Badge in Azure

Saleen felt a little disappointed, but he did not show it on his face. He immediately thought of a problem. “The Pan’s turtle alchemical boat is powerful, but I only have one and I am not hopeful of capturing another creature like the pan turtle. The pan’s turtle alchemical boat is Metatrin City’s secret weapon, the enemy mustn’t know about it. If I have a warship that can dive the existence of the pan’s turtle alchemical boat will be concealed. Holy Rock City uses this item to equip its navy which means that it can be repeatedly produced unlike my pan’s turtle alchemical boat. If I create a manufacturing method, I will possess a huge number of it, which will be very practical. I don’t have to use metals to craft it because I possess thundercloud wood. The thundercloud wood is much tougher than metals and isn’t heavy. A lot of magic nuclei can be conserved if it is used in underwater navigation.”

“I, will have to thank His Majesty for this.” Saleen was grinning from ear to ear, “This diving warship has arrived at an opportune time. “If I want to expand the navy, I will surely have to use humans. If the entire army is made up of spirits and the winged skeleton meets with a mishap, I will not be able to command so many spirits.”

Seeing Saleen feel so jubilant, Barde finally had peace of mind. At this point in time, without a formal ceremony, a letter of credence could not be handed over. They could only discuss trade. After settling one-hundred-thousand magic nuclei in one go, Barde began thinking about the possibility of establishing personal relations with Saleen.

“Nailisi, go and collect the diving warship.” Saleen gave Nailisi one Dimension Stone. In name, this alchemical equipment was called a warship, but it was in fact a small vessel. Since Saleen possessed some experience from crafting similar equipment with Lex in the past it would not be too difficult for him to study this equipment.

Nailisi was all smiles when she received the Dimension Stone, then she went to collect the entire diving warship. Her ability was akin to that of a sorcerer already, even a normal grand mage might not be able to store this huge object which measured over ten yards.

Tiffany observed this event, but she pretended not to notice. She did not realize that Nailisi was an imp, nor did she detect the scent of a grand mage from Nailisi’s body.

At that moment Barde and his confidante claimed that they were a little exhausted. They left without waiting for the performance to be put up by the singers who were borrowed from the nobles. Daniel went to arrange their lodging. Only the soldiers from the palace’s swordsmen camp lived in the palace, so there was nothing Barde could find out. Saleen’s main secrets were all concentrated in the temple.

Saleen invited Tiffany and Stephanie to stay behind. Seeing that Tiffany did not stand up, he knew that she had something to tell him. The nobles had also left, only Aini remained. In the temple, only Saleen’s followers stayed behind.

“Great Mage, does His Majesty have something to tell me?” Saleen only opened his mouth after seeing that Barde and the rest had left. There were few formalities between mages, mages would not beat about the bush.

“His Majesty doesn’t have much to say. He asked me to find out whether Metatrin City can deploy troops to assist Holy Rock City or not. If your capabilities are too weak, then forget it, but if there is such a possibility… His Majesty would like to make a trade.”

“Trade?”

“Since you aren’t a noble conferred by His Majesty, His Majesty will make it up to you if you deploy your troops.” Tiffany made her words even clearer. “This compensation wouldn’t be without conditions. If your soldiers are too inferior, His Majesty can do nothing either. You have to win a few battles, that way it will be easier to draw funds from the national treasury.”

“Deploy troops? I… heard that the war in Loulan is very advantageous to Qin.” Saleen did not agree in a hurry, although he really wanted to send troops into Loulan in a justifiable manner. He was most afraid of not being able to participate in such matters.

“There is news from Sikeqinya City. Emperor Danny, who added a ‘sacred’ word in front of his name, seems to be interested in joining the war.” Tiffany’s words appeared more arrogant now, but she was not directing her scorn at Saleen. The emperor of Sikeqinya, Emperor Danny, was a conceited fellow who was more abominable than the Cloudflow emperor and had added a ‘sacred’ word in front of his name.

In the eyes of a sorcerer, he was a clown. Even though he was a Golden Grand Swordmaster, he was still a clown.

What about Emperor Chanake? His powers had exceeded that of a Golden Grand Swordmaster, but he wasn’t so presumptuous. Emperor Chanake was not indomitable, he was ambushed by the Holy See in the end.

“Understood…” After all, Saleen had experienced quite a number of tribulations in his life. With Lex’s actions and Narnia’s teachings, Saleen had no choice but to have a clear picture of the mainland’s situation.

Sikeqinya might appear to be scattered sand, but in actual fact, it was powerful enough to disrupt the balance between the other three empires. If Sikeqinya wanted to help the Tanggulasi Empire, it would deploy troops from Laiyin Duchy. It would actually attack the land in northern Qin as a result.

At that position, Qin did not possess any sturdy barrier. Originally, it had relied on Loulan for shielding. Now that Loulan was in shreds, soldiers from Laiyin Duchy only needed to pass through a hill measuring about three-hundred miles to enter Qin.

The Qin Empire had only stationed Lex’s army there. Due to the terrain, armies which entered from this direction would have to pass through Phoenix once more and wind north before they could enter Qin again. By then, only the plains would be in the way of the invaders.

Be it the Tanggulasi Empire or Sikeqinya, either one of them had more cavalrymen than Qin.

In a field battle occurring on the plains, the power of the cavalrymen would always surpass that of the infantrymen unless the infantrymen were from a magic army. Two main forces from Qin had attacked Loulan, the vanguards had already reached the midline of Loulan. More than half of Loulan’s land had been seized, it would be impossible to send troops to stage a rescue.

The moment Laiyin Duchy attacked from this point, Qin could only depend on the northern nobles to defend the invasion.

In the past people from Phoenix would naturally take the lead. At this moment, the Phoenix people hated Qin to the core, it would be too difficult to ask the Phoenix nobles to deploy their troops.

Of course, the Qin emperor could send the imperial swordsman’s camp to fill this cavity, but it was more thrifty asking Saleen to take on this task. Due to Emperor Chanake’s campaign, the imperial swordsman’s camp had lost more than ten-thousand people. In the next few years Holy Rock City would not dare to deploy the imperial swordsman’s camp for another campaign.

The gap was too huge between Qin and Tanggulasi, Qin’s civilians were relatively richer and had some status. On the other hand, the Tanggulasi people were treated like beasts and the emperor could command them at will. When necessary, one-third of the three-hundred-million Tanggulasi people would be sent into battle. That was the most feared situation.

“What do you think about my army, Great Mage?” Saleen rebutted.

“It is passable.” Tiffany laughed, it was interesting for Saleen to ask this question because he did not even display his strongest forces.

“Even if there is a letter of credence, it doesn’t constitute a military alliance. If my army enters Loulan by accident, it will prove to be a big trouble.” Saleen declared his worries directly. He wanted a more concrete answer from the Holy Rock City. It would be no laughing matter if the Holy Rock City turned against him in the future otherwise.

“But the alliance issue is a little tricky. Decisions in the Holy Rock City aren’t made by His Majesty alone. You can form a mercenary group though.” Tiffany was desperate, so she revealed Ojarvis’ plan. “This Saleen is indeed very cunning, but unwilling to take initiative.” Judging from this reaction, Tiffany was in admiration of Ojarvis’ deduction.

If Tiffany was in Saleen’s shoes, she might not be able to resist the temptation and would have deployed troops to join in the war.

Even if one-hundred men were deployed and they all died in Loulan, there would still be a reason to invade Loulan. “This Saleen remains unmoved and he isn’t putting on a pretense.”

“Mercenaries? How will the price of the mercenaries be calculated? If they are going to acquire magic nuclei like what His Majesty did, I will not be able to afford them.” At this moment, Saleen’s behavior greatly resembled that of a Sikeqinyan. There was no other way. Saleen could sell magic nuclei to Ojarvis at half price because the cost was very low. If mercenaries were deployed money would be consumed daily. If too little mercenaries were sent, they would not affect much change. If too many were deployed, their commission would be a big issue.

“It’s not like you aren’t getting any benefits, you don’t have to keep refusing.” Stephanie could not tolerate it any longer. She was not an imperial mage, she was just a sorcerer whom Emperor Chanake had groomed, so she did not treat Saleen as politely. She was viewing this problem from her own perspective.

“Benefits? What will I receive?” Saleen sneered, “Even if the mercenaries I deploy emerged victorious, they will only get a commission. Can my soldiers occupy the land? Will my nobles receive rewards as a result? Can my mages choose to build a magical tower in a city of their choice because of this?”

“Your brain is filled with all these complicated thoughts, are you still even a mage?” Stephanie rebutted.

“I can choose not to care about such stuff, but my subordinates will be mindful of it. If I cannot give them a satisfactory answer, why should they follow me?” Saleen retorted.

“So, Your Highness Saleen, what do you have in mind?” Stephanie smiled slyly.

Saleen shrugged his shoulders like a noble, then said, “The size of my mercenary group shall not be limited and it can travel within Qin. They will not pay taxes and will not be commanded by anyone else.”

“How is that possible?” Tiffany was puzzled, “By making such outrageous demands, Saleen is hindering the opportunity for cooperation.”

“Why not? My soldiers might not necessarily enter Qin. From Phoenix, they can enter Laiyin Duchy directly. This is a form of precaution.”

Stephanie furrowed her brows, then said, “Don’t beat about the bush anymore, you know that Holy Rock City will not accede to these terms.”

“Then give me Laiyin Duchy.” Saleen went straight to the point. His agenda was to seize Laiyin Duchy. With Lex around, he would not need to fight with Qin.

“Hah, can you devour Laiyin Duchy?” Stephanie said in a sarcastic tone.

“I was born in Sikeqinya. A Sikeqinyan merchant will order goods in advance even if they aren’t produced yet,” Saleen answered plainly.

“Seems like what you really want is a secret agreement!” Tiffany sighed, “His Majesty Ojarvis has guessed everything correctly, there wasn’t one request by Saleen which wasn’t anticipated by Ojarvis. If Ojarvis didn’t have such a weak body, he could become Qin’s noblest emperor without any problem.”

A secret agreement was an allusion. Simply put, it was a private deal between two emperors to target a third party. This deal would never surface to light, but it was binding. Such an agreement could bypass the forces which restrained the emperor, it could be executed directly.