Badge in Azure Chapter 156

Chapter 156: Master’s Horror (Part 1)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
It was summer, and rainfall was plentiful during this season. The rain drizzled for less than three hours after Saleen and his group had left a small town before slowly becoming a downpour. Lex and Saleen were fine, but Sika and Nailisi became completely drenched. They had no choice but to seek shelter.
Both Sika and Nailisi were tough and could withstand the torrential rain. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the horses they were riding. Thus, they sought shelter because there was no point in getting wet if they could not cover any ground. After travelling for a while, they found a wilderness shop.
These roadside wilderness shops operated on a huge scale, and depended entirely on peddling goods or services in order to survive. Lex and Saleen created an invisible shield that sheltered them from the rain before rushing into the huge courtyard found within the shop. Instantly, a waiter wearing a raincoat appeared and led their horses to the back.
Along the way, they saw many businessmen and mercenaries. Purely adventurous risk-takers and mages were a rare sight. The waiter spoke carefully, trying not to anger the four of them, “My apologies, but it appears that we do not have any individual rooms available…”
“It’s fine. We’ll just sit here,” Lex interrupted, pointing to the seats next to the window. This wilderness shop operated on a huge scale, but it had no decorations, and the furniture had all been made from unsightly logs.
Outside the window were large eaves, pillars, and walls that did a fine job of preventing the wind and rain from entering the building.
The fact that two mages had arrived at this wilderness shop naturally caught the attention of the manager. Another waiter brought towels for the four of them to dry off. Saleen rejected his offer while Lex ignored him and immediately cast a Cleaning spell followed by a Fire Washing spell. Immediately, Sika and Nailisi’s clothes became dry as all of the water droplets on them evaporated.
Not daring to disturb these seemingly difficult customers, the manager quietly ordered the waiters to bring a new tea set and reheat water for them.
Saleen and his companions did not feel that they were difficult customers. In the past, whenever Lex had ventured out, she had turned it into some extravagant event where the many people accompanying her would cater to her every whim. She was better now. At the very least, she did not have any grand swordmasters beside her to serve her. Out of her four black metal grand swordmasters, two of them had been killed while the rest were nursing their internal injuries back at the magic tower. Moreover, because they were going to Alchemy City, she had not even brought any assassins with her.
Other than Lex, the only people who knew about the trip to Alchemy City were Nailisi, Sika, Saleen, and her mentor. If it had not been for the fact that this trip was to be kept a secret, Lex would have had at least a few low-level mages accompanying her for protection.
Saleen retrieved a tea set from the demonic bracelet and began creating restorative water, ignoring the hot water that the waiters had put on their table earlier. The way that he cast the spell was similar to the way Lex cast her Fire Washing spell. When he was finished, he used that water to brew tea for Lex.
Saleen’s move did not cause any dissatisfaction amongst the many people who were in the wilderness shop waiting for the rain to pass. Even if it had, they did not show it. Everyone lowered their heads, afraid to make eye contact or do anything that might provoke the mages. These outbound traders were very good at reading people. Saleen and Lex exuded an aura vastly different from that of a normal low-level mage. Hence, no one dared to entertain the idea of striking up a conversation with them.
Usually, low-level mages would be willing to serve these businessmen in exchange for gold coins. However, it was not the same for higher-level mages. Even if they did not have money, they had Grade 4 mercenaries who would support them in battle. In other words, they were way out of the leagues of these businessmen.
At that moment, the entire shop was silent as everyone watched Saleen cast his spell. Lex looked out the window and felt herself becoming very calm as she watched the pitter-patter of the raindrops.
Going to Alchemy City had not been a last-minute idea. Lex had already thought of it when she had discovered the ten story magic tower in the hell of god’s punishment. However, after she had arrived back at Myers Mainland and found out about her father’s passing, she had decided to bring forth her plan.
Bitter Water Prefecture had resources, but lacked people. A Grade 8 mage was more than enough to ensure the peace and prosperity of the county. However, to become a real county without relying on manpower or the help of other counties, Bitter Water Prefecture needed to have at least some Grade 9 mages.
Lex knew that if she could find a way to create a portal connecting Bitter Water Prefecture to the hell of god’s punishment, her mentor would be able to become a Grade 9 mage with the help of the six element space. Once that was accomplished, Bitter Water Prefecture would become a legitimate county.
Furthermore, she needed more manpower in order to successfully avenge her father. Lex knew that she would not be able to do it by herself. The number of formidable opponents in the Holy See rivalled those of Alchemy City, which meant that even if she was extremely gifted, relying on her own capabilities to defeat the Holy See would be a very stupid decision.
Lex finally understood how Saleen felt. It was the feeling of knowing where your enemies were, but being unable to do anything about them. She eyed the tea that Saleen had brewed for her and laughed. “You still have this tea set?”
She had left the teaset at the Clyde residence when she had gone to visit Holy Rock City. She did not know that Saleen had taken it with him.
“Well, it’s expensive. You know how poor my family was when I was young. It’d be a waste to leave it at Holy Rock City,” Saleen replied, not feeling even the slightest bit embarrassed. The truth was that he disliked it when people used any items that had previously been touched by Lex. In the past, he had given it little thought. Now, he was certain about these feelings.
Lex pursed her lips tightly to stop herself from calling out Saleen. Unlike other swordsmen, Saleen did not openly express his attraction for her. Lex also did not want to embarrass Saleen, lest the latter was a thin-skinned individual.
Just then, a waiter arrived and placed some snacks on their table. Lex eyed the food but refused to eat it. Since she had been young, she had trained herself not to eat outside food, lest it was contaminated or poisoned. Nailisi, on the other hand, could not have cared less. Even if the snacks were poisoned, it would probably not be enough to kill her.
As an adult, Nailisi had a much better appetite and preferred normal food over blood as a means of sustenance. As soon as Nailisi saw Saleen giving Sika the all-clear, meaning that the food was safe to eat, she did not hesitate to reach her greedy hands out and grab some food from the table.
The four of them had come into the shop with the sole intention of seeking shelter from the rain. However, once the food was served, Sika and Nailisi began gobbling down the food in front of them. Saleen, who was not hungry, chose to watch from the side. They had insane strength, but even crazier appetites. They were like hibernating creatures. Once they ate a lot of food in one sitting, they would be able to withstand long periods of starvation. Like Sika and Naisili, the people from the region of Caucasus were indeed very poor, and their lifestyles closely mirrored that of the demons.
The sounds of hooves hitting the ground suddenly filled the air. Sika shoved the snack she had in her hand into her mouth and wiped her face with her sleeve. After discreetly wiping her hands, she pulled out her boomerang and rested it on her thighs.
Just from the frequency of the hooves hitting the ground, it was obvious that the horse was travelling at a very fast pace. This could not have been due to the fact that the knights who were riding them wanted to seek shelter. Everyone knew that even strong horses would not be able to take it when their bodies were pushed to their limits, and travelling this fast would cause them to die or become disabled in a matter of minutes. All battalion horses had to control their speeds during battle. Failure to do so could lead to their deaths.
The fact that the knights were making their horses travel so fast meant that they were running for their lives. Sika was able to draw this conclusion because she possessed a great interest in military matters, which was unusual since she was generally apathetic to the things happening around her.
“And I was really beginning to enjoy the peace and quiet around here,” Lex grumbled as soon as she realized what was going on.
“Sika, do not strike yet,” Saleen whispered in Sika’s direction. He did not want to be dragged into a battle he had no business with. He felt that it was not a serious matter since the empire had not declared war yet. To him, it would be best to let the nobles handle it.
Sika nodded in understanding. If Saleen did not want her to interfere, she could not be bothered to take action either.
The shop was filled with merchants and low-grade mercenaries. Their ears were not sensitive enough to pick up the noise over the sounds of the heavy rain. As soon as Saleen stuck his head outside the window to get a glimpse of what was going on, over twenty horses rushed into the courtyard. Despite the heavy rain, the knights still had blood all over their bodies that had not been washed away.
From their faces, it was obvious that these knights had been chased for a while now. They looked very fatigued, which indicated a lack of rest. The last two knights even had dozens of arrows sticking out of them. Judging from the fact that the arrows had not penetrated their skin too deeply, Saleen concluded that they had been protected by the metal armor they wore.
The Qin citizens prided themselves on their advanced casting technology. Their armor was even protected from arrows. Unless they were alchemy crossbows, it was very difficult for someone who wore this armor to be severely injured by arrows.
As the more than twenty knights rushed into the courtyard, they immediately shut the door behind them. More than half of them smashed two carriages parked within the yard and used the material to bolt the doors shut.
The yard was a place intended for merchants to park their vehicles. These two carriages had belonged to a group of traders. Seeing that the knights had smashed their employers’ vehicles, approximately a dozen mercenaries stood up at the same time, waiting for the merchants to tell them to attack.
The fact that these knights had rushed into the yard and bolted the door shut in such a short period of time meant that they were nimble, skilled, and adept. Judging by their metal armor that seemed to be made of high-quality materials, they were no ordinary knights. These mercenaries did not want to provoke them, but since they were paid to protect their employers, if they did not intervene, their reputation would be completely tarnished.
Saleen was better able to differentiate the ranks of the two groups of people. Within the group of more than twenty knights, there were at least five swordmasters. However, the strongest mercenary was only an advanced swordsman. There was no way the mercenaries would win if they chose to attack.
The two wounded knights were carried into the shop by their comrades, who rudely pushed aside the waiters who came up to serve them. The uninjured knights joined four tables together, and gently placed the injured knights on top. From there, they used a dagger to carefully sever the arrows sticking out of the armor before stripping it off of the wounded knights and plucking out the arrow-heads that had penetrated their skin.
“Hurry up! The arrows have poison in them!” someone barked.
“Yes sir!” the rest of the knights yelled in unison.
While some of the knights were busy removing the arrows, others had opened up their pouches to retrieve some medication. From there, they started cleaning the wounds of their injured comrades before applying said medication. All of the knights had dismounted their horses by then. One lanky knight, clad in blue armor, appeared to be the commander. With a pistol in his hand, he strode into the wilderness shop.
“Who is the manager?” the commander hollered at the top of his voice.
“Me,” came a soft, meek reply.
The owner of the shop, who was situated behind the counter, reluctantly approached the commander. He looked to be over forty years old and had a pretty round face. Overall, he looked pretty friendly, though he seemed apprehensive at the moment. He had operated this shop for over a decade, but this was something he had never seen before.
“I am a swordmaster in charge of Forest Enterprises. We have crossed paths with a bandit gang and need to seek refuge in your shop,” the commander said gruffly, looking around. As soon as his eyes came across Saleen and the others, he gasped in surprise. He had not been expecting any mages to be present. Immediately, the tone of his voice became much gentler as he reached the end of his little speech.
Without warning, one of his comrades shouted in Saleen’s direction, “You! Go over and help them!”
Although Saleen’s demon outfit had been custom-made, he had put on a white robe that his teacher had given him earlier over the outside, meaning that ordinary swordmasters would not be able to recognize his true strength. They would only view him as a Grade 2 mage. Lex, on the other hand, had donned a colorful robe that looked fake. Only advanced mages that were Grade 4 and above would understand what the robe represented.
Sika and Nailisi were not swordsmen. They were pretty, but they were not pushovers either. Under pressure, the swordmaster, unable to control his emotions, had spoken very harshly.
The commander’s heart sank but he did not immediately reprimand his subordinate. He wanted to see the reaction of the young mage. In the Qin Empire, mages were highly respected. However, because there were so many low-grade mages, if Saleen ended up being one of them, he would not need to grovel at his feet. After all, he was a highly-skilled swordmaster and would be of higher status than an ordinary mage.
Saleen only shook his head. He had no intention of helping, but he did not want to hurt the knights either. The commander had made it clear that it was a bandit gang who wanted to kill them, and he did not want to get involved.
This wilderness shop was not very far from a small town. It would take about an hour to reach there by horse. The town belonged to a baron, who was a prominent figure. He had about ten cavalrymen and more than thirty swordmasters at his disposal. They helped maintain the law and order in that area. If the support troops were counted, the town had an army that was two or three hundred strong.
With so many reinforcements within reach of the wilderness shop, the bandit gang would not dare start a fight here. If they were unable to break into the courtyard, they would leave the knights alone.