Badge in Azure

As a mage himself, Saleen obviously subscribed to the belief that what one paid must be rewarded equally. That time however, he seemed to have gotten too little for what he paid. Four divine trees and seeds for grade-18 materials. They seemed to be the highest of grades within the world, yet the limit of the world was still at grade-12. Any materials of any level higher than that would not perform as they should.

Something only worth grade-12 was demanded to be traded with him unifying the entire mainland and spreading the faith. If such a trade could have been considered fair, the Lord of Glory would have unified the entire mainland, and there would have been no place for the revival of the Goddess of Myers.

The Seal of Divine Power which he had acquired a while back was probably a piece of equipment of grade-12 and higher, and as such, would not perform as it should have on the Myers Mainland. It was only one of the three godly items in the pope’s possession. It was said that when all three pieces of the godly items were gathered, one would be able to wield the power of the gods and break through the barrier separating the planes, siphoning true power of the gods on the Myers Mainland.

That piece of equipment was given to Joey. It was anyone’s guess what the result of Joey’s pursuit of Fycro would be like.

Saleen had wanted nothing more than to give chase when he thought of it. He wanted to bear witness to the battle between two grade-10 professionals. He found himself to have relied too much on the power of his equipment. He would have a hard time advancing if he kept doing so.

Saleen gradually decided what he should do and stopped feeling anxious.

The mopping of the battlefield at the southern shores of the nameless river had already begun. Two camps were crushed. Soldiers that had perished from attacks from the magic fire shells and the War Drum of Fear were more than he could have counted. Sikeqinyans lost more there than they did in their last battle.

Three-hundred-thousand troops had perished at least in the assault. The resistance the Sikeqinyan troops were able to put up was evidently weaker by a great margin than how they performed in the last battle. Saleen suffered even less losses in comparison. The remaining two-hundred-thousand and more who had fled would never regroup again, as they simply ran without knowing where they were running to.

The sorcerers and the general fled west into the junction between Laiyin Duchy and Kroraina. Most troops had little idea where they ran to, so many went deep into Qin territory. Those troops were quickly apprehended by the forces from Beiju City.

Beiju knew that Lonestar City was being surrounded. While they did nothing to directly aid the surrounded city, they nonetheless sent troops to set up ambushes near the nameless river. Beiju City knew immediately what took place as the battle suddenly began. Before the troops lying in ambush were able to make their move, Saleen had launch a second attack, crushing the Sikeqinyan forces completely at the southern shores of the nameless river.

The troops from Beiju City did not receive exact orders from anyone, and as such they simply let the fleeing army go west. They only apprehended those scattered ones who were going on a rampage within Qin territory, and brought tens of thousands of them as prisoners back to Beiju City.

There were also Sikeqinyans who fled south and were taken into custody by the army guarding the borders. The area had been the edge where Qin and the Holy See clashed head on, and there were tens of thousands of Qin elites distributed throughout the fortresses throughout the area, being tasked with sentinel duty at the northern side of the country. The elite troops belonged to different northern nobles, and they shared a connection between each other, unlike the ones serving the southern nobles.

The army had long planned to ambush the Sikeqinyans from behind, but Holy Rock City remained reluctant to give the order to strike.

The handful of Sikeqinyans who fled to Kroraina were less than ten percent of what the original army had been. They were more than nine-hundred-thousand strong when they arrived, and yet less than fifty-thousand remained when they returned. What saddened the general most was that eleven sorcerers perished in the battles. The Sikeqinya Empire had only one-tenth the number of sorcerers in Qin. Such losses were considered great in their case.

The two battles left an army of more than nine-hundred-thousand strong utterly crushed. More than half the forces died. Such battles were not seen on the Myers Mainland often. During the few years the Qin and Tanggulasi Empires fought each other, both sides simply kept wearing each other out in dragged-out fights. The losses that the Qin suffered exceeded one-third of the number of losses suffered by the Tanggulasians. If the losses suffered in Kroraina Duchy were counted in, Qin’s losses would have actually been greater though.

The very reason Saleen was able to wage such peculiar battles was due solely to having sheer power that far exceeded the enemy’s. The few battles fought that far had seen Metatrin City losing more than two-hundred-thousand spirits.

Saleen and Lex would of course not bother calculating such losses personally, as there was someone among their subordinates doing the math for them. In actual fact however, losses of spirits were hardly considered losses. The auxiliary troops serving in the temple guards who died required reparations made to their families, and only then was it considered within the calculations of losses suffered. The reparations made to death mages were hardly worth mentioning in comparison.

Nailisi could not wait to return to Metatrin City when they returned to Lonestar City. Aini had long received word that half of the warriors riding the Wings of an Elf returned, and the battle was ended.

Seeing how Aini struggled to keep his excitement under wraps, Saleen smiled. “Aini, I’m relieved this time. The actual number of troops the tribunal deployed exceeded three-hundred-thousand. You have at least five-hundred-thousand spirits at your disposal, and I will leave all three groups of temple guards with you, as well as twelve ancient warriors. You can ask for less than ten sorcerers from Metatrin City and build several magic towers within the city.”

Aini asked, “Saleen, I’d like to make this place a city of spirits. What do you think?”

“It won’t do. There need to be at least one-hundred-thousand human troops stationed here. Aini, if this place had nothing but spirits, the city would be lost if mages lost their control over them.”

“That is actually what I mean. I’d like to have all death mages from Metatrin City relocated here.”

“You have ways to keep them under control?” Saleen could not help but feel suspicious.

“There is this.” Aini extended his hand and showed the blood soul tower to Saleen.

Saleen frowned, “The blood soul tower is demonic equipment. How would you use that to control mages?”

“You don’t understand where the power of death mages comes from. When I advance to grade-9, I will have all of Lonestar City placed under my protection using this blood soul tower, and that will prove more powerful than magic towers.”

“That is to say that you are stuck here for good then?”

“I will just stay behind. The speed at which I advance while training here is impressive, and that is not because my power is being enhanced across the entire plane. Lonestar City has been the site of ancient battles, and the place teemed with death. My plant spirits were grown here, and my advancement…”

“I will need you at my side in the future when I launch an attack on the cities of the Holy See. What should I do if you remain here?” Saleen asked jokingly.

“Heh, the fleshy death creature will be like my double when I advanced to grade-9, like those of the gods. That thing can act as my second to hold this place down by then. I’ll just take the plant spirits with me, and I can go just about anywhere.”

Saleen’s eyes sparkled. “Aini’s advancement will prove useful indeed. His plant spirits will be able to provide an inexhaustible source of power to all types of spirit creatures, just like food and gear for humans.” The location of Lonestar City was an odd one, as there was hardly anywhere nearby suitable for farming. Lonestar City would be secured tightly with spirits holding the fort.

“But you are duke now, and you can’t just be the palace mage of a city of the dead…” Saleen did not lay everything out. What he meant was that a duke who served as a death mage who held command over all death mages in a city of the dead, would cause other nobles worry and aroused their suspicions.

“Saleen, didn’t you say you want to build elemental magic towers here? Just get the palace mages to keep an eye on me and the nobles will have no choice but to shut up. I like it here and so…”

Saleen patted Aini’s shoulder and said, “Aini, you want this place to be your estate, but you will need to wait until everyone plays their part and performs deeds of sorts. Guya and the rest contributed quite a lot after all. If I just hand the place over to you, I’d be like asking for a headache.”

Aini did not fret despite having what he thought was rejection spelled out right in front of him. “Simple then. The four dukes. When you conferred the titles back then, you wanted to set examples to have the nobles side with you. Now that you and Lex joined and have the mark of the Six-Winged Flying Snake in your hands, you are officially royalty. You can just draw something for them and that will serve well as a reward all the same. You will need to take Phoenix sooner or later, even if Qin…”

Aini paused and took a look at Lex. Lex replied with a smile and said, “Continue, Aini.”

“Even if Qin is to crumble, they will be able to go exact revenge in Lex’s name, and become a part of the Kingdom of Metatrin. The Grukos will have your back, right?”

“Yeah, they will indeed,” Lex answered.

“Then just go give the four dukes their titles and reward. That should do to stem any dissatisfaction. Choose three pieces of land at Phoenix’s border, and I will want only Lonestar City for myself, and that will satisfy them. Once the territory of the Kingdom of Metatrin expands, Guya and the rest will have no reason to change their estate, and it will be entirely impossible for them to expand their territory into the viscountess’ Qin areas.”

Saleen was astounded. “Aini, who was the one saying that you were just a death mage again? All these ideas of yours, they are just…”

“Just wicked!” Lex smiled. Aini’s idea was sound. A duke’s estate was something that could be expanded, but a duke could not have their estate scattered all over the place. Such estates needed to be one connecting piece of land. If the dukes were not given their estates, then Guya and the rest might want some other places somewhere else when the Kingdom of Metatrin expanded.

It was a wiser choice then, to limit the three duchess’ estates within Phoenix territory. Their ambitions were not all that great at the moment. If their ambitions indeed inflated in the future, it would be a messy affair to deal with them.

“Saleen, if you want them to be appeased, even your son and daughter need to have their identities established. Build two cities within their estates, making it look like the four dukes are protecting their prince and princess. That will serve well to ward off any suspicion as well.”

Aini completely gave up on dealing with the three duchesses, just so that he could have Lonestar City to himself.

From the looks of things, Guya and the other two earned quite a bit all that while, but that was because there was hardly anyone who was aware of his plans against Qin, and he had only hinted on it to Aini. Since he had explicit acknowledgment from Lex, such a plan would sound fishy the way Aini worded it.

“You two will want to establish an empire of yours in the future, and the capital will be Daliang City, I presume. Metatrin City will then be the estate of the House Metatrin, indisputable and for good. Having the dukes who helped establish the country protecting Metatrin City would make for a nice story in itself.” Aini smiled and laid everything in a seemingly dignified and respectable manner.

There was one thing that Aini had not worded out loud, but Saleen knew nonetheless. If the other three duchesses found anything unsatisfying in the future, they had only Aini to blame. That was all his idea after all, and all said and done just so that he could keep Lonestar City to himself.

From a long term perspective, what Aini was doing was to sow discord between him and the three duchesses who helped established the country, yet for House Metatrin, it was a fitting end to things.

Lex narrowed her eyes and looked at Aini. Had the death mage to not been a man, she would have suspected that there was something going on between the two of them.

“Aini, I pity you then.” Saleen knew well that the matter would spread sooner or later, and all nobles would develop the view that it was him who egged Saleen on to get the conferral of titles and estates dealt with as soon as possible and done just for the sake of Lonestar City.

“What do I have to fear? I will live for a long time, and I will become the oldest duke in the empire in time. Just what can their descendants do to me by then?” Aini slapped the word ’empire’ on without any hesitation, a sign that he had ample confidence in what Saleen and Lex would be able to achieve in the future