Badge in Azure Chapter 164

Chapter 164: Pompeii City (Part 1)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The farthest distance between the northern and southern borders of the empire was nearly seven thousand miles. Converted to Tanggulasi measurements, and a person would end up with a grand total of over thirteen thousand miles. The canal that the group was on, which did not flow out from Phoenix, was nearly five thousand miles long.
The ship that Saleen had hired was not exactly the fastest one available—it only went about twenty miles per hour. However, it could cover a distance of nearly five hundred miles each day. That was, if it was operated nonstop day and night. Other better boats could travel nearly one thousand miles a day, even if all they had were sails.
To go from Ivantel to Pompeii, one would need to cover a distance of five thousand miles. Thankfully, the captain of the ship had sped up in the last few days. Otherwise, it would have taken more than ten days for the gang to arrive at Pompeii.
During these ten days, Saleen had a whale of a time. Both he and Lex had somewhat honed their skills in dispersing each other’s magic spells on the last day. The techniques that they used might not have had any noticable effects on others, but because of their chemistry, the effects that the duo could see with each other were exponentially higher.
Not only was Pompeii City known for its size, but it was also known for its existing harbors, ports, and other maritime trade facilities. Pompeii was located at the intersection of the canal and the Emerald River. Both streams converged here to form an even wider river which flowed eastward into the sea.
Pompeii’s geographical location was very important as it facilitated the development of many industries, particularly maritime ones. The ship that Saleen had hired was to pass through the checkpoint in Pompeii before it could continue on its journey. Just as well, they needed a place to replenish their water supply and vegetables anyway.
The captain, who had come in to find Saleen, spoke once Saleen was in his line of sight. “Young master mage, the Forlan Duncan needs an overhaul before it can be examined. This ship was originally registered at Pompeii, so it may take around a day to complete everything. Would you like to spend the day in the city?”
Saleen opened his mouth to reject the captain’s offer, but was interrupted by Lex. “Sure! I’ve gotten pretty sick of this ship after spending ten days on it. Any longer and I’d die of boredom. Come on, Saleen. Let’s go see what Pompeii City is all about.”
Since Lex wanted to explore, Saleen decided that there was no harm in following her. On the other hand, Sika did not want to leave the ship. She had spent the past ten days studying the bone necklace and had no desire of interrupting her progress. No matter how much Saleen tried to assure himself that Nailisi would be fine on the ship by herself, he ultimately brought Nailisi with her, leaving Sika all by herself. With that, the trio exited the ship and made their way across the dock.
Pompeii’s piers were bigger than those of Ivantel. The empire’s biggest ports were located to the east of Pompeii. To the west of Pompeii lay the southern border of the empire. Not just that, but the canal linked the northern and southern parts of the empire together. With these geographical advantages, it was not surprising that Pompeii was a bustling city filled with activity.
Unlike Ivantel, Pompeii was an ancient city. It even had a history far longer than that of the Qin Empire. However, the Pompeii that people saw today was actually not the original one, for it had needed to be rebuilt from scratch after a series of historical events.
Lex enthusiastically explained the history of Pompeii to Saleen. Apparently, this ancient city had originally belonged to a duke of the Fourth Dynasty. After the black mages brought chaos upon Pompeii, there was no longer any control over the local noblemen. Hence, the leaders of Pompeii became tyrants. Before the Qin country was founded, Pompeii was one of the few cities in the south that had not immediately been defeated in the war against the black mages.
Countless soldiers died in Pompeii during the war. The founding emperor, in a fit of rage, sent eight Grade 9 sorcerers to different parts of Pompeii City to cast eight forbidden spells using magic scrolls. The ancient city that held thousands of years of history was destroyed in the blink of an eye. The present Pompeii only existed thanks to the succeeding emperor who rebuilt the city from scratch based on the blueprints inscribed on seized alchemy drawings.
During the year when the city was being rebuilt, millions of bones were excavated from the ashes that covered the land. One could only imagine how populous and bustling the city of Pompeii must have been before the descent of the black mages.
After Saleen listened to Lex describe the city’s history, he was left in awe. Pompeii looked so magnificent now that it had been restored to its glorious state. Even if Pompeii had been rebuilt using the most inferior materials in the world, Saleen reckoned that the grandeur of the city could still rival that of Holy Rock City. The most notable feature of Pompeii was the main entrance which flanked both sides of the city. Painted on the white city walls were magical images drawn on by mages. They looked absolutely lifelike and beautiful.
These were actual depictions of the war. The scrolls pasted on the city walls described the time when the Qin armed forces attacked Pompeii in great detail. The huge pictures on the white stone walls that complemented the scrolls had all been painted using dragon’s blood ink. Although they were black-and-white paintings, Saleen could visualize the carnage of the scene depicted on the walls, almost as well as if he had been there himself.
In the drawing, the Qin soldiers, clad in double-plated gold armor, were seen standing on top of chariots that were tens of meters tall. Some of them were seen leaping towards the walls of Pompeii. The creatures pulling the chariots were gigantic magic beasts. The Qin soldiers were fighting their enemies who had emerged from Pompeii’s borders. Flying puppets had also emerged from Pompeii’s walls, and were seen charging towards the chariots while braving the thick smoke.
In the background, some Qin troops were assembling magic cannons. Within the city of Pompeii, trebuchets were seen launching boulders towards the mage apprentices who were scrambling to piece the cannons together. Huge chariots were destroyed in seconds after being struck by the boulders. War horses and magic beasts were rolling on the ground in pain after being struck by them as well. One soldier even had to end his war horse’s life with a dagger in order to put it out of its suffering.
The mage apprentices, focused on their mission, turned a blind eye towards the huge boulders that were being fired at them from the inside of the city.
The picture was stagnant. However, it was so incredibly lifelike and detailed in every way that for a moment, Saleen was convinced that he had been a part of it. Although the mages from the Qin Empire had faithfully recorded the details of the battle, Saleen only saw bloodshed. To him, there had been just no justification for war.
A barbican flanked both sides of the city gates. A gold-plated bridge had been built above it. The bridge was riddled with arrowslits which allowed archers to attack their enemies from above. The barbican was huge, and a stone slab had been erected smack in the middle of it. Many names were engraved on the white stone slab which towered over the city walls.
“These were the Qin soldiers that died in Pompeii. If you look at the back of the stone slab, you’ll see the names of the soldiers from Pompeii that died in battle. Through this war, the Qin Empire was founded,” Lex raved, her tone laced with awe and respect as she stood before the stone slab. She not only respected her ancestors who had founded the Qin Empire, but also the late duke of Pompeii.
“I wonder how the noblemen from the Loulan Duchy would feel after seeing this stone slab. Heh…” Lex muttered to herself, her tone suddenly becoming calm and cold. She was slowly beginning to exude the aura of a true Qin empress.
“I don’t know about Loulan Duchy, but I do know for a fact that the people from Sikenqinya would definitely not react the same way,” Saleen spoke up. This startled Lex, who had been caught up in a flurry of her own emotions.
“Oh?” Lex questioned. What would they do then? Deny history? Lex thought.
“Those clowns would build a city around these monuments and charge at least one silver coin for anyone who wished to see them,” Saleen replied.
“Hahahaha!” Lex laughed loudly before saying, “I never knew you were so good at making jokes.” Saleen’s joke had been pretty dry, but it had done a good job of lifting her spirits.
“I didn’t know you could laugh like that either,” Saleen said as he looked around. Lex’s laugh had attracted the attention of many people. The fact that Nailisi and Lex were both overwhelmingly gorgeous did not help either. Lex ignored the stares of the onlookers and continued laughing. Saleen, on the other hand, did not appreciate the attention, especially when there were so many people giving it to him. Saleen tugged at Lex’s sleeve, trying to get her to practice some social etiquette.
The Qin soldiers that were guarding the monument, upon seeing the mage robe that Saleen was wearing, did not dare approach Lex and tell her off for behaving so inconsiderately.
“Let’s enter the city. There are many brands in Pompeii that are from the Cloudflow Empire. Many people from Sikenqinya also do business here. Perhaps we can find the things we need,” Lex quipped.
“I think we should buy some proper clothes first. We do stand out in these outfits,” Saleen said, looking at Lex.
Saleen had felt that something was very wrong with the way that they were dressed ages ago. He was a Grade 4 mage, and yet, he was donned in a white mage robe. Lex, on the other hand, was dressed in a flamboyant rainbow-colored mage robe that was sure to attract the attention of onlookers. Nailisi, who was right behind him, was dressed in winter clothing even though they were now in the hottest part of summer. Perhaps Sika not coming off of the ship had been a blessing after all. Her outfit was fairly shocking as well. Wherever the four of them went, they simply could not seem to blend in.
“Oh please. In Alchemy City, these outfits are the norm. There are even mages that wear fur clothing, just like the people of Caucasus,” Lex scoffed.
Seeing the grumpy look on Saleen’s face, Lex laughed, “Okay okay. Maybe we can get Sika the prettiest outfit that Pompeii has to offer. As for you, I can give you a magic robe. It’s a robe that my mentor cast three permanent spells on. You can wear them until you’ve reached Grade 6.”
Lex was so used to being generous that she did not realize that the robe she was talking about was the one that she had been wearing for years now. Giving it to Saleen did not seem like a fantastic gift choice.
It was probably a good thing that Saleen tended to forget about Lex’s status and beauty after hearing anything related to magic. Otherwise, he likely would have rejected the gift out of respect. If Saleen’s memory did not fail him, the grey magic robe which Lex was talking about was a fairly useful piece of equipment. Furthermore, he could really use those three permanent spells that the Grade 8 sorcerer had cast on the robe.
“Why don’t we find a place so I can put it on?” Saleen replied, not caring to include any formalities or words of gratitude. They possessed secrets between them that were overwhelmingly valuable. The gift of a magic robe was not really considered a bribe at this point.
“What’s with the rush? If you put on the grey robe, would you still be so thick-skinned as to bargain with the sellers there?” Lex asked, leading Saleen towards the heart of Pompeii City.
Although both Pompeii City and Holy Rock City were densely populated, the demographics of both cities were different. There were far too many foreign businessmen in Pompeii. There were people from the Cloudflow Empire who had travelled here by both sea and land. There were also Sikeqinya people that came here via the northern canal. What was absolutely baffling for Saleen was the fact that there were even people from Tanggulasi who were roaming the streets of the city.
The two countries were at war. By staying in the Qin country, these businessmen must have thought that they had nine lives or something. They were blatantly risking their lives for money. Did they not know that the Qin Emperor had died at the hands of the Holy See?
“Lex, you seem to be able to navigate your way around here. Have you been here before?” Saleen asked as he trailed behind Lex. They left the main road and walked through several alleys before arriving at a very old building. The shopfronts here were not big. However, each one had massive crystal windows. These crystal windows meant that the shops only sold specialty items. Not only did these shops sell expensive items, but they were also a place for large-scale trade deals. Hence, there was no need for a huge storefront to entice common folk.
This decorative culture had been inherited from the Sikeqinya Empire.
“I make an effort to mark down and remember cities that have populations exceeding ten thousand people,” Lex said proudly. She did not do all of that for her own enjoyment. She did it to maintain her status in the royal family. By knowing every last detail of every major city, she would be better able to control the noblemen of different areas. The cities in the Qin Empire had not been designed at random. For construction to proceed, there needed to be approval from the royal family along with complete alchemy blueprints and no more than thirty fixed city layouts before construction could proceed.
Although having more than twenty city layouts seemed excessive, it was actually fairly useful. By constantly changing the designs of the cities, their enemies would never know how to construct the perfect plan of attack, putting them at a clear disadvantage. To powerful mages like Lex, no matter how much Pompeii might change in the future, she would still be able to recognize the basic structures of the city.
The three of them arrived at a small public square. The ground had been built using crimson bricks. There were a few sculptures built in the middle of the public square, and surrounding those sculptures were low-rise shops. Not a single one of them had more than two floors each. In a place like Pompeii where land was valued just as much if not more than gold, these types of buildings were very expensive.
“So, which one?” Lex asked as she looked around. There were more than forty stores to choose from. Being able to open a shop here showed that these businesses possessed a certain level of status and capability.
“Let’s pick that one,” Saleen said, pointing at the slightly larger store. This store in particular was bigger than three of the standard shops combined. However, it only had one floor. The doors and windows of this shop were much bigger than the others and were screaming nouveau riche. However, Saleen knew that there were no nouveau riche here, just very intelligent businessmen.