Badge in Azure

“Master is humorous,” Grand Duke Iron Blood spoke in a gentle tone. “The most important task of these iron blood warriors is definitely to destroy Alchemy City. I will take over Qin while you can have Alchemy City. This is what we agreed on. When we have enough iron blood warriors, I will activate the forces on Dragon Island to help master fulfil your wish. Let Metatrin City be.”

“Duke, you are not saying what you mean.” The expression on Imposa’s metallic face remained unchanged. He took the new cup from the miniature puppet and threw it into his mouth, along with the wine.

“Why not? If Metatrin City sends their fleet here, I will have to let you step out and settle this problem. If it was a direct attack, there will be too many losses and your plans will be affected.

“How do you know that Metatrin City’s fleet isn’t here?” Imposa spoke directly and crudely. He did not seem to care about maintaining relations.

“The ancient combat vessel that has gone missing must have been captured by the people of Metatrin City. That combat vessel contained the magic array refined by Master Belivare. If they were within 1,000 miles, my main combat vessel would be able to detect it. Master Imposa, I’m afraid the people of Metatrin City will not be making their way here.”

“I killed something just now. It was just below us. Duke, I’m afraid the people of Metatrin City have already snuck onto the island.” Imposa pointed at the ground with his finger.

“Oh? What did you kill, master?” Grand Duke Iron Blood did not see Imposa casting any spells and was genuinely curious.

“It was something very weak. I have no idea how it managed to get here. If it was a normal and natural magic beast, it would never have dared to get so close to me,” Imposa said.

“A magic beast?” Grand Duke Iron Blood waved his hands and said, “Men, dig over here!”

With that, bodyguards immediately entered the palace. They took a look at the ground before the bodyguards called for four mechanical puppets to start digging up the ground.

Imposa laughed coldly. The way Cloudflow people went about their business was really disgusting. The golden grand swordmaster, who was by his side, could have done the job easily, but they had to make it big. Nevertheless, Grand Duke Iron Blood had provided him with the best conditions to study alchemy, so he was just going to let him be.

His entire face was robotic, so it was incapable of making an expression of fury. Grand Duke Iron Blood’s men managed to dig a few yards deep very quickly and found an ironbone rat.

The rat’s brain exploded. A bodyguard picked it up by its tail and brought it to the Grand Duke.

“Bring it here.” Imposa’s voice was like vibrating metal. The bodyguard’s face turned white. After bringing the corpse of the ironbone rat over, he quickly ran away from Imposa.

Imposa stared at the bodyguard, who suddenly felt a jolt of pain his back and was suddenly lifted up before being smashed onto the ground. Grand Duke Iron Blood’s bodyguards were all high-level swordmasters, yet they could not withstand even a stare from Imposa.

Grand Duke Iron Blood did not mind. The bodyguard’s actions were too disrespectful, never mind the fact that Imposa was a grade-9 sorcerer. Even if it had been a grand mage, he would still have punished the bodyguard. In order for his clan to groom mages, there must be mutual respect on top of controlling resources. The people that trained in magic were often bad-tempered and arrogant. There was no other way except to give them respect.

The bodyguard was carried away and Imposa inspected the ironbone rat. He used one of his metallic fingers to peel open the rat’s wound. It was a mess of flesh and blood inside, but he could still see shards of magic nuclei.

The ironbone rat was a grade-1 magic beast and did not possess any powerful attacks. It only specialized in digging, so its magic nucleus was pathetically small.

Imposa used his finger to dig out one shard of the magic nucleus and put it in his mouth for tasting. Even Grand Duke Iron Blood found his actions disgusting but managed not to show it.

Grand Duke Iron Blood had invested so much energy and money just to hire Imposa. For every three iron blood warriors that Imposa refined, the Grand Duke would have to give him two of them, until the former had managed to gather 3,000 of them to attack Alchemy City.

He had already paid the heavy price of 3,000 iron blood warriors, naturally he was not going to be upset over one disgusting action.

Imposa used his tongue to try and figure out the taste before spitting it out. He then said, “What a disgusting taste!”

Grand Duke Iron Blood thought to himself, “This Imposa must be terribly sick. Everyone knew it was disgusting, but he was the one who put it in his own mouth!”

The grade-9 sorcerer, Belivare, was unexpectedly taken aback. In the midst of their training, mages had to experience all sorts of disgusting things. By the time they became a grade-9 sorcerer they should be used to it. That was why he did not flinch when Imposa tasted the shard of magic nuclei that was covered in brain juice. He had touched even more disgusting things when he was conducting his experiments.

Grade-9 sorcerers only found one thing to be disgusting. That thing was Holy Masters!

“Master…” Although Belivare was also a grade-9 sorcerer, he was full of respect for Imposa. That was the first time he had ever met such a powerful grade-9 sorcerer. He was no match for Imposa, even if the latter did not utilize any equipment. Besides, he had also seen with his own eyes how Imposa was able to kill the silver grand swordmaster in physical combat. That was almost impossible!

“A Holy Master… There are Holy Masters on this island.” Imposa’s voice was cold and carried with it the vibration of metal, which made everyone very uncomfortable.

“Holy Master?” Grand Duke Iron Blood was shocked. He did not understand how Holy Masters could appear on his island. Although the Cloudflow royal family had formed an alliance with the Holy See, his Dragon Island had absolutely no relations with the Holy See. Was there anyone decent in the Holy See? If it was possible, the Grand Duke might even destroy the Holy See for good. With those quacks running around and spreading their faith, who else would be willing to work for the noble families?

“It is a very powerful divine spell. I’m unable to find its source. Grand Duke, the defense of your palace has become a problem.” Imposa’s words were hurtful, but the Grand Duke raised his hands in appreciation of what Imposa said.

“Dark Blue, activate the magic army to hunt down the Holy Master,” Grand Duke Iron Blood ordered the golden grand swordmaster.

“Magic army? They are supposed to protect the palace!”

“What’s there to be afraid of? With Master Imposa here, who else would dare to trespass into the palace?” Grand Duke Iron Blood waved his hands without any suspicions.

“Yes, Grand Duke.” Dark Blue put down his wine glass and looked at Imposa before leaving the palace. He was not fond of the mage from Alchemy City at all. In his pursuit of power, he had no qualms turning himself into something that was neither human nor ghost. What a pervert.

Belivare and Dark Blue used to be the subordinates that the Grand Duke trusted the most, but ever since Imposa came, they had both been demoted. Now, he was being asked to capture a Holy Master personally? Was he just an ordinary soldier to be carrying out such mundane tasks?

Grand Duke Iron Blood’s palace was built on flat ground in the middle of three mountaintops. There was a hill there originally, but it had been flattened with magic. The magic army was stationed there. Dark Blue came over and gathered the people he needed to begin searching for the Holy Master.

In the warehouse, Nicholas opened his eyes and said to Saleen, “My Lord, I have found them. Cuisi and the rest are locked up in the prison.”

“Prison? Weren’t they being taken as concubines?” Jola asked out of curiosity.

“All you care about is women!” Saleen knocked on Jola’s head and said, “The Grand Duke’s nickname may be ‘Iron Blood’, but no matter how lustful he is, he would never marry my servants. What if they stabbed him in the middle of the night? Even a golden grand swordmaster would die from that.”

“My Lord, there is one more thing.”

“What?”

“We may have been discovered. A strange army has been activated.”

“Discovered? That’s impossible!”

“My Lord, I may have fallen, but I am still a Holy Master. Imposa is very sensitive,” Nicholas explained.

It suddenly dawned on Saleen that Nicholas had been with him for so long that he was no longer conscious of the former’s identity. Holy Masters were disgusting to mages. It was not unexpected that Imposa would be able to detect the smell of a Holy Master.

“How far away is the prison?”

“Twenty miles. It is around the vicinity of the magic tower. My Lord, are we going?”

“Why not? If they are searching for us, they will start from the beach. Once they find our tracks they will begin to search inward. Let’s use this opportunity to see if we can cause some destruction,” Saleen said with a smile.

“My Lord, this grain…” Jola pointed at the grain in the warehouse. He had led the temple army for a period of time before, so he understood the importance of grain. It was different from feeding just a few men. When there were tens of thousands of people to feed, the amount of grain that was moved around in warehouses would be massive.

“Take it, take the grain!” Saleen and Nicholas quickly threw the bags of grain into their spatial equipment. Both of them possessed powerful mental strength, so they could store tens of bags of grain in one go without stopping.

Tens of thousands of pounds of grain might not be significant, but Saleen was used to looting everything.

Saleen did not care for the other items in the warehouse. They were meant for ordinary soldiers after all. After taking some boxes of arrows, he let Nicholas take the lead to bring them to the prison.

By the time they left the warehouse, it was already dark. Nicholas and Jola were not creatures bonded to him, so sensory sharing would use up too much mental strength. Saleen would let Nicholas report the direction before he searched for it himself.

There was a commotion a distance away. An unknown number of soldiers seemed to have blocked off an entire street and was conducting a search. By then, the fog had already dissipated. Saleen frowned and said to Nicholas, “Are you able to control a troop of soldiers?”

Nicholas nodded. There were certain divine spells that could control someone forcefully, but they required a large difference in grades.

When Saleen saw that Nicholas was not having any problems, he led the ancient warriors onto the street. A troop of soldiers was walking towards them. There were only 40 of them and they were carrying magic lamps. Saleen quickly unleashed his Quickcloud spell, and instantaneously, the entire street was filled with fog. There was a fragrance in the fog and, aside from the team leader, all the other soldiers collapsed onto the ground.

Jola took out a rock and smashed it against the chest of the team leader, who finally collapsed onto the ground as well. Saleen said, “Nicholas, make them continue their search normally. Don’t let anyone find out.”