Badge in Azure Chapter 218

Chapter 218: Shengfeng Country (Part 1)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Facing such a powerful weapon, Saleen did not dare expose himself immediately. Lex was in the air and had nowhere to hide. The current over the surface of her body became intense and turned into a wind-type magic shield – a level-5 spell, the Windshield spell.
This was the only spell that mages could use safely while flying. The currents revolved furiously around Lex’s body, her robes billowing in the air.
“Who is it?” Lex knew that Nailisi had killed someone but her words remained firm. If she moved about furtively at this point, even if she had not done anything wrong, people would grow suspicious.
Her voice resounded over the sea and left the people on the boat in shock. They had not expected to meet a grand mage in these areas.
“Your Excellency, can you come down for a word?” A thick-accented voice sounded as Lex looked down upon the other party and saw a big burly fellow in a black metal helmet walking over to the front deck.
Lex was like a giant bird, diving straight towards the deck. If they had not known that she was a grand mage, the people on the boat would have taken action. Lex’s body was almost the same size as a grand swordmaster’s and everyone was thinking in their hearts, This is a combat mage!
Some mages focused on combat and would only study the true secrets of magic as used in combat. These types of mages were not hard to deal with as long as people did not agitate them.
“Master, can you hear what they are saying on the boat?” Nailisi asked.
Saleen shook his head. He had not expected Lex to board the boat and was not sure of her intentions yet. Had she done that to hide the fact that Nailisi was the killer, or had it been so that she could seize the boat?
It seemed unlikely that she was about to take over the boat. The other party were not pirates, after all. However, if they followed this boat, they were not sure who these people were and Saleen never trusted a strangers who he had met by chance.
“Saleen, come out,” Lex shouted in Saleen’s direction. Saleen and Nailisi surfaced and everyone on the boat was shocked. They had been keeping watch with their alchemy binoculars for a long time, and yet they had not found these two people hiding on the turtle’s back. Even though the angle had not been optimal, the way these two people had concealed their auras was incredible, and even the captain had not realized they were there.
The boat lowered its anchor and released a smaller boat to welcome Saleen and Nailisi onboard. The small boat then went to pick up Sika and Daniel.
Lex laughed and said to Saleen, “Come here. Let me introduce you. This is Captain Fellett.”
Saleen lifted his head. Captain Fellett was almost a full head taller than him and was dressed in black metal armor, minus the helmet. This man was roughly in his thirties and appeared intelligent, with a short moustache. His skin seemed paler under the glow of the magic lamps, but it was still a healthy color.
“This is Mage Saleen, my friend. This is…Saleen’s maidservant.” Lex glared at Nailisi. She had almost caused them a huge amount of trouble. There were at least thirty to fifty swordmasters on this boat, and Fellett must have certainly been a grand swordmaster. Looking at the alchemy engine on the boat, there must have been at least two other mages on the boat as well.
Luckily, Nailisi’s hands and legs were clean and had not left any evidence. The other party had not been able to observe what was going on underwater, and it had only taken a single swipe from the Dragon’s Tooth Dagger to kill four people. If it had happened on land, Nailisi might not have been able to conceal herself. She had returned to her original state in the water and was even more nimble in water than a fish.
“Mage Saleen is very fortunate, haha. Come, let’s talk in the cabin. Prepare something for the mages to eat, you bastards. What are you all standing around for? Secure the pan’s turtle. If it sinks, when we are returning, I will take your heads!”
“Yes captain!”
The sailors quickly dispersed and only two people were left beside Fellett. Only now did they appear different from the rest. Saleen realized that the two of them were younger than Fellett and slightly stronger. Fellett was most likely a zun grand swordmaster while the two expressionless fellows must have been black grand swordmasters.
Fellett had boldly claimed the pan’s turtle as his own, which left a bitter taste in Saleen’s mouth even though he could not say anything. The creature might have been killed by Nailisi, but without her, they would not have been saved either. Nailisi had secretly taken down a few of their men as well, and Saleen did not have the courage to argue at that point in time.
Sika and Daniel were brought up onto the boat, and Fellett was incredibly understanding. He made arrangements for Daniel, who was still unconscious, and set up their rooms before hosting a banquet for Lex in the cabin.
They looked over at the sailors who were releasing a large number of bags into the sea. These bags were each linked to a metal chain and were strung over the pan’s turtle’s neck and limbs, filled with air to prevent the body from sinking. The sailors clipped the metal chains to the back of the boat and departed with the body of the turtle behind them.
“Captain Fellett, where are you from?” Saleen asked exhaustingly. He had not been so shameless as to assume that the turtle was his, but he was not happy either. Fellett must have accidentally spotted the turtle and followed it for more than half a month before getting a chance tonight.
“Shengfeng country.” Fellett’s reply left a chill in Saleen’s heart. Legend had it that there were hundreds of islands on the Myers Mainland and they were only there because humans had lost a great deal of their power and could no longer control the islands out at sea. However, records of Shengfeng country had still appeared in the recent centuries.
Out of the hundreds of countries out at sea, Shengfeng is the best. Saleen remembered a note saying this in some records.
The “best” in that line referred to the bloody state that it was in now, and the islands far out to sea had never been unified.
“You know Shengfeng country?” Fellett saw past Saleen’s reaction. It was one that could not be concealed.
“Only from books.” Saleen thought back to what the notes had described. The people in Shengfeng seemed to be brutal. For a mage to use brutal to describe someone, it was enough to show what kind of country Shengfeng was. At that thought, Saleen displayed a gentle smile, almost as though Fellett were his long lost relative.
“Come, drink some alcohol!” Fellett brought over a bowl, and without waiting for Saleen’s reply, downed it.
Saleen held up a bowl. It was filled with turbid alcohol and he could not help but wonder why Fellett was drinking such inferior alcohol if he was a grand swordmaster. Could everyone in Shengfeng country be so tough that even a grand swordmaster was nothing? He released a Detection spell to check if there was anything wrong with the alcohol before raising his bowl and downing it like Fellett had.
The two young men had seen Saleen check the alcohol for poison and said angrily, “You, our captain was nice enough to offer you alcohol. Did you think we would have poisoned you?”
Saleen raised his head, his gaze clear. He put down his wine bowl before saying nonchalantly, “You two, your Qin is pretty good!”
The two young people turned a shade of red while Fellett burst into laughter. “Saleen, you are cautious, but that is a sign of a good mage. We constantly roam around the Qin Empire, and in this year alone, we have been speaking Qin half of the time. It comes out easily.”
Seeing Fellett being honest and not speaking in the Myers language, Saleen nodded and said, “No matter where I go, I will always check before consuming anything. Mages aren’t as great as swordsmen. If a swordsman realizes that there is poison in his food, he can control it with his sword aura. A mage’s body isn’t that strong. Besides, some poisons are so strong that no people are able to withstand them. That pan’s turtle died from my poison.”
“Oh? That happened? Why hadn’t anyone told me!” Fellett gave a look of shock, and Saleen became angry yet found it funny at the same time. Fellett was at least twice as old as Saleen and had a fussed up look on his face. Evidently he was not willing to hand over the pan’s turtle.
“Captain, if I wanted to buy the pan’s turtle from you, how much would it cost?” Saleen did not bother speaking nonsense. This pan’s turtle’s shell was very important to Lex. Lex had not asked because they were under his roof. After being saved by someone, what else was there to say?
This boat seemed like a normal hunting ship and had around the same number of troops as the empire’s navy. The professionals on the boat left Saleen frustrated and he could not think of any other ideas aside from buying it from him.
“Money? Do you mean gold coins? We do not lack those in Shengfeng country.” Fellett did not reject him outright but made it clear that the pan’s turtle could not be claimed away with money. That was, unless Saleen had something of a similar value to exchange for it.
Saleen took a look at Lex, who shook her head. Anything they had that could be used in an exchange for the pan’s turtle had come from suspicious places and involved many secrets.
The people from Shengfeng country stayed far away from the mainland, yet had frequent dealings in the Qin Empire. The empire was unaware of them, but they were not necessarily bad news. Now that she and Saleen had fallen into dire straits, if they were to bring out their valuables now, it was possible that they would not even be allowed to escape, much less make a deal. Even the merchants on the sea could sometimes act like pirates, much less a captain from unknown lands.
The could no longer sell the fully constructed puppets and two of them had sunk during the attack by the octopus. Another two had been sold to Alchemy City. Lex had only one fully constructed puppet that was not mutated. Saleen thought carefully. Since it is the pan’s turtle, the other party wants to build armor and has never thought about building a boat.
“Captain Fellett, what is the best armor in Shengfeng country?”
“Heavy magic armor.” Fellett looked at Saleen, his face one of confusion. Could this grade-4 mage have had something of similar value to the pan’s turtle with him? If he did, Fellett would not mind being a pirate for once.
“You have deals with the Qin Empire to purchase weapons, right? If you send us back, this pan’s turtle can be exchanged for hundreds of pieces of heavy magic armor. How about that?”
Fellett played with his short moustache. Looking at Saleen, he hesitated. The pan’s turtle’s shell was a very good magic ingredient. Creating armor was incredibly time consuming, and even with sufficient manpower, it would take more than a decade to create all those pieces of armor from this enormous thing.
It would take more than ten years. He did not have such time. The problem was, was this young mage speaking the truth? Did he really have hundreds of pieces of heavy magic armor at the port of the Qin Empire? In the Qin Empire, to possess so much armor was a crime punishable by death!
“You’re a mage. How do you have that much armor?” Fellett’s voice was especially cold. If Saleen was trying to trick him, he would not be a friendly person and would definitely teach this young mage a lesson.
He had not thought that Saleen and Lex might have had anything valuable on them now. The spatial equipment a grade-6 mage could use was not very big. As for a grade-4 mage, having a space three by five meters wide was already quite rare.