Badge in Azure

“Aini is already off to settle this matter!” Saleen was astonished.

“Don’t worry, Aini went to look for his uncle first, my remaining fifty trusted soldiers are all there. They are coming to Metatrin City as well. When Aunt Lanny and I learned that Aini had brought the trusted troops and family to your city, we knew that he had already made up his mind to throw his lot in with you,” Fellett sniffed.

The couple originally harbored high hopes for Aini, but with Saleen around, Aini’s achievements would appear unsatisfactory in comparison. Fortunately Aini placed more emphasis on his magic achievements. Aini was still young, he could easily become a death sorcerer. His parents were content with that.

Aini’s prospects were not very bright because the Holy See wanted to exterminate all death mages though. Aini had also mentioned to his parents the conflict Saleen had with the Holy See, Saleen’s case could not be resolved either.

By carving a career with Saleen Aini still had some form of insurance that he would never get betrayed.

As for the Clyde family, Fellett and his wife had already grown disappointed over their son’s decision. Since Aini wanted to be independent and leave the family they began supporting him secretly, Lanny especially. Her family was also of prominence. For the past one-thousand years her family still had a third class viscount.

This title might be insignificant, but the power within it was not small. During the period when the both of them could not leave Holy Rock City Lanny had asked her family’s people to work in secret. Aini had a place to train in peace after becoming a death mage as a result. He could receive the manpower and fortune his parents had left for him.

“Before Aini becomes a sorcerer, it is not suitable for him to be active in the outside world. I allowed him to act alone this time because there are two imperial swordsman’s camps following him. Within Qin’s borders no nobles will dare try anything funny. If there are bandits, the bandits will not have the ability to kill him either.” Saleen could not help but blame Fellett and his wife, “But Aini is their son, since they aren’t worried, I cannot say much either.”

“Don’t worry, Aini is a death mage, most people will not be able to harm him,” Lanny consoled Saleen. Saleen also knew that if a death mage tried to flee, it would be very difficult for the enemy to capture them. Aini had run for tens of thousands of miles before, but he also did not get caught by the Holy See.

“Uncle Fellett…”

“Yes?” Seeing that Saleen was hesitant, Fellett smiled. Saleen had an extra tinge of sunshine about his body compared to Aini. Ever since Aini and Saleen reunited, Aini’s murderous aura had lessened a lot. To a mage that was a good thing. As for their love towards Saleen, Fellett and Lanny only treated Saleen using the mindset of an elder.

Saleen tolerated, he did not express his innermost thoughts. He said, “Once we get to Metatrin City, I will construct a nine story magical tower for you guys.”

“Not one with ten stories?” Lanny teased.

“Heh, it would be offensive to build a ten story magical tower as that would mean expressing our stance to the Holy See. If Uncle can surpass the limits of grade-9, I will build a magical tower with ten stories,” Saleen answered calmly.

Saleen was courageous and rich. He was in definite conflict with the Holy See already. Even if he did not anger the Holy See, the Holy See would still send troops to destroy him because his left hand contained divinity and could cast the divine spells belonging to the Goddess of Myers. After experiencing so many tribulations, Saleen’s courage would have grown no matter how small it was.

“Since you are willing to listen, I will share with you.” As they were talking, Narnia entered the cabin. Without skipping a beat, Fellett said, “I also heard from Aini that your army isn’t very good.” He did not continue discussing the matter of seizing Laiyin Duchy because at the end of the day Narnia was Lex’s subordinate.

“I know.” Saleen was helpless too. He had money and the materials to craft the mightiest and toughest armor and weapons, but he did not have qualified soldiers. On the other hand, Lex’s swordsman’s camp needed no further explanation. The people in the imperial swordsman’s camp were valiant and ferocious and they also knew how to fight.

“You need to start from the minute areas. Build an emblem group first, then use this emblem group as a nucleus to develop more armies,” Fellett instructed patiently.

“One emblem group? That will only be one-thousand people, it isn’t even enough to defend a city.”

“I have heard about the size of Metatrin City, it is hard to invade it even if there is only a group of farmers defending it. What you require now is an army that is proficient in long-range attacks and field battle. That way, enemies will find it difficult to surround you.”

“I have the Caucasus people.”

“The best functions of the Caucasus people are sneak attacks, cutting off the enemy’s route of retreat and burning wheat. In a head-on battle the offensive power of the Caucasus people will only be similar to that of my trusted soldiers.”

“So what should I do?”

“Don’t you have a death mage serving you? You can establish an army of magic cavalrymen first.”

“Made up of only magic cavalrymen?”

“Yes, all the soldiers will only use skeletal warhorses or death warhorses, while all the servants are spirits. This emblem group will only have one-thousand humans. Each brigade should have one death grand mage, each battalion should have a death mage above grade-2, and each company should have more than three death magic disciples. All the soldiers will don magic armor and wield only alchemical weapons.”

“The amount of depletion would be huge!” Even though Saleen was very exhilarated listening to Fellett’s description, he immediately recalled the problem of consumption. If such a cavalry team traveled urgently for one day and one night it could cover one-thousand miles.

“I have the drawings for many types of magic armor, I can craft bespoke armor and weapons which are most suited for warriors of different grades. With the help of a death mage this army will have around two-thousand to three-thousand spirit servants. The offensive power of this emblem group will not be inferior to that of Lex’s swordsman’s camp. Other than having a slightly higher level of consumption, this will be the fastest method to increase offensive power. No! I have Nailisi, she can summon demons, assembling a demonic army is the most economical solution.” Saleen immediately dismissed the notion of building a magic army. If Nailisi was not in the equation, then a magic army would be the best suggestion.

“Uncle Fellett, I have a better idea. In the future, I am still planning to deploy death mages to sail out to sea.”

“Oh?” Fellett did not probe on the better idea Saleen had. Given Saleen’s temperament, he would not blabber nonsense. If Saleen was not confident, he would not open his mouth.

“But it is indeed a good idea to use a death mage to create an army. Because Aini was present the previous time the spirits were charging at the front during many battles. Our losses would have been massive otherwise.” As Saleen spoke, he suddenly said to Narnia, “Narnia, what do you think?”

“Of course, when Qin was developing there were many death mages in the army. The death knights struck a lot of fear into the enemy.” Narnia replied casually, such an impression was deeply engraved in the bones of Qin people. As long as a mage could triumph over the enemy, it did not matter what kind of mage they were.

The Holy See’s code of laws harbored the motive to extirpate all mages. In the eyes of Qin people this was an insult in its rawest form. When Qin was built death mages contributed the most. By doing something like that the Holy See was insinuating that the people who built Qin were evil creatures who deserved to be slaughtered.

Be that as it may, the Holy See wielded much influence in the Tanggulasi Empire. The nearby death mages had long escaped to Qin, not many people opposed the Holy See in Tanggulasi.

“What about demons?” Saleen asked Narnia.

“Demons? Their reputation has been bad for the past one to two thousand years. Before the fourth dynasty, their reputation was still okay.”

Narnia spoke the truth. The power of the humans today had dwindled, while a normal demon possessed the abilities of a swordmaster. Humans would have to train hard in order to become a swordmaster before thirty years old. A genius like Su was rarely seen. Since humans could not control demons, the reputation of demons naturally became bad. In the past when humans were sufficiently powerful, demons were their most loyal fighters.

“That means Holy Rock City will not approve of me having a demonic army?”

“Holy Rock City isn’t afraid, but the local nobles are!”

“Sir!” Su opened his mouth. “The demonic race cannot be trusted!”

Cuisi smiled faintly, “If you are strong enough, you can trust demons.” If Su became a Golden Grand Swordmaster an astronomical number of demons would be willing to sign a contract with him. Even now there were also many demons who were willing to follow Su and sign contracts with humans. As long as the contract was not a soul contract a demon could still reap sizeable benefits, especially with a powerful human who could enable a demon to acquire more abilities and enjoy a longer life.

On the subcontinent plane demons actually belonged to a hybrid race, they were not creatures from the demonic plane. It was not as tough surviving on the subcontinent plane as compared to the demonic plane, but those creatures with demonic blood still did not dominate it. It was really an insult. The experts on the demonic plane knew about the existence of the subcontinent plane. Sometimes, demonic creatures would try to summon demons, but the demons would in turn devour the demonic creature.

“Demons cannot be trusted? Saleen recalled that book of magic notes he had obtained. It was written by an ancient supreme demon. “That supreme demon and his master had already developed a kinship found only between humans. In order to find a tinge of his master’s soul, how many planes did that supreme demon traverse? They cannot be trusted? What a joke. Luckily Nailisi isn’t around, otherwise Su would suffer.”

The winged skeleton remained silent. He pondered Saleen’s words, it was clear that Saleen did not want the army to consume too much money. Saleen’s idea of creating his own fleet was great, but this fleet would spend the most amount of money. An entire composition of spirits would have to rely on the unlimited resources in the ocean.

All these resources had to be given to Saleen, so that Saleen could develop an army on land which was as tough as steel.

In Saleen’s heart, he finally had a rough plan of the army’s structure after listening to Fellett’s reminder. “Without suitable soldiers, I shall summon demons first. Since the demons are too powerful, they will not be easy to control, so I shall summon imps or demonic spirits. These creatures with the demonic bloodline will not require treatment after getting injured. I can heal them myself and they will definitely be good material for being soldiers. As for other people’s opinions of me? I will think about that after securing Metatrin City. Once I return, I will never leave Metatrin City again. I should think of a way to advance to a sorcerer first. As for the acquisition of civilians, I don’t plan to use that letter Joey gave me. I will obtain an earl’s loyalty immediately. The business will only feel solid if I carve it out on my own.” At the moment, the people following Saleen wholeheartedly were actually the pirates who had no future. The others who had arrived in Metatrin City all had their own motives.