Badge in Azure

The fleet of the Kingdom of Metatrin made for Sikeqinyan waters without stop. The northeastern side Myers Mainland jutted upwards. Departure from Metatrin City would have required detour of tens of thousands of miles before they were able to reach Sikeqinya. However, the speed of the fleet was steady.

The wear and tear in the alchemic machinery lessened after changing the magic power furnaces, making them capable of continued sailing at sea without need for breaks.

Saleen and Lex moved separately, but both shared the same ultimate destination: Ironwall City.

Saleen had little time to spare. He needed to get the deal with Ceylon City done as soon as possible and then make for the seas, to rendezvous with his fleet. It would have proven very difficult for Lex to take down Ironwall City alone. His elemental creatures and ancient warriors proved vital for overpowering the magic towers within the city.

Just like how it was back in Daliang City, where the tower was so occupied with the Cloudflow sorcerer, the building had nothing to spare for handling defense of the city.

Getting from Metatrin City to Ceylon City would have taken them across almost the entire Myers Mainland, covering a distance of more than 20 thousand miles. Some mountains were difficult fly past, and it was fortunate the everyone of them wore equipment crafted from lightning dragon hide.

Such a piece of equipment would have at least guaranteed their safety when flying in great heights, from the risk of getting hit by lightning.

Saleen crossed one mountain after another. During the trip, Saleen had even flown right into the clouds. Even Nailisi felt nervous when they were inside the clouds. No one was sure how well Saleen’s equipment would have worked against lightning.

The power of the electricity Saleen and Nailisi were able to conjure would not have had even one-ten thousandth of the power displayed by that of nature. As such, both feared lightning far more than conventional mages.

Saleen avoided the Chaotic Swamp for fear of running into Fycro, and flew within the mountains further north. He was able to catch a glimpse of the barren lands north of the Chaotic Swamp, as well as the meandering forests, where countless magic beasts lived.

These places were even more hostile. No one below the rank of a level nine sorcerer would have been able to tread such areas.

Saleen was in mood to hunt, but he observed and took everything to mind with his Elemental Eye regardless, wanting to find a path within the mountains. The result was utterly disappointing to Saleen, the region north of Chaotic Swamp simply had no place where normal people could have easily tread.

Not even the demon army would have been able to make it through the mountains, let alone common people.

Cuisi was very frightened as well. Saleen had brought him zipping past the mountains many times, at heights exceeding 5000 meters. The region far north was covered in snow throughout the year without any sight of trees, and the ground was glaringly white. However, there were actually magic beasts fighting fierce battles in such places. From the looks of it, all of them exceeded level seven.

Cuisi possessed the power of a level nine supreme demon, and even he would not have liked to be caught surrounded by those magic beasts. Any beasts form such areas would have possessed skills capable of freezing and slowing targets. Once surrounded, he would not have been able to even fly.

The one who was most calm was Truman instead. He had little idea how powerful lightning could have been, and knew the dangers of flying in the air as much as any conventional mage would have known. It was best to stay low. However, given how Saleen dared to fly such heights, he simply saw no reason to feel afraid.

He had little idea of what was actually happening on the ground. Saleen did not share his senses. No one else in the party had signed a soul bond with him after all, and sharing senses with such people would have taxed heavily on his mental powers.

Nicholas was worried too. The notion of lightning dragon hide being capable of deflecting lightning was little more than a rumor, and Nicholas spent the entire flight being frightened asw ell.

Saleen only flew for eight hours a day, before landing for breaks. He had only extended his time flying when he had flown past the thousands of miles of mountainous region.

Sikeqinya Empire lacked mages, and Saleen had only needed to observe if there were magic towers within a hundred miles where they were flying to guarantee their safety. After about eight days, Saleen’s party finally arrived at Ceylon City.

Saleen did not know what to think when he was flying all the way there. But he grew restless once he reached his birth city. He had not approached Ceylon City from the docks, landing instead in the mountains, before changing his Devil Armament for common magic robe.

Saleen had never felt his memory being so clear. He moved alongside the stream in the mountains and came to a place where the water flowed slowly. That was where he first developed magic chords, and the place hardly changed.

Nailisi waved his hand and had everyone else stay quiet. She saw Saleen walking to the middle of the stream and lying flat on it.

The rest of the party felt Saleen’s actions to be weird, but no one went disturbing him. Saleen closed his eyes and let the water flow past his skin. When he first used magic chord solutions all those years back, he almost died right there and then. He would have given his life for magic.

Just how did I manage to endure that kind of childhood? How did I develop such adamant will at such a young age? Saleen felt relaxed all the sudden, as if he was watching the lives of others. All the pain he had endured seemed to have had nothing to do with him.

Breathe. His skin was taking in the gas within the water. The dark clouds within Saleen’s mind completely cleared without him realizing it. He gradually sat up from the water and smiled at his party, “This is where I became a mage.”

Here?

Nailisi and the rest looked around and found not even a single tower nearby. Everyone knew that Jason was Saleen’s teacher. Jason was a powerful mage and Saleen’s only teacher.

Come, we will go see where I used to live. Hopefully the place is still there.

Saleen sold his place to Jason. As Jason became Saleen’s teacher, the place remained his home all the same. It was also a place where Saleen missed the most.

Saleen led his party walking to the stone house owned by his family. The stone house built near the mountains appeared before Saleen’s eyes when they made it past the last valley.

Nothing changed, or rather, everything stayed the same to how it was when Saleen was a child.

The two-floored house was refurbished, but there was hardly anything new added to it. Doors and windows were added according the place’s original design. The wood used to construct the doors and windows have undergone treatment, to keep the original looks of the house as much as possible.

What astonished Saleen the most was that a large tree appeared before the door. The tree seemed to be more than a hundred years old, yet there was no tree there when he left. There was also a swing on the tree. The contraption was bound by ropes as thick as his wrists and hung on the branches, swinging lightly in the wind.

That was the best season in Ceylon City. The flowers behind the house bloomed, giving the place a nice scent.

So the house was sold? Seemed unlikely, given how teacher was in a hurry back then. He would definitely not have came back just so he could sell the place. Furthermore, teacher knew what the place meant to me, and he was not in short of money.

Saleen went up and pushed the door open.

The door opened wide with a creak. Saleen’s ears were able to tell that the hinges were not made of metal and it was not oiled. The door was simply reinstalled just the way it was back when he lived here as a child.

“Who is it?”, a voice was heard from above, one that sounded familiar to Saleen. A figure dressed in soft armor walked down the stairs. Their hair was tied up without wearing any helmet.

“Remember me, Ulysses?”, Saleen smiled. It was the swordmaster from the viscount’s manor who let him off back then when he killed someone all those years back.

It was morning and sunlight shone within from outside. Ulysses was still half-asleep when he saw the few people standing at the door. He rubbed his eyes for a little bit and peered. There was a young man dressed in black magic robe, and four people stood behind him.

Black magic robe? Ulysses was briefly stunned, before realizing that it was a sorcerer. He hastily put his sword on the table nearby, and bowed politely at Saleen.

“Sir, I’m afraid my memory isn’t serving me all that well,” He dared not lie. While Saleen’s looks hardly changed, his bearing was something different altogether. In any case, Ulysses could have hardly linked the sorcerer before him to be the magic acolyte that he let go off all those years ago.

“Ulysses, remember that Saleen whom you let go back then?”

Ulysses faltered backwards and realized he had lost his composure. He widened his eyes and activated his sword aura. Only then was he able to look at Saleen’s face clearly.

“You! You…,” He used the word ‘you’ on a level nine sorcerer in a very rude manner.

“It’s me, Saleen Metatrin. Ulysses, I’m sure you’ve heard of what I did?”, Saleen walked into the room, and the rest of the party followed.

“Sir? It can’t be!”, Ulysses had no words to describe the shock he had just felt. There was no way he could not have heard of the name Saleen Metatrin. It was an important figure who built a country up north at the Phoenix region. He had simply thought the name to be a coincidence.

“Address me as your highness if you feel like it,” Saleen’s smile was an ambiguous one. He eyed the house that used to be his and found everything restored, even the things that he was cheated of, were restored to their original places. Saleen was able to tell that it was probably Viscount Gugger’s doing.

Doing so would have cost quite a lot of money, but if Jason was to return, the sorcerer might have rewarded the viscount handsomely. The viscount was still one sly fellow indeed.

“Yo-Your highness…”, Ulysses was at a lost. Rumors of the Kingdom of Metatrin was rather unsavory in Sikeqinya. It was just that when Saleen stood before Ulysses, he found himself unable to believe a single word of the rumor spread by Emperor Danny. How could have Saleen been such a person?

A murderous king? One who feed his demons with humans? Likes raping girls of noble birth?

That guy is a sorcerer! He won’t bother doing stuff like that. It seemed that Emperor Danny was not in a right state of mind, maybe even controlled by the Holy See. The cooperation had been fishy right from the start. The holy masters of the Holy See have definitely taken control of the emperor’s court. This is bad…

Ulysses’ mind ran into overdrive when Saleen continued, “Ulysses, I have been flying for over 20 thousand miles and I’m feeling rather tired. Get back to the city and tell Viscount Gugger, that I’m back, and I want him to come see me.”

“Yes, your highness,” Ulysses went to address Saleen the way the sorcerer asked to be addressed with without realizing it.

Ulysses bolted out of the house without even picking up his sword. Saleen had the rest of his party wait at the living room. He went around and found the tea sets like he still owned the place, and went on to make tea for his followers.

“Teacher!”, Truman had wanted to serve Saleen, which Saleen responded with a wave, “This is my place. You guys are here for the first time, so you’re all my guests. There’re no outsiders here, so just make yourselves at home and don’t fret with the rules.”

Truman had no choice but to sit down. Nicholas adjusted his mood for a bit and said to Saleen, “My liege, that warrior ran rather quickly. Was he trying to get an army to take us out?”

“He won’t. The man is loyal to Viscount Gugger, and Viscount Gugger, had never wanted to go against me in the first place. He would have just sent me to Earl Sufonso all those years back if he wanted to do so. I like what he did to the place. Well, I guess I’ll just take it as if I got him a present or something. What a fellow indeed…”