Badge in Azure

The situation was improving day by day because the Qin noble families were sending more and more gifts over. If not for the fact that the palace had been expanded and more warehouses had been repaired, Lex would not even have sufficient space to store the new resources.

They no longer needed to worry about the logistics of Daliang City. Lex estimated that just the grain alone was sufficient to feed the tens of thousands of people in Daliang City and the bone castle for the next thirty to fifty years.

As the regent of Metatrin City, Sika used her powers to station Qin in the city. Since the envoy gave her a diplomatic note, she deployed a battalion of soldiers from Huoxing City to support Lex’s three interconnected cities in Luolan.

Lex had stationed five-hundred-thousand soldiers and horses in these three cities, so Sika’s battalion of soldiers were rather insignificant. The intention was still clear. Huoxing City was at the border of the Metatrin Kingdom. They would not be continuing south anymore, so no one was to plot against Lex’s territories.

Holy Rock City was silent towards this. Although this was different from what they had thought, Lex would not be pushing towards the west anymore. In that case, most of the Luolan lands would be kept in the possession of Prince Safilos for the time-being.

Lex sent a portion of resources to the three cities, then brought back twenty-thousand men from the frontline to replenish the lack of manpower in Daliang City. As such, the main forces in Daliang City were close to one-hundred-thousand men again.

It was February when new envoys arrived, but they were from Sikeqinya. The group of envoys were escorted by a mercenary group of more than twenty-thousand men. Since there were so many mercenaries and they looked like elite armies at one glance, Daliang City’s guards did not dare to allow this group of envoys into the city.

The equipment on this company of mercenaries were unlike those that conventional armies usually laughed at. Could the Emperor of Sikeqinya have sent a grade-9 mercenary company?

Finally, the captain of the mercenary company was invited into Daliang City and met with Lex and Saleen.

The captain, who came into the city alone, was a middle-aged man of about thirty years old. He looked very respectable and did not seem to be fond of talking or laughing. In the palace, after he paid his respects to the two monarchs, the captain gave a formal self-introduction and presented his badge.

“Your Highness, I am the captain of the Dragon-slaughtering Mercenary Group, Gusion. They usually call me Gerssein. I managed to advance into a silver grand swordmaster last year. Although I am a bit old, I hope that you are still willing to take me in.”

“Take you in?” Lex was a little surprised as she looked at the captain. Although he was a silver grand swordmaster, Lex and Saleen did not fear him at all. There were many powerful people like Nicholas, Cuisi, and Su standing behind them.

“Gusion, I don’t understand.” Saleen looked at Gusion suspiciously as well. In the past, he had failed to convince the Red Tiger Mercenary Group to join him, but now this mercenary group that was stationed outside Daliang City was definitely on par with the Red Tiger Mercenary Group.

“Perhaps I don’t have very good social skills.” Gusion’s expression was solemn as he continued, “I just wish to be part of Your Highness’ army instead of continuing to be a mercenary. The brothers that have been following me will no longer have to put up with the noble families and will be able to focus on working hard for themselves and their families. I do not get along well with the noble families in Sikeqinya. Even though I managed to recruit two grade-8 sorcerers, I was still chased out of Sikeqinya without being given proper recognition.”

Gusion’s description was messy, but Saleen and Lex understood. What tempted them the most was that there were two grade-8 sorcerers in the mercenary group.

Gusion saw Saleen and Lex in deep thought and misunderstood it to mean that both of them did not wish to take in his mercenary group. He had no choice but to swallow his pride and said, “Your Highness, Danny must have sent me here because he had wanted Your Highness to hire me to fight for you. If…”

“No, Gusion,” Lex interrupted the captain and said, “I am only worried about those two grade-8 sorcerers. What do they think?”

“Your Highness, most Sikeqinyan mages hate to engage with Alchemy City. If you can offer them conditions that are only slightly worse off than those in Alchemy City, they will surely be willing to stay.”

Saleen was amused. Gusion was not good at talking because the terms and conditions that he has set were too low. He had left himself cornered in a negotiation like this.

“Gusion, you mentioned families. If the families of your mercenary group are still in Sikeqinya, yet you are all fighting here, how will all of you feel assured?” Saleen posed a question that was most important to him. If the families of these mercenaries were still in Sikeqinya, they would never give their all for Lex.

“Your Highness, not many of us have families, only about seven-thousand. I have already sent them to the Metatrin Kingdom.”

Lex and Saleen looked at each other. Although Gusion was not very smart, he did possess some wit. The families of the mercenaries that had been sent to Metatrin were like hostages. If they chose to rebel there, they would surely lose their families.

The conditions for this surrender was very good and straightforward.

Now, their only worry was the two sorcerers. They had no families, so if they decided to create chaos, Daliang City would be in trouble. Nevertheless, this could probably be settled with bonds. Saleen did not have a lot of bonds left, but Lex had only very few followers.

Saleen continued to chat with Gusion while Lex ordered someone to invite the two sorcerers into the city.

After taking a look at the two sorcerers’ attire and age, Lex vaguely understood why the two of them would end up with the mercenary group in the first place.

The magic robes that they were wearing were clearly made from white cloth that had been dyed. Basically, they could not even be considered magic robes. The two of them looked to be about seventy or eighty years old and were even older than Nicholas. The magic staffs that they held looked like they were still the same ones they had when they were still low-level mages. There were still blade markings on them.

They were really pure mages. Even though they possessed great power, they did not rob nor depend on the detestable noble families. Why would they choose to lend their support to her now?

“Two grand masters…”

“Your Highness!” The two sorcerers replied in a hurry.

“I want to know why you have come to Daliang City.”

“Because… of Your Highness’ reputation.”

“Reputation?”

“Yes.” One of the sorcerers tried his best to conceal his awkwardness and said, “The two of us are introverts. We have been training together since youth. After our teacher passed away, we did not wander around too much to seek support from noble families. We still heard about Your Highness’ reputation. You would treat even a grade-1 mage with respect…”

“But I am only a grade-6 mage. If you follow me…”

“Your Highness, you are from the Grukos family! We hope to become either your followers or your mages in the palace.” The two sorcerers had never begged anyone like this before. They had no choice but to become more thick-skinned now. They were really poor. All the wealth that their teacher had left behind for them had been spent in the process of them advancing into sorcerers. If they were unable to find any support, they would have no choice but to resort to robbery.

The problem was that if they really resorted to robbery, they might be shamed for life. If the people of Alchemy City knew about it, they might send a crusade against them.

Over on Saleen’s side, he was having a good talk with Gusion. He had worked his way up from a low-level mercenary and had managed to gather a group of brothers who shared the same values as he did.

Gusion started from scratch with his twelve brothers as a grade-1 mercenary group. After a decade, they became a grade-6 mercenary group. As they lacked sorcerers of the same grade, he was stuck at this grade for more than two years. It was only until last year that he managed to recruit these two downtrodden sorcerers.

It was his good fortune that these two sorcerers were not the sociable types either. Noble families had tried to recruit them, but none could put up with their behavior. By the time Gusion was recruiting them, the two sorcerers had already resorted to selling their equipment. Gusion bought over their equipment only to return it back to them as gifts. That was when the two sorcerers decided to join the mercenary group.

Gusion could not afford the resources that the two grade-8 sorcerers needed either. It was only because they could get along that the two sorcerers put up with it.

“How did a grade-6 mercenary group gather more than twenty-thousand men?”

“Your Highness, there were only about four-thousand men in the beginning. Just before we left, Emperor Danny gave me another ten-thousand men. They were all mercenary groups of very small scale so they were forced into my group.”

“So for these ten-thousand men, how will I be able to control them?” Saleen asked directly.

“Your Highness, these ten-thousand men have been trained by me on the way here. They would never flee even from tough battles. The families of my own men have been sent to Metatrin. As for these ten-thousand men, they should not cause too much of a problem as long as you pay more attention to them,” Gusion said casually.

“Gusion, I will accept your men. For the ten-thousand men, I will plan something different for them.”

Gusion frowned, but did not say anything.

Saleen said, “You need to sign a bond with me to become my follower. As for your brothers, I will accord them the privileges of a conventional army. Give me all the names of your families. I will inform the officials in Metatrin to give them lands as part of your first salary. Is this satisfactory?”

“Of course, Your Highness!” Gusion could barely hold back his excitement. “It’s just that, those that traveled with us…”

“They are not your men, so they will be treated differently. Gusion, my main armies are treated extremely well. I will still need to observe those ten-thousand men for a while more. I cannot give them the same treatment right from the beginning.”

Saleen saw that Gusion seemed to have something to say, so he continued, “You must have given those mercenaries your promise. Don’t worry. Joining a conventional army is better than being a mercenary, even if one is not in the main force. I just don’t trust their loyalty at the moment.”

“What about the grand masters?” It was clear that Gusion was someone that was nice to everyone around him since he still remembered the situation that the two sorcerers were in.

Lex needed followers too. If they chose to follow her, those two grand masters would no longer be in such a dire state.

“That’s good…” Gusion’s expression became more optimistic. He respected those two sorcerers very much, but lacked the power to support them. He had always felt bad about it. This time around, when the two sorcerers requested to come along, he was still worried that Bitter Water Prefecture might not be able to support them.

“In that case, Gusion, since the decision has been made, let’s sign the bond now.” Saleen tried keep his tone neutral to conceal his excitement. He could not believe that Gusion was a silver grand swordmaster. Although he had only advanced recently and would not be a match for Su or Jola, it was not easy to recruit silver grand swordmasters. Once he stabilized his grade, Saleen would have gained another helper.

Even though Gusion did not know how to seek favors with noble families, that would not diminish his capabilities in fighting. He would not have been able to lead a grade-1 mercenary group to grade-6 in a decade otherwise.

Saleen took out a black magic scroll even as he spoke. Since the Three Kings died, Saleen was now able to recruit powerful followers once again. The scrolls had been prepared way beforehand.