Badge in Azure

Even though the pink army was fundamentally made out of bandits, they possessed foresight. Now that the mainland was in turmoil, they could capitalize on the chaos.

Still an intense collision was imminent, be it in Cloudflow or Tanggulasi. Sandwiched between two empires, they had nowhere to run. They actually were still fearful of Titan Duchy, but were now at the end of their rope. Basically, it would not end well if one assaulted a regular army.

Bifano was really furious that more than twenty of his trusted soldiers were dead. A trusted soldier was an elite among all private soldiers. These trusted soldiers had outstanding fighting skills. If it was not for the large magic trap, a group of one-hundred average bandits would not be able to besiege them.

The injured soldiers were placed onto the carriages, while the few who managed to flee appeared to be ashamed. No matter how much training they had undergone, they still could not resist the fear in their hearts when in the face of magic.

Magic was an item like this. If one did not understand it, they would have a phobia of it. When one understood it, they would be in awe of it.

“You all should have seen how many enemies were atop the hill.” Bifano’s voice was frosty. He did not want to vent his rage on his trusted soldiers, these people had unquestionable loyalty.

“About forty of them, all dead from the explosion,” a soldier replied after mustering his courage.

“That’s ruthless.” Bifano glanced at the short hill. Some contraptions which could fire a barrage of arrows were installed atop the hill. Once the target was baited up the hill, the magic trap would be stimulated. All the people controlling the machines were also dead. The pink army had planned on sacrificing its soldiers.

“The few of you.” Bifano said to the soldiers who managed to escaped, “Return immediately. The person executing the ambush must have gotten this news along the way, realizing that we have altered the route. There aren’t many villages nearby, find out who leaked the news, then kill all of them!”

Even though Saleen’s magic war chariot was located faraway, Saleen could hear Bifano’s words clearly. “This small duke is so ruthless. Even if the villagers were acting as the pink army’s informants, it had to be out of desperation. Even if he wants to kill for deterrence, he doesn’t need to conduct a massacre. These villagers are his citizens, paying taxes to him annually. The Pink Army could control his villages because of his ineffectiveness, he should not blame the villagers. How are the unarmed farmers going to stand up to the bandits?”

“Very cruel, isn’t it?” Lex looked at Saleen’s expression, as she spoke in an icy voice.

“He doesn’t have humanity.” Saleen raised his head, looking directly into Lex’s eyes.

“So what do you plan to do now?” Lex turned her head slightly sideways, her face was without a single hint of smile. She was not mocking Saleen, she felt that there was something amiss with this matter.

“What can I do, these people will be sucked into the flames of war sooner or later, unless I can eradicate the ambitions of the emperors.” Saleen leaned backwards. It was soft and comfortable lying against a pillow, and the air within the chariot was fresh, but not cold, totally unlike the exterior surroundings. Nailisi leaned against him snugly, massaging his legs.

“The sadness for such nobility, you are really an orthodox mage.” This time around, Lex’s words had the intention of satirizing.

“Bifano isn’t my friend,” Saleen answered indifferently. He would not save those villages, and he had no way of saving them either. At the moment, he could not fall out with Bifano.

“He is not my friend either,” Lex said harshly. The Bifano she used to know was not like this at all. Back then, that small duke had lofty ambitions and was passionate, without the airs of a noble. After just several years, he had become a cold blooded noble.

Since the people atop the hill were dead, it was not necessary for Bifano to linger around there anymore. He thus gave the order to advance. The convoy’s speed had increased considerably. In at most an hour, they could reach the next town. The soldiers were not willing to travel in such terrible weather, and the sky was also getting dark. Even though Titan did not have many magic beasts, it was never really safe in the wilderness.

All this while, the two chariots worth of swordmasters responsible for protecting Saleen did not make any move. They only used their longswords to defend against the rain of arrows, but were lazy to do anything else. To them, Bifano’s elite troops seemed like any other group of soldiers. If such soldiers could activate a mage trap, then they would be swiftly exterminated in the face of a real enemy.

The rest of the journey was free from any harassers. Bifano’s team arrived at the next town hastily. This was a town with a population of about ten-thousand people, all the people lived in a castle in the village, and the mayor was not conferred a title. When the mayor learned that the small duke was arriving, he arranged accommodation for these five-hundred plus people in a haphazard manner.

Saleen saw the true difference between Cloudflow and Qin. The ranking of a noble reigned supreme in this location. Everyone displayed extreme respect for Bifano, and this also made Saleen understand why the Agares family was so reluctant to lose their authority.

All the way from the time they arrived, the people serving them had never raised their heads at all.

Unlike Qin, a town of this status in Titan did not have an official dwelling to host the nobles. Bifano and his team were lodged in an enormous mansion. The mansion belonged to a local noble, but the noble was not around, so the manpower left behind was little too.

Saleen and Lex had been arranged to stay in two different houses, with a distance of several hundred meters apart. Saleen knew that this was Bifano’s wish, and he could not be bothered about it. Once the Pink Army’s hideout temple was located, he would act accordingly again. If Bifano’s army suffered too huge a loss, he would let Nailisi slaughter him. Saleen would never take a liking to someone like that.

The banquet hosted by the mayor was absented by Saleen, as usual. He remained in his room, diligently practicing magic. Of late, Saleen realized that he was too distracted by worldly happenings, he was no longer as diligent in his practice. If this went on, he would never become a sorcerer even in the next thirty to fifty years.

In the dining hall, Lex was not present, only Nailisi went to collect the food. She sat at her seat arrogantly, ignoring all the customs of a noble. The trusted soldiers beside Bifano were outraged, the mage’s maidservant was insolent.

The trusted soldiers might be enraged, but they did not dare mention anything as they could not afford to trifle with a mage. Even Bifano treaded the waters carefully while around Saleen. The mage treated him with hostility, and if he did anything to Nailisi, the whole cooperation might just fall through.

“Sir, urgent information!” A soldier paced in, delivering a mini piece of paper into Bifano’s hands.

Bifano took a look, his eyebrows arching up. After a moment of pondering, he said, “Get Her Highness Lex.”

The soldier received the order and went away. He returned after a long while and said, “Her Highness Lex is meditating, she is not willing to come over.”

“What’s going on?” Nailisi asked rudely.

“You…” The soldier wanted to say that Nailisi was not qualified, but Nailisi had interrupted him and said, “I can convey the message to Lex, but don’t even think of talking to her.”

The soldier immediately shut his mouth and turned to look at Bifano. Bifano had a glint in his eyes, then told Nailisi, “The Princess’ Castle has a war situation. The Tanggulasi Empire has finally taken action, about two camps worth of soldiers are gathering at the border. The vanguards might already be in the vicinity of the Princess’ Castle.”

“This matter is indeed imperative, I will go right now.” With a shove of the table, Nailisi stood up. Bifano and his men could only overlook her rudeness. It was only after Nailisi had left the dining hall that Bifano said through clenched teeth, “Once I get to Fire Dance City, I will make sure she learns her lesson!”

Unbeknownst to Bifano, Nailisi heard every single word he said, even though he spoke softly. A smile appeared on Nailisi’s face, as she thought to herself, “It will be best if you can no longer hold it in, otherwise I will never know when Master will get angry.” Since Nailisi was going to summon demons, she had to prepare some blood food for them.

Back in Metatrin City, Nailisi could not get suitable food for the demons, but she did not need to have any concerns in Titan. The small duke was going to be dealt with sooner or later, she should just feed him to her subordinates.

A normal demon was not as picky as the Luoluokaluo. Consuming a powerful man would be more enjoyable since they would be muscular and chewy. As Bifano was immersed in his thoughts of how to torture Nailisi once he got to Fire Dance City, he did not know that Nailisi was already regarding him as food.

Wild Bear was standing guard outside Lex’s room, while the two female mages were inside accompanying her in the practice of her family’s secret arts. When Nailisi arrived, Wild Bear did not stop her. He knocked on the door, and Lex allowed Nailisi to enter.

“Tanggulasi has taken action? That’s early.” When Lex received the news, she remained very composed. It was a good thing for Qin that Tanggulasi’s emperor was dealing with Titan first. It was a little too soon though. She thought that the war would erupt after the next winter, since there was no news from God Grace Duchy yet.

“Viscountess, this will not affect our journey right?”

“Why not? Bifano must be thinking of picking up the pace in order to reach Fire Dance City as soon as possible. Now that Tanggulasi has taken action, Cloudflow will definitely want to seize Titan in the shortest time possible. His good days will soon be over. Nailisi, tell Saleen that we will not do anything. After conquering the Stone Statue Castle, we will go straight to Fire Dance City.”

At this point in time, Lex realized that if Tanggulasi started an invasion, she would not be able to return to the Purgatory Desert from this place, she had to use an alternative entrance. The more time was dragged out, the worse the situation would get. If she ran into Tanggulasi’s army on Titan’s land, her only way out would be to fly back to Qin using magic. If the other party did not have a sorcerer, she could escape.

No matter how estranged she was from Holy Rock City, she still had tremendous value in the eyes of the Tanggulasi Empire. Once she got captured, the Tanggulasi Empire would be able to find various reasons to invade Qin. The most probable outcome was that the Holy See’s people would wipe out her intelligence, transforming her into a human puppet, before igniting a war using the name of the Bitter Water County. By then, the internal resistance of Qin would be greatly weakened, since this would be a civil war, and not an invasion.

Using her status as Emperor Chanake’s daughter to usurp the throne, at least one-fourth of the nobles in the empire would consider supporting her. This was not a good thing, it would in fact prove fatal to her.