continued toying with the fire.

Saleen noticed that the blanket had been laid out properly, then said, “Nailisi, you can return to your room.”

“Master, do you want me to get Sister Sika?”

Saleen replied tiredly, “No need, I want to dwell on some matters alone.”

“Then I shall accompany you, I can sleep on the floor.” Nailisi had mysteriously become very obedient today.

Saleen relaxed his muscles and planted himself onto the bed. Smacking the sides of the bed, he said, “Nailisi, come over.”

Nailisi came beside Saleen silently. When Saleen felt better, he asked, “Nailisi, if I need you to kill Bifano, how long do you need?”

“If it was in the living room like today, I will need less than five seconds. If he has his soldiers around him, I cannot guarantee anything.”

“Got it. If I say ‘small duke’ in the future, take action immediately.” Saleen’s gaze was filled with perseverance. Based on his instincts, Bifano definitely wanted to harm Lex, but Saleen could not get hold of any evidence.

“Master, it is not because he is fond of Lex right? You already have Sister Sika,” Nailisi said solemnly.

“Don’t spout nonsense. If Lex comes to any harm, our Metatrin City will become a laughing stock.” Speaking, Saleen finally understood why he felt so anxious. Without Lex and her God’s Ring, he would not be able to return to the hell of god’s punishment. If that happened, then he would not be able to acquire Raphael’s magical tower and the Six Elements’ Space.

If Saleen knew that would happen, then he should have brought the three kings along.