Badge in Azure

“Lex, you can take another two battalions. Daliang City now has two-hundred death mages and can summon more than twenty-thousand spirits of the dead. It would be much easier defending the city with them. Each battalion can bring along ten-thousand auxiliary soldiers to support the one-hundred-thousand soldiers to be sent to Sanlian City. It should not be a problem holding the city for a month. I… I will discuss some things with Sika to see if there is any other solution.”

“Okay.” Lex sent one-hundred-thousand soldiers away decisively. Doing so would definitely apply more pressure on the defense of Daliang City, but if she was to lose Sanlian City, all the hard work that she had put in over the past year would have been for nought.

Two corps were made up of fifty-thousand men while two battalions were made up of fifteen-thousand men each. By including another twenty-thousand auxiliary soldiers, there would be exactly one-hundred-thousand men in total. If one-hundred-thousand men were unable to hold Sanlian City for even a month, Lex would not be fit to lead her Prefecture.

The generals had a long discussion. Other than deciding on who to send for reinforcement, they also discussed the issue of replenishing soldiers. To defend Daliang City, each battalion only had five-thousand auxiliary soldiers. After taking into account those that would be sent to Sanlian City, they would need to top up another twenty-five-thousand men in order to be equal with a corp.

Such a mixed combination was a challenge to an army. The problem was that in battles between big armies, an army that only consisted of fifteen-thousand men possessed poor combat abilities. A corp of twenty-five-thousand men was ideal.

Saleen arrived at the magic tower with a teleportation portal and instructed the mages to open the portal to send Sika a letter.

In Metatrin City, there was nothing for Sika to do in the temple except to listen to Nailisi’s stories about the demon dimension. When the mages brought over the letter from Daliang City, Nailisi took it and said to Sika, “They must have sent this to seek help from us again.”

Sika laughed and said, “Let’s go over to the teleportation portal. You’re probably right.”

Nailisi twitched her lips and handed the letter to Sika. Both of them headed to the third story of the temple, where a new teleportation portal had already been set up to establish communication with Daliang City.

Metatrin City would not have any issues teleporting inanimate objects of a small mass, so sending a letter would use up less than one percent of how much it would take to send a person. The further the distance, the more magic nuclei would need to be used up. In order to teleport a person, not only would the teleportation portal need to be very big, the number of magic nuclei that would be used up was ridiculous. Teleportation over a short distance might still be feasible, but sending one or two people to Daliang City, which was more than twenty-thousand miles away, would be a huge challenge.

Sika finally opened Saleen’s letter when they reached the third story. There was a simple map in the letter that included the coordinates and military forces of Daliang City, the Separation Sea, and Sanlian City. Then, Saleen briefly described what he needed and requested for Sika to discuss whether the two sorcerers would be willing to rush over to Daliang City.

Nailisi was reading by Sika’s side and she was grumbling, “Sister Sika, just ignore this. Lex is too incapable if she needs your help over such a small matter.”

“What are you talking about?” Sika frowned and berated Nailisi.

“It’s true. We are so far away. How much will it cost to teleport two sorcerers? You could hardly bear to spend the eight-hundred-thousand gold coins for your children, but this will require eight-million.”

“What’s in it for you if Lex’s country falls?” Sika stared at Nailisi.

“Nothing, of course. Sister Sika, why don’t you let me go?” Nailisi asked.

“You? What can you do if you go alone?” Sika did not understand. It was true that she could not bear to spend so much to teleport the two grade-9 sorcerers over. She might have been able to ask Lex for the money in the past, but now that Lex was about to be wedded to Saleen, surely she could no longer do the same.

Nailisi looked left and right and noticed that the mages had sensibly blocked up their ears. Nailisi leaned towards Sika’s ear and spoke quietly, “Sister Sika, if you were to teleport the sorcerer’s over, what will happen to you if there is danger here? If I go, I will use the twelve Notes of the Purgatory and bring along the demons that I have summoned to help Sanlian City. We have already reared quite a number of magic bugs in the demon city. If I send them to the Tanggulasi camps…”

Sika was tempted by what she heard. Daliang City had yet to have a teleportation portal, but permanent coordinates had already been set between Bitter Water Prefecture and Metatrin City that would allow humans to teleported anytime. Teleporting Nailisi alone would allow her to bring along quite a number of demons. Although magic bugs might be of a low level, they could inflict a lot of damage to ordinary soldiers.

“Nailisi, tell me honestly, what do you have up your sleeve?” Sika asked Nailisi with a straight face. She knew that Nailisi would never be so eager for no reason. In fact, she would be the last person to care about Lex’s battles.

“Sister Sika, there is an item I want that Master has given to you.”

“What item is that? Tell me first.”

“You have to give it to me once I say it.”

“Sure!” Sika promised. Saleen had given her so many items anyway, there was nothing that she could not give Nailisi. Nailisi was bonded to Saleen with her soul, whatever belonged to Nailisi would eventually belong to Saleen too.

“Sister Sika, I want that golden zombie that Master gave to you.”

Sika began to cough and Nailisi hurriedly stroked her back.

“Nailisi, I cannot give you that.”

“Sister Sika.” Nailisi’s expression was one of pleading.

“I have already given it to the winged skeleton.” Sika had no choice but to tell the truth.

“What?!” Nailisi was furious. The item that she had set her sights on had already been given to that fellow. Nevertheless, she instantly realized that her attitude was inappropriate. She adjusted herself immediately as tears were almost on the brink of falling. “How could you… give it to him?” There were tears in Naiilisi’s eyes, but she dared not display her anger towards Sika.

“He said that he needed that zombie and he exchanged it with something that I needed even more. I thought that since he was fighting a battle for Saleen, I might as well give it to him.” Sika saw that Nailisi was really devastated, so she tried to console her by saying, “Why don’t I give you something else? Come back with me and pick what you like.”

Nailisi broke down completely. After crying for some time, she was sobbing while she spoke, “Master refused to give it to me and now you can’t either. Both of you favor that skeletan over me. I, I…”

Sika felt helpless and said, “Why didn’t you just ask for it directly before? Nailisi, Saleen still cares a lot about you.”

Nailisi only continued to cry while hammering the ground with her hand, not saying a word. The mages around them began to close their eyes and used Mute spells to block their ears, yet none of them dared to leave. The longer one stayed in the temple, the more one would know that Nailisi was someone not to be trifled with. She might be bawling on the ground now like a child, but her mood could change very rapidly.

None of the mages dared to look at Nailisi because most of them were already aware of the fact that she was a demon. If they crossed her path, they could easily be killed.

Sika sighed. Nailisi was really a poor thing. She had given the golden zombie to the winged skeleton because the he was able to give her the bone of an ancient magic beast in exchange. Once she advanced, she would be able to merge the bone with her weapon.

She even consulted the two grade-9 sorcerers over the matter. Both of them shook their heads and told Sika that the bone was left behind by a magic beast that was at least grade-12 or above.

Magic beasts of grade-12 and above no longer existed on the Mainland. They used to exist long ago, but were hunted to extinction by humans. The bone was a hollow cartilage from a magic beast’s brain. Sika was agreeable to the exchange because she sensed some magic beast soul still hidden in the bone.

After Nailisi has finished crying, she said, “Sister Sika, what you said just now, is it still valid?”

“What do you mean?”

“You said you would let me choose whatever I want…”

“I meant one item.” Sika quickly corrected Nailisi.

“Two items.” Nailisi wiped her tears and looked at Sika.

“Alright…” Sika promised. She felt like even though she had yet to give birth, she was already dealing with a child when with Nailisi. It felt as if Nailisi would never mature because she had signed her soul bond too early. Even if her physical attributes matured, deep down in her soul, she was still behaving like the imp that Saleen had first met.

First and foremost, Sika sent a letter to the two grade-9 sorcerers. Frankie and Anthony replied very promptly that they were unable to leave western town for the time-being.

Their replies put Sika more at ease as Saleen would not be able to argue against her sending Nailisi. Now that she could easily come and go from the twelve Notes of Purgatory, she no longer needed Nailisi’s help. As long as Nailisi left the twelve Notes of Purgatory behind, Sika would be safe.

Frankie and Anthony did not refuse without good reason. Saleen was supporting them, however, they did not wish to leave their magic tower as they had reached a crucial phase in their training. If they were to leave, they might never have the chance to experience the same realization ever again.

After sending a letter to Saleen, he replied very quickly to Sika with another letter, agreeing to the arrangement of Nailisi being sent. He specially instructed Jola to protect Sika in the temple at all times once Nailisi left. At the same time, Saleen also wanted Sika to invite the Felletts to the temple. Since the both of them were sorcerers, they would be able to wield great power in the temple.

On the letter, Saleen did not mention anything about Nailisi’s demon army. He only instructed repeatedly that all the wings of an elf made by the alchemy factories should be given to the temple corp. Finally, Saleen requested for Truman to bring along his magic cannon and move in to the temple.

When Sika read that, she smiled happily. Saleen was willing to ignore the harbor for Sika’s safety. She was aware of what the magic cannon could do. It was fully able to destroy a dragon-skeleton combat vessel and the pan’s turtle alchemical boat with a blast.

That was Saleen’s most powerful weapon. While his badge was still recharging the magic cannon only required high-level magic nuclei or dragonshards to be used. Even though the speed at which it would shoot was slow, it was still a terrifying weapon.

Sika immediately replied with another letter with two simple rows of words, “Saleen, Lex is one of us now. Whoever dares to make trouble at your wedding will also be going against the Metatrin Kingdom.”

The letter was signed by Sika, the King of Caucasus and Regent of Metatrin.