Badge in Azure

Laiyin Duchy did not expect Metatrin Kingdom to be able to mobilize so many armies and had to seek help from Sikeqinya Empire. In fact, Laiyin Duchy had a population close to thirty-million with vast lands and sufficient soldiers. The news of Metatrin Kingdom and its demon army has spread, and they had death troops too!

What was more important was Metatrin Kingdom’s attitude. After what happened at Daliang City, Laiyin Duchy felt that Metatrin Kingdom would never render help to Qin.

They made a mistake. It was true that Metatrin Kingdom did not wish to help Qin, but Laiyin Duchy itself was a tempting proposition. Such a good opportunity must not be wasted.

Of course, an army of two-hundred-thousand on top of twenty-thousand demons would not be sufficient to take over Laiyin Duchy. there were more than ten million people in Metatrin Kingdom, and because of the marriage with Bitter Water Prefecture, the latter must be accounted for as well. The combined efforts of both the countries would definitely surpass that of Laiyin Duchy.

Sikeqinya Empire was amusing. Emperor Danny promised to send reinforcements but kept delaying them, using the battle against Blackfeather County as an excuse. Danny was of the view that Metatrin would never be able to defeat Laiyin Duchy. The latter was seeking help only to conserve their own military forces.

There were more than one-hundred-thousand troops stationed in Lonestar City that could enter Laiyin anytime. Laiyin Duchy sent out an envoy to Metatrin City to discuss the possibility of a resolution.

Lex almost wanted to laugh out loud. The battle had already begun, and Sikeqinya Empire had already formed an alliance with the Tanggulasi Empire. How could Laiyin Duchy possibly expect to stay out of all of it? If that was their intention, why would they allow a six-hundred-thousand strong Sikeqinyan army to pass through their borders?

Such paradoxical actions were on par with those of Cloudflow.

Nevertheless, the incident made Lex even more determined and confident of attacking Laiyin Duchy. Laiyin had a main army of about four-hundred-thousand and was not considered a huge army for a country with more than twenty-million people. Laiyin was always a place that produced mercenaries though. Most of their men were well-versed in combat.

Lex was not worried about being outnumbered because Qin would always have an advantage over other Empires in terms of grain.

Other than Phoenix, the south, central, and north of Qin all had large fields. Besides, all the major cities of Qin had magic warehouses that could store all the grain.

Outsiders could not comprehend Qin’s attitude towards grain. They harvested every year and, with the help of magic equipment, the amount of grain they produced was at least three times more than other countries. The entire Qin Empire was obsessed with storing grain.

They never used the grain to make alcohol, nor to create magic ingredients. Every noble family had no idea how much grain they had stored in their granaries, but they knew that, even if everyone stopped farming from, they would still be able to feed their people for a few more decades. Previously, the grain that Saleen had wanted was those that had been stored in the magic warehouse and were about to expire. If they had not been used to create elvish pills, they would have been used to feed warhorses.

Lex was not planning a large-scale invasion of Laiyin. She would allow the noble families to encroach on Laiyin Duchy’s main passageway, blocking them off from entering and leaving. The people of Sikeqinya and Laiyin were not fond of farming. The amount of grain stored by those countries was probably less than that of a Qin Duke.

Qin would never sell any grain to them, so Laiyin had no choice but to seek help from Sikeqinya. Lex had already left behind a death corp at Chaotic Swamp. This death corp would pass through Chaotic Swamp and enter Sikeqinya from the rear through a secret passageway. They would then disrupt the transport route for grain at the southern area of the mountainous region.

Within Laiyin Duchy, it was the mercenary companies that kept the most grain. Whenever the noble families lacked grain, they would look for the mercenary companies first.

Lex did not have enough time to settle all the administrative duties, nor return back to Daliang City. She had to travel between two dimensions to receive the mages. Her God’s Ring was used for that purpose.

Back in Daliang City, the palace had been renovated. It was slightly smaller, and no longer had tall city walls. The original city walls had been destroyed, and in order to save on expenses, Lex decided not to build them back. The original city walls were remains of the ancient city, so it only required a little touching up. Now that they had been completely destroyed, Lex decided to build three magic towers outside of the palace instead.

Some of Lex’s subordinates had already advanced into sorcerers, but before all of the Sregl Island mages have advanced to grade-9, this interdimensional space had to remain a secret. Even Lex’s followers could not know about it.

It was not that Lex could not be trusted, but the mages under her came from complicated backgrounds. On the other hand, all the Sregl Island mages had lived together since youth without the intrusion of any outsiders.

The Lifestyle mages in the palace were still living their own lives and doing things that were incomprehensible to Don, just like how it was when Lex was still around.

Don seemed to have forgotten his own mission. A year had passed, and he was still guarding the magic tower on the outside as he looked on at the figure. Isabella had finally reached grade-7. Don had closely monitored her advancement but did not take the chance to attack.

Pope Theisio had no way of contacting him as he spent all his time with the mages meditating, training, and studying the secrets of magic. Don felt happy and contented leading a life like that.

He was willing to spend his entire life like that if it was possible, but he knew that once the mage in the magic tower appeared, he would have to strike immediately.

Isabella had no idea that she was being monitored by a powerful opponent. She had advanced successfully and did not wish to leave the magic tower. Staying there for such a long time had left her feeling fatigued though. Isabelle recalled the days she spent in the Tanggulasi Empire and began to miss her subordinates there.

Those people had already been incorporated by Saleen, which was considered a pretty good outcome. It was rare for a band of bandits to survive for more than a decade. Usually, they would be destroyed within three to five years.

Some bands of bandits might seem to have lasted for more than a century, but it was not necessarily the case. More often than not, the initial group of bandits had already been destroyed, but their names were reused by bandits of a later generation.

Isabella stood up and flexed her body. Just like when she was still in the Tanggulasi Empire, she tied up her long hair with silk string and button. It was something that bandits often did. A simple button was the most effective way to tie up one’s hair.

Coincidentally, Don saw this action from outside the magic tower. There was a flash in his eyes before it disappeared just as quickly as it appeared.

“Haha, to think that I have been deceived all this while. Lex was never in Daliang City all along.”

Don stood up and left his station. He was prepared to leave. If Lex was not in Daliang City, then she was most likely in Metatrin City.

Don heard that more than thirty sorcerers and more than one-hundred grand mages had arrived in Metatrin City. He would most likely die if he went.

Don was not afraid to make trouble in Holy City, but he was also realistic. There was no way he could defeat more than thirty sorcerers.

At that point, Don sat down and began to think hard. When he left, the Holy City had destroyed the seventh church, which was something that could never be kept under wraps. If any of his comrades had survived back then, they would have tracked him down and followed him all the way there. It had been so long, and no one had come. That meant that all the Heavenly Knights had died.

If he had died as well, then all the Heavenly Knights would have been completely wiped out.

The Pope formed the Heavenly Knights and took complete control of the Pivotal Council. The Red Bishops of the Pivotal Council had no guts to form their own Heavenly Knights. The reason why Don wanted that position was also to build up the Heavenly Knights once again.

Theisio must have known his intentions, but he still agreed nonetheless. The mission was quite questionable.

He decided to wait for a while more. Observing the female mage was quite interesting after all. Don leaned against the chair and pointed at the begonia outside the window. Aside from winter, the mages in Daliang City were able to ensure that there would be fresh flowers blooming in all other seasons.

The begonia was what Don had tried to plant. After watering it with restorative water, it had begun to grow quickly and was blooming.

A flower flew into the house and landed in Don’s palms before he placed it in the vase on the table. Doing this helped him to calm down.

In the past, Don had wiped out quite a number of powerful bands of bandits. He was very familiar with the behaviors and tendencies of bandits, which was how he managed to see through Isabella’s disguise. As the Princess of the royal family, Lex would never have taken on the behaviors and tendencies of a bandit.

A bandit who was also a mage? Isabella had piqued Don’s interest, and he was curious to find out what she looked like.

If it was anyone else, they would have been so worried about their own daughter’s life that they would have left immediately to seek out where Lex really was. Don knew the Supreme Court too well. By then, his daughter’s soul had probably been completely transformed into just a military tool.

Even if she was eventually saved, she would be nowhere close to what she was in terms of her looks and her soul.

Theisio never would have expected Don to become so heartless.

Don cast a spell on the begonia – Poison Interference. The begonia, which was already slightly poisonous on its own, changed into several colors under the effect of magic before wilting very quickly.

In an instant, the petals shrunk before falling off, as if it had just gone through a long autumn season.

It was interesting how magic spells worked. If Holy Masters wanted to recreate the same effect, they would have to depend on the curse, Instant Ageing.

Don continued with his magic experiment while observing the figure in the magic tower. He suddenly realized that perhaps his reluctance to leave was because he had fallen for the female mage.

No wonder the Gods said that all mages were sinners. Of course, such a saying was only verbally passed down within the core of the Holy See and not written into the Code of the Holy See.

The more spells one learned, the more easily attracted one became. Even one’s thoughts would become different.

Thinking like a mage would only bring him further from his religion.

Would he be betraying God if he eventually managed to possess magic chords?

“Kim, it’s already Saturday, why haven’t you collected the new books?!” Someone outside the window shouted at Don. “Kim”was the name that he was using for his disguise as a grade-3 mage.

“Sorry. I will go now,” Don replied. He raised his head and saw that the female mage was still on the seventh story. A smile appeared on his face as he suddenly knew what he should do.