Badge in Azure

Saleen’s words might be a bit disrespectful to the Emperor, but he was a grade-6 mage after all and he was also familiar with the Emperor’s sister. It was difficult have any respect for the sickly Emperor.

Aini’s fifty bodyguards had already left the city and were waiting about ten miles away. A large group of them could not possibly travel any other way in Holy Rock City other than to cut straight through the four towns. Other areas were mostly mountains or small castles that could seek help from the four towns anytime. If Holy Rock City wanted to shut itself from the rest of the mainland, there would be no way out across the entire one-hundred miles.

The only issue was that the Clyde clan’s actions were of their own and not under the orders of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There was no way to coordinate with the army. Saleen and the rest passed through Northtown without any issues.

Saleen refused to travel any further when he was twenty miles away from Northtown. It would be difficult to explain Narnia’s absence to Lex. He and Narnia were in the midst of learning more about the fourth dynasty. Even if he did not intend to verify his own identity, there were still many things to be learned from the fourth dynasty that would greatly benefit his magic training.

Narnia belonged to the category of mages that had a knack for knowledge and intelligence and she always seemed to be very analytical as well.

A mage like this would be valuable to any of her companions. Saleen did not know the reason why Narnia had been summoned to the palace. Even though he did not sense that it concerned her life and death, he was still worried.

At this moment, Narnia was having a meal with Emperor Ojarvis. He was about the same height as Saleen, but looked much thinner. Similar to Lex, Ojarvis had a pair of blue eyes and pale skin. He did not exude the aura of a mage like Lex, but he did not display any weaknesses either.

Ojarvis looked just like an ordinary youth of a noble family. His hands fiddled with the badge that Narnia had given to him and he seemed to be in a good mood.

This was an ordinary badge that all swordmasters of the Grukos family would have. On the badge was a pattern of a six-winged flying snake. The only difference was that a secret spell that was unique to the family had been sealed in this badge. It was a grade-7 defense spell; crystal guardian.

This meant that this spell could now be used in battle without harming the caster. What also made Ojarvis excited was that Lex had hinted that she could be advancing into a sorcerer soon…

Ojarvis only had vague memories of Lex. When Lex was in Holy Rock City before, he had just recovered from his sickness and the people around him had nothing good to say about Lex. At that time, Ojarvis behaved unlike a youth because he chose to bear with it. As a member of the Grukos clan, he knew that the people around him said what they said about Lex only because of power and benefits.

Since father did not pass down the title of ‘Emperor’ to his sister, naturally she would not try to strive for it. In fact, now that the Tanggulasi empire was trying to go forth on invasions everywhere, his sister would have plenty of opportunities to capture many lands so there was no point trying to fight with Ojarvis for Holy Rock City. The facts had proven him right. His sister did not make use of the family’s power nor find any supporters from the House of Lords. Instead, she went to the northern part of the world and built a new city there.

Sister wanted Phoenix and this was clear to everyone including Ojarvis. In front of his advisers, he had to pretend otherwise.

Although he had the support of three grade-9 sorcerers, Ojarvis was very different from the past Qin Emperors. His health was an issue and he was not proficient in his family’s secret spell, swordsmanship, or magic.

It was a helpless feeling. If his sister and he were to die, their family’s bloodline would be lost. Within three years, all the advisers would forget about him entirely and would choose anyone with the surname of ‘Grukos’ to become the country’s Emperor.

Chanake’s son might be weak in health, but his brain was working perfectly. Ojarvis did not have the opportunity to train in any combat or magic due to his sickness, but he was still able to gain a lot of knowledge with the help of the grade-9 mages. To Ojarvis, survival was much more important than being Emperor.

Lex’s badge contained a grade-7 defense spell and the meaning was clear. Stay alive, have a son and destroy the plans of those advisers.

Qin’s motto was; ‘The crystal man gives nothing away for free.’

Lex’s grade-7 spell was crystal guardian. Once it was cast, Ojarvis would be enveloped by an armor that was made of an element similar to crystal. As long as the spell was still activated, even high-level spells would not be able to affect him.

Narnia ate gracefully. She was in no hurry. Objectively, she felt that Ojarvis was a decent person, but with a terrible fate.

Bravery was the most important trait in order to become a Qin Emperor. As the symbol of the empire, Emperor Chanake was popular and respected amongst his people because of his authority and bravery.

Ojarvis might also treat his people well, but he lacked authority. Aside from the swordmen camps that were loyal to the royal family, the armies of the other four towns rarely obeyed his orders.

Narnia put down her bowl and cast a Cleaning spell to clean up the table. She finally spoke.

“Your Majesty, I understand your intentions. The Viscountess will ensure the safety of Phoenix. Please rest assured.”

“I will try to ensure that the army of Guderian City stays put in Qin and does not do anything reckless.”

Narnia smiled and said, “Your Majesty, there is no such need. The army of Guderian City are all men of Prince Safilos’. Although the Prince has not treated the Viscountess well, he is still on the side of Your Majesty. Nothing good will come out of it if the two of you are in conflict with each other.”

“Humph!” Ojarvis did not say anything else. Other than the palace and the swordsmen camps, everything in Holy Rock City was under the control of Safilos. Ojarvis simply could not extend his influence beyond Holy Rock City.

“Once the conflict between Your Majesty and the Prince is out in the open, the clans in the south will start to stir up trouble and call for independence. Some might even decide to join the Viscountess. In any case, it would not be easy to settle these issues,” Narnia said directly. Ojarvis became doubtful upon hearing what Narnia had just said. “This mage is really pretty! Just like…just like sister.”

“Sister… still does not have faith in my abilities!” Ojarvis was a little depressed. He was merely an Emperor in name. “Doesn’t she have anything that I can help her with?”

Narnia thought about it then took out a metal box and put it on the table.

“What is this?”

“The Viscountess passed it to me and instructed that I should pass it to you should we meet alone. Open it one month after I leave. This metal box was sealed with magic. Only grade-9 sorcerers can handle it.”

“So mysterious.” Ojarvis took over the metal box. It was small and flat and looked like it only contained a piece of paper.

“The Viscountess was afraid that Your Majesty would be too reckless. Alright, we have had our meal. When can I leave?” Narnia’s attitude towards Ojarvis was similar to Saleen, she could not conjure up any feelings of respect or fear.

“You have other companions?”

“Yes, but I think they have already passed Northtown and are waiting for me.”

“Let me get the swordsmen camp to send you there,” Ojarvis said.

“Even without the swordsmen camp, I’m sure Prince Safilos will not send anyone after me. I am merely an unimportant mage that serves the Viscountess,” Narnia said with a smile.

Ojarvis thought, “Sister instructed you to pass the metal box to me personally, how could you possibly be unimportant?” He did not say anything, but persisted in sending a large group of swordsmen camp of the royal family to send Narnia off. Whatever needed to be said had been said, now Ojarvis would just have to wait for Lex to deploy her troops to defend Laiyin Duchy.

One royal swordsmen camp was made up of two-hundred men and a grade-4 mage and they traveled at lightning speed. No patrolling soldiers interfered with them so Narnia had no opportunities to interact with them. The soldiers of the royal swordsmen camp were all covered with armor and had holes on their face guards for breathing. The material that covered their eyes was made up of polished crystal.

Winter was about to arrive in Holy Rock City and some of the trees still had their leaves. The wind brought about by the speed at which the two-hundred knights were traveling resulted in many of the dried leaves finally falling from their trees. When one looked back, it was as if there was a trail of yellow flying snakes that were slithering across the streets and rushing through the city gates.

Without any instructions from Safilos, no one in the city would dare to cause trouble for the swordsmen camp. Ojarvis was overly worried. The city was split into those that were controlled by him while the majority were controlled by Safilos. Whoever dared to defy them would be torn into shreds.

Once they were out of Holy Rock City, the group traveled at a slower speed, but still managed to pass through Northtown and meet up with Saleen before nightfall.

“Thank you for your service. Please return,” Narnia was panting slightly while speaking to the officer. Her physique was unlike Saleen so traveling at great speed took a toll on her body. The warhorses of the royal swordsmen camp were different from skeletal warhorses in the sense that the former were not as stable and did not have the riding equipment that suited Narnia. The tens of miles of traveling had caused abrasions in her inner thighs and they did not worsen only because she had used magic to heal them over time.

“The Majesty’s orders were to escort you back to Metatrin City. If the Viscountess wishes for us to stay, we need not return to Holy Rock City either,” the officer answered respectfully.

The royal swordsmen camp were Emperor Chanake’s trusted army, but they were not against the order given by Ojarvis. To pledge their loyalty to Viscountess Lex was better than staying in Holy Rock City, where they still had to deal with Prince Safilos. The royal swordsmen camp would pledge loyalty to Prince Safilos only if Ojarvis and Lex were no longer in the picture.

Just as Narnia was about to refuse, the officer said, “Besides, there are people chasing after us. It is safer for us to be around to protect you.”

Saleen said, “Yes, there is a regiment. Within them, there are forty heavy-armored knights that are riding on unicorns.”

The officer looked at Saleen in shock. Saleen was wearing his devil suit and looked like a swordsman instead of a mage. His elemental eye could see up to one-hundred miles away. As this was flat ground, he could see the group that was tailing them very clearly.

Narnia saw the officer hesitating, so she introduced, “This the Lord of Metatrin City.”

The officer immediately saluted and said, “The men behind us are not here to cause any problems. Just ahead is Green Dragon Stone, where men from the Holy See will lie in ambush to attack us. The men behind us were sent by Prince Safilos to follow us and use us as bait to lure the men from Holy See out and exterminate them.”

“How would you know?” Saleen asked with a frown.

“Your Excellency, Prince Safilos had sent words to us at Northtown that if we are not able to ensure the safety of everyone here, we will all be sentenced to death,” the officer replied calmly. It seemed that Prince Safilos’ order did not unnerve him at all.

“Use us as bait? The Prince is really smart. The Holy See will be appearing very near to Holy Rock City. If anything happened to them, won’t he have to take up the responsibility?”

The officer chuckled, but did not reply. The secret pockets of Holy See men in Qin had already been monitored so this time around. Safilos was only trying to lure out those that had yet to be found. Before Saleen and his men arrived, the Prince’s subordinates had already spread the word that a special envoy of Viscountess Lex would be arriving to discuss about the battle situation at the borders.

The Holy See’s presence in Green Dragon Stone was originally sparse and their task was only to spy on Holy Rock City. The city was heavily guarded and there was no way they could get within one-hundred miles so they could only observe the traffic and types of noble families that traveled back and forth the road. These information were usually too vague to be of any value.

This time around, capturing Viscountess Lex’s envoy would be a major victory. Even the people of the Taggulasi Empire were aware of the animosity between Viscountess Lex and Prince Safilos. The envoy must be bringing news or information between the Viscountess and the Emperor.

Safilos had created a situation that was rare to come by and it was no wonder that the Holy See was tempted.

As for whether Safilos spread any other false news to trigger the Holy See to send forth so many men and horses, the royal swordsmen camp was not aware. Nevertheless, Green Dragon Stone could only contain a few hundred men so the two-hundred soldiers of the royal swordsmen camp did not feel threatened at all.

“The Holy See is incredibly stupid,” Saleen sighed and waved for everyone to proceed, allowing the royal swordsmen camp to come along. He had two-hundred and fifty highly-trained soldiers by his side. Without the swordmasters, these two-hundred and fifty soldiers were more than sufficient to guarantee his safety even if the enemy had a grand mage.

The officer pushed his horse hard and they caught up. The horse looked impressive and was unafraid of Saleen’s skeletal warhorse.

“Your Excellency, the men of Holy See are not stupid and are fearless. If a fight really occurs later, please stay in the middle and let us protect you.”

Saleen appreciated the kind intention and slowed down his skeletal warhorse to allow the royal swordsmen camp soldiers to lead the way. Both sides were already officially at war so the Holy See might become more desperate and send high-level high priests to Qin.

Before becoming a sorcerer, Saleen was still susceptible to the enemy’s traps. His Quickcloud spell would only allow him to fly at about one-hundred miles an hour, but within the Holy See’s high priests, several of them could fly extremely fast and could still cast spells within the first ten miles or so. Unless Saleen could fly at two-hundred miles an hour, he would still be in danger.

Green Dragon Stone was actually a small town with a single source of water and about one-hundred families living there. Holy Rock City has ordered that no shops or businesses were to be conducted here. Instead, Green Dragon Stone mainly functioned as a station with many inns to accommodate the noble families’ envoys for free. Private caravans would have to build their own campsite instead.

Holy Rock City was one-hundred miles away. There were only a few hundred small noble families spread out within one-thousand miles so they did not pose any threat to Holy Rock City. The puzzling thing was that Holy Rock City did not station any troops there so this area seemed especially deserted.

Green Dragon Stone was about thirty miles wide and was full of gravel and six mountain tops that were three-hundred to five-hundred yards tall and surrounded the small town. These mountain tops resembled the shape of six gigantic dragons. Green Dragon Stone was in the middle of them and was a circular-shaped flat ground. The town seemed lonely without any trees or animals.

There was a gust of wind and sounds of whimpering. Not a single soldier was left in Green Dragon Stone. The smell of blood was thick. A few golden-eyed crows perched on the city tower and watched the road that headed towards the south.

Green Dragon Stone was a dead city. The blood stains in the alleys remained uncleaned. A few hundred soldiers dressed in white robes lay in wait in windowless houses. In the middle of Green Dragon Stone, the roads were empty and a huge statue stood in the middle of the small town. The face of the statue was blur and below it stood three men, with a red-robed holy priest leading them.

The holy priest was upset and said, “Who allowed you to kill all the people here? Don’t you know this will give Qin even more reason to fight us to the death? Don’t you know what kind of trouble this will cause to the Pope?”

The two men that were being berated by the red-robed holy priest were defiant. They were dressed in black robes which were marked with the symbol of the supreme court.

One of them had a face full of scars as if they have been left behind by some form of torture. He was about thirty years old, had sparse eyebrows, and had purple eyes. He did not care much about what the red-robed holy priest said and replied, “Master, Qin people deserve to die anyway. The Holy See has been around for one-thousand years yet Qin still could not be converted. The problem does not lie with the Qin Emperor, but with the people themselves. They are all heresies.”

“Is this what the old geezer at the supreme court has been teaching you?” The red-robed priest’s tone was cold. These two deacons from the supreme court were supposed to help him capture the Viscountess’ envoy, but they were filled with bloodlust and ordered for everyone in Green Dragon Stone town to be killed. If the target appeared half a day later, this whole place would be surrounded by armies by tomorrow morning.

“Old geezer? Hehe, the head inquisitor will not care what you say about him,” the two black deacons laughed dryly. The red-robed holy priest was furious. Unfortunately, all the manpower that he had was all deployed by the supreme court. Even though he held the highest position amongst all of them, he would not be able to control them.

The other black deacon had a pale complexion and said, “Master Bishop, it is no use worrying. We have no control over those zealots. We should focus on completing the task quickly, then we can leave and you can have peace.”

“You don’t say!” The red-robed high priest was a Bishop, but he could not control the lunatics of the supreme court. Black deacons were a lower position than him, but only the head inquisitor would have the authority to deal with them. Even the Pope was the same.

“Then let’s not waste any more time and go and set up the trap.” The two black deacons bowed and left.

The red-robed high priest stood at the foot of the statue and noticed that it was covered with fresh blood. More than a hundred corpses were piled up behind and he felt disgusted. This was not God’s will. The people of Qin were lost so all the more they should be loved and converted instead of massacred like this.

Within Green Dragon Stone, a gigantic holy prose has just been completed. Over forty men wearing hemp clothes kept their pens and looked up at the sky. The sky was dark, but it did not look like it would rain. This gigantic holy prose could be maintained for twelve hours at the most, but would only last an hour if it rained.

About ten miles away, Saleen and company were approaching. One-hundred and twenty knights of the royal swordsmen camp led the way while the remaining eighty were deployed at the rear so that Saleen and Aini’s fifty soldiers were in the middle. These fifty soldiers did not say much about this arrangement. They knew that the men of royal swordsmen camp were on par with them in terms of skills and they had a lot more equipment so naturally, they had the bragging rights.

These were Aini’s bodyguards so protecting Aini was their first priority and not their own ego.

Aini’s parents had been through many experiences so this did not faze them. The royal swordsmen camp did not send any mages so if a real battle started, they could not possibly leave Saleen to face the enemy alone.

Once they entered Green Dragon Stone, they would need to hang on for ten minutes. If the Holy See deployed men to seal off the entrance once they entered, Prince Safilos’s soldiers would need even more time before breaking through. This amount of time would be sufficient for holy priests to cast a powerful divine spell.

It was not going to be easy being a bait. They were going head-on against the men of Holy See and they were aware that only mages would be able to deal with holy priests.

Saleen and Aini traveled side by side. Saleen’s elemental eye could already see the city walls of Green Dragon Stone. The town had not been militarized so the city walls were only five yards tall to prevent magic beasts and bandits from entering. There was no one in sight within the city gates. There was no sight of divine spells or spells in the sky either so it seemed that the enemy was prepared to do battle on ground.

Within a pinhole on the city tower was a faint light that seemed to be reflected from an equipment similar to an alchemy binocular. Even though the crystal lens had been coated, it could not hide from Saleen’s elemental eye.

“Aini, there are quite a lot of people in the city. Prepare your spells and summon the skeletal soldiers first.”

Aini was a little unwilling and said, “Divine spells can control death spells. Skeletal soldiers are too low-level and will be purged easily. It will be a waste to deploy them. Once skeletal soldiers die, they will not be able to return to the death dimension to be revived. It will be a waste of time to summon them again.”

“I know, but surely the Holy See are not that stupid. They must have used divine spells to set up a magic trap for us. Divine spells like that can be easily influenced by other divine spells. If the enemy used glorious divine spell to purge your skeletons, it would delay the effect of the array. By then, Narnia and I will be able to conjure up a powerful spell to destroy their array.”

“And if they don’t purge my skeletons?”

“Isn’t that even better? We will meet them head-on. I don’t believe there will be any strong opponents lying in wait. Their strongest men should only be at our level.”

Saleen was extremely confident. Little did he know that there was a red-robed Bishop lying in wait ahead. Red-robed Bishops held a slightly lower position than Cardinals, but there was little difference in their powers and was about equivalent to a grade-7 mage. The only difference from mages was that some mages were not rich to start with and would become even poorer after advancing into a sorcerer. On the other hand, a red-robed Bishop was supported by the Holy See so they were well-equipped.

“Alright. I will prepare fifty skeletons. I just hope that you are right,” Aini said and gave his father a glance.