Badge in Azure

“Master priestess, have you discussed the matter with Abu?”, the leader of the elders asked.

Sika’s brow had been locked in a serious, straight line. Hearing the elder’s inquiry, her brow relaxed and she answered with a smile, “The village chief has one good trait about him; he knows gratitude. Without Saleen around, do you have any idea how many would have starved to death? Do you think you would have had a chance to argue here?”

The person named Abu was the chief of Sika’s village. When a new chief was appointed, he would become an elder himself.

Sika continued, seeing how awkward her answer made the elders feel, “I’m no longer a warrior with no-name that I once was. Being trusted with the governance of Metatrin City enabled me to learn a lot. I knew clearly who was kind to me. The chief never made me do anything. It was thanks to him that I walked on the path of a combat shaman. Elders, if the Northern Caucasus people were to pose a threat to me, what would any of you get out of it?”

The leader of the elders shook his head and said, “We will get nothing out of it. Still, I won’t like seeing Caucasus people killing each other.”

“I won’t want to see that myself, but they have no right to strip me of my right to happiness just because of this. I’m a simple person. If they wrong me, I will make sure that they suffer for it.”

Another elder spoke with a worried expression, “Master priest, your emotions don’t seem to be in the right place, but please…”

These elders were still Southern Caucasus people after all. They would not have liked to see Sika being taken out of the city become the kind of most ancient priestess who would devote their life to all Caucasus people.

“I’m fine. I just feel that once you get your hands on some measure of power, it is only fitting to do something that feels right to yourself. I saved nearly four-hundred-thousand Caucasus people, and yet, they wanted me to give more still. Saleen is the kind of person who would see to his vengeance to the very end, and that means killing every single one of his enemies. If they don’t want a genocide to happen, then they best behave themselves. I’m now doing my best to keep saving them,” Sika felt a rush of excitement as she finished speaking her mind.

There was little need for subtlety in communications between Caucasus people.

The elders all felt a chill in their spines upon hearing what Sika said. Sika was with Saleen. There was no doubt that he was courteous to the Caucasus people in general, but if the northern ones overstepped the border, Saleen’s methods would have proven much more terrifying that what Sika had described.

The Caucasus people outside the city had little idea that Saleen’s underlings were teeming with demons. Regardless of how good Caucasus warriors were in guerrilla warfare, they still hardly had any edge over demons. If they were to wrong Saleen and he sent out his demons to settle the score, there was no doubt that hardly any Caucasus warriors who fought would have survived.

“Master priestess, we understand,” the elders answered bitterly. They were frustrated and their minds were boiling with anguish. Had it not been for the northerners messing things up, Sika would have perhaps considered having one of her children become a priest. From the current looks of things however, it seemed that Sika would keep both of her children with her, and would have definitely go against the idea of having their education entrusted to the villages.

“It seems that you lot have yet to understand me. I have already sent people to clean up the Caucasus people within the city. There will be a great number of mages doing lie detection tests on them. Anyone who fails the tests would be executed. Once their souls return to the Earth, I will hold a service for them personally.”

“Priestess!”

“Relax. This is no excuse, and the mages’ way of questioning will be simple. Anyone who has any intention of doing me harm will be weeded out. I will interrogate and judge them in front of everyone, personally.”

Sika had the mages see their guests out as she finished. All nine of them returned to the southern residences glumly, yet Sika was heard laughing her head off in the temple.

Sika had just gotten another troublesome matter out of her way. She might have lost her powers as a priestess when she got married. That was not to say that there was not anything else that she could do. Taking the title of Caucasus King was still a way to protect Caucasus people. The way of the priests had always been using the power of all Caucasus people to empower oneself.

Her number of loyal subordinates would keep increasing as the kingdom was established. There would no longer be any need to worry about her children. Both of them would continue to become king at a later age, instead of priests.

Saleen was someone who had some very complex ideas going about in his head.

As the cleansing in the south of the city took place, Caucasus people were taken out and interrogated one by one. The mages were the ones carrying out the questioning, and they had only one question to ask: do you have any intentions of posing a threat to Lord Sika?

The language employed by the mages was the Caucasus language. The word ‘threat’ had multiple meanings within the language. The warriors who sided with the northern elders’ way of thought were singled out, with the total of number of such people being over one-thousand.

The trial was set to take place in the Metatrin Arena on Monday. The arena was large enough to seat tens of thousands and the place would be locked down. Nobles within the city were invited to witness the trial.

A large magic array was set at the front of the raised stage. Grand mages participated in the drawing and crafting of magic paths personally. Temple guards and elite troops of every main camp participated in the trial as well.

Of course, the bulk of the audience, still consisted of a much larger number of Caucasus warriors.

The Caucasus warriors who participated in the trial had not showed any fear. All of them answered the mages’ questions right in front of the mages. A lot of them were arrested right there and then. They were notified of the trial taking place that day on a short notice. That resulted in having to mobilize forces the size of a camp, to make up for the lack of personnel guarding the south of the city.

The Caucasus warriors did not have their gear confiscated. Their gear stayed with them. The only difference between them and the other warriors on that day, was that they were made to sit at the most front row of seats.

Under the protection of her trusted Caucasian warriors and mages, Sika came to the grandstand which Saleen used to sit at. In the arena in front of her eyes, there was the arrested Caucasus people to be tried, numbering over one-thousand, in chains.

A white-robed mage went to check the sound amplification magic array and the imaging magic array. The nobles entered their respective boxes or grandstands with a better view. Most of them brought their own guards.

They knew well of Saleen’s temperament: Saleen had a liking for nobles with a preference for martial affairs. Nobles bringing servants along were seen in a far less favorable light than those bringing their own guards.

The magic array right in the middle was a lie-detecting magic array. The magic itself was not a high level one, and as such, there had yet to be anyone who would have used such magic with an array. Sika was probably the first to pull off such a feat.

Seeing all those Caucasus warriors being tied up afar, Sika felt her own gaze to be a cold one. She was not such a cold person herself, but why would any of them want to do something so cruel to her?

She thanked her own swiftness to act. With so many warriors within the walls approving the thoughts of the Northern Caucasus people, the gate might just have ended up being breached otherwise. While it was still far from possible for the Caucasus people to take the entire city simply because they had breached one gate, the problem laid with the damage Saleen’s reputation would have suffered if Metatrin City was to be successfully breached by the enemy.

Power had the ability of driving people astray. There would sure have been a lot of priests mushrooming among the Caucasus outside the city, making those elders think they were capable of steering things to their favor.

While Sika had little actual experience with the awakening of the power of humanity, she nonetheless felt it. She had given little thought to the news of priests appearing outside the city. After cross-referencing that piece of news with other intelligence, her instinct stirred as she picked up the scent of danger lurking.

Once Caucasus warriors had priests on their sides, it would prove a much greater threat than swordsman having mages at their sides.

Kredian activated the sound amplification magic array once everything was in place. Sika’s voice reverberated throughout the area. Everyone within was able to hear her clearly.

“What is taking place today is something unexpected to me. Someone told me that Caucasus people outside the city, wanted to do me, a nature priestess, harm,” Sika’s words proved to be frightening. All the nobles present found it to be unbelievable. The Caucasus people, numbering over one-thousand, who had been arested arrested and displayed within the arena, all looked too dejected to make a show of power.

“I had always thought that Caucasus had preserved the sense of honor passed down from ancient times. Come to think of it now, I was naive,” Sika’s words were scripted by the mages. If they were to leave her to it, her speech would have sounded too straightforward to make clear the importance of the trial.

“I had people locking down the gates and mobilized forces equivalent to an army. I did not choose to start a war, as I wished that all this was not true…but I was wrong!”

Sika looked down on the Caucasus who attempted to have her submit to their will from afar, and continued, “I’m a priestess. It is my duty to be of service. Such service does not include giving up my children. The Caucasus people outside the city wanted to take everything away from me, without giving any thought if what they intended to take, belonged to them.”

The Caucasus people in chains were placed within the silencing magic array. No one was able to speak up and interrupt her speech.

Sika continued speaking with a loud voice, “What was most despicable about them was that they wanted my children. That was only because the father of the children, was none other than the king of Metatrin, Saleen,”. Sika turned her gaze to the nobles nearby and said, “Your lord gave generous aid to the Caucasus people because of me, yet such aid was returned with betrayal.”

Sika took a break as she looked tired, before continuing, “I will not tolerate this, as I have my pride to defend. As a Caucasus person myself, I felt deeply ashamed. As such, I will not proceed with the trial as a priest, as I’m unable to do so. I declare, from this day forward, I shall be the true Caucasus King. The bloodline of the Caucasus Kingdom, will from now, until the end of days, be of the house of Metatrin.”

The faces of over one-thousand silenced Caucasus warriors despaired as Sika finished. They had not expected that the elders’ plan had led to Sika making such a decision.

“Now, I shall proceed with your trial as King of Caucasus. Mages, begin!”, Sika leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes as she finished.

All the Caucasus warriors present among the audience were in shock. They had thought the questioning was little more than a loyalty test. It was rumored that any who wished to join the temple guards were to participate in such tests. All Caucasus questioned simply thought that they were chosen to join the ranks of the most powerful army of Metatrin City.

No one made any noise. Sika slumped in her seat, looking tired, weak, and wronged. Caucasus people who were loyal to her felt pity for her.

Sika gave a lot, even letting a man she loved marry a princess instead of staying by her side. With all that having taken place, she was at a loss of words. It was time for the mages to work.

The Caucasus warriors chose to be silent and cast their gaze at the front of the stage: that large magic array.