Badge in Azure Chapter 324

Chapter 324: Returning to the Chaotic Marshes (Part 2)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Aini had not thought of that as he looked at Saleen, Saleen nodded and said, “Three years then, but I will write the contract.”
Judikaka was a little wary about Aini. He could not see through him and could not even find out where Aini kept his death flames. On the other hand, he was familiar with Saleen and he knew Saleen’s magic powers more clearly. If Saleen were to write the contract, he would feel safer than if Aini were to write it.
No matter how high the three kings grade were, so long as they had not surpassed grade-10, they could still be restrained by a contract of this world.
Saleen took out a high-grade empty scroll carefully and started writing on it. He had just grasped the water flame skill and was very familiar with the drawing of magic arrays and processing of magic patterns. The magic arrays on the contract were no longer something that bothered him. The three kings talked softly, discussing how to go on their way. Saleen wanted to bring with him one-hundred pirates. If they were in the death dimension, they could fly with all of them. In the Myers Mainland, their powers were limited to slightly below grade-9 and it was a little troublesome to bring that many people along while flying.
The two of them and the three spirits signed the most “fair” contract ever signed in history in the giant room. On the contract, there was almost no way which the other party could use their powers against the other.
Three years was fairly short for the spirits. The three kings could live incredibly long lives and this small amount of time was almost as if a human had taken a nap to them.
Saleen and Aini had nothing to complain about either. Even if the contract trap did not take effect, they had nothing to lose. The ruins from the Second Dynasty might have been taken over by the Holy See. Even though they had said that they would destroy anything that insulted the gods, in actual fact, they were incredibly envious of these ancient treasures. Developing these treasures and making them part of the Holy See’s powers was what they wanted to do.
If the ruins from the Second Dynasty had not been destroyed, there would be something inside too. The Holy See would send people to defend the area and squeeze dry everything of value within. Saleen might be in luck this time.
The pirates were gathered together, they had no idea that their fates had already been decided by Saleen. In the city base these pirates that did not know their place were about to suffocate. Now that they could go out and Saleen even allowed them to snatch any loot when they reached their destination, this was even better than the heavens that the Holy See had described to them.
These pirates had always been in the sea towards the south and they had no idea what the Chaotic Marshes entailed. Saleen gave these pirates new armors and weapons. Daniel, with the help of the three kings, summoned one-hundred and twenty winged skeleton war horses.
These winged skeleton war horses did not need Daniel to control them. They were entirely formed from the three kings. The remaining pirates stayed behind in the city base under the command of Jupiter. They knew vaguely what Saleen was about to do but not a single one of them warned their old partners.
There were no true friendships between pirates. Many people became a pirate for the first time because they were forced by them. They had their own lives; businessmen, mercenaries, farmers, or laborers. These people who longed for their old lives did not want to be pirates any longer. Working for Saleen was as good as working for Lex. With a legal identity, they no longer had to worry about being arrested. In the future when they formed a family, with kids, they would be able to get a share of a land. They could use the land to grow crops or even get a house in the city.
Saleen needed soldiers, the pirates that longed for an adventure could be the soldiers. The only problem was that they were not loyal enough. In the Qin Empire, loyal swordsmen could be found everywhere. He did not need to continue racking his brains on how to deal with these pirates.
The one-hundred pirates were equipped, they received metal crossbows, knives, shields, and the winged skeleton war horses.
The most majestic of all were the winged skeleton war horses. When the Qin Empire was being built, there had been many death mages that followed the Grukos family. The Qin Empire back then had a cavalry that rode these death creatures that would never tire out. These war horse’s bodies were not bones, instead they were a horse body that was covered with a metal armor. Their head and limbs were white bones, within the eye socket of their skull there were two balls of soul flames that floated.
A war horse like this could run a thousand miles a day, so long as the rider did not tire out. They did not need flat land to run on either. Even without any roads, they could still maintain their fast speeds.
Aini did not bring anyone of his along, nor did Saleen. Aini’s two grade-3 mages remained in the city base. Saleen had also left behind Nailisi and the winged skeleton.
Daniel had no idea about Aini and Saleen’s plan. Seeing that Saleen did not bring anyone close to him along, he knew something was up. He tried to keep it to himself. In any case, Saleen had brought him along and would tell him the truth sooner or later. As for the three kings, he had had enough. On the surface, they seemed to be creatures that he had summoned but in actual fact, he had already become a servant to them.
Saleen would still give him respect in front of others. He also knew what to expect by following Saleen. However, the three kings did not even place him in their eyes, commanding him around seemed normal to them.
The pirates were done gathering when it suddenly started snowing. The three kings hid inside Daniel’s death flames. Saleen saw neat rows of pirates and he waved at them. Not saying a word, the team set off silently.
The war horses ran as quickly as they could in the knee-deep snow, even Saleen and Aini rode a horse each themselves. In this season in the north, there were no roads to be seen.
The capes of the pirates had all been processed and they did not have much defensive abilities but they could protect them from the cold. Every pirate had a flask of wine too. They were still unable to get used to being restricted and as they got the horses to gallop, the group got a little messy.
Saleen saw this and knew he was too naïve in the past. These pirates could not compare to Lex’s swordsmen indeed. Even if he were to train them for another ten years, it would still be the same. A loyal swordsman, on the other hand, did not need ten years of training to be a good sailor.
The group travelled across the barren snow land for over ten hours before Saleen commanded them to take a break. The winged skeleton war horses were not the fastest war horses, but if it were any other horses they could not have traveled at such speeds for over ten hours. Saleen estimated that they must have traveled around six-hundred miles within ten hours.
The magic wolves in the snow saw one-hundred death creatures speeding across the land. Even though they moved around in packs, they still stayed far away. Saleen did not meet with any dangers along the way.
It was over two-thousand miles from Saleen’s city base to Phoenix. With these winged skeleton war horses, they should be able to reach it within four days. It was another thousand more miles from the north to the west border of Phoenix. With this, it would take around a week for them to return to Deep Forest Town where Aini had been at the start.
Setting up camp, Saleen and Aini stayed in the same tent. With the three kings around, Saleen only arranged for ten pirates for sentry duties, setting up a sentry post for show near the campsite.
It was stated clearly within the contract that within three years, so long as Saleen and Aini were within the senses of the three kings, the three kings had to be responsible for their safety.
Saleen and Aini laid down in their tent. Naturally, they started talking about what happened since they split.
Aini went through even more unimaginable things than what Saleen had expected. After receiving help from Saleen, he no longer worried about money. The gold coins he had were enough to buy decent death flames.
After the plan to kill Baron Cook failed, Aini went into hiding for a while. After hearing that Cook had passed away mysteriously, he did not return to Holy Rock City. Instead he went to a city that his family controlled in the North. He had planned this for a long time and had long contacted the person who wanted to sell the death flames. However, when he reached the city, the man who wanted to sell the death flames had died.
Aini used some of the power from his family to find any leads left behind by the dead businessman and he realized he had been murdered. The one who had gotten rid of the businessman was a hidden bandit gang. It did not seem as if they were after his death flames, but rather, a batch of goods that were only worth thousands of gold coins.
This caused a commotion in the city and the wealthy from that city had assembled a large number of swordsmen. A grand mage was even sent to investigate and to completely eradicate the bandit gang.
The children of the businessman were not of age yet and the wealthy were in charge of managing his finances. They would only return it when his children had grown up. Any profits before then went to the wealthy, this included the death flames. The wealthy got a hold of the death flames and knew they were precious. They were not willing to sell them to Aini. Aini’s family power in this city was limited and he could not do anything to the wealthy and could only blame his luck.
In Phoenix, Aini was also pushed to the brink of death before he poisoned the mercenary, Nut. In the Qin Empire, he did not dare murder any wealthy. At least not because they were unwilling to sell the death flames to him.
The wealthy were asking too much too, they had only doubled the asking price. The business man had lowered the price considerably to get into the good books of the Clyde family, however, the wealthy had much influence in that region and did not need to give the Clyde family any face. Aini had no choice but to give up on those death flames. He used the news his family got while doing business to search all around before receiving news of a seller in the south.
It was an underground auction and the things being sold there were all illegal. Aini brought the money to the south and at the auction, he met with another situation. The death flames, which were of a very low grade, had another buyer competing for them. He had less gold coins than the other buyer and he could only watch as the other man bought the death flames.
There were getting to be fewer death flames on the Myers Mainland and Aini had almost lost all hope. Just as he was about to leave, he heard news that the man who had bought the death flames had died. The man was incredibly unlucky, the death flames had retaliated and he was eaten alive by them.
The ball of death flames immediately became trash, who would want something like that? Aini managed to buy the death flames for only one-hundred gold coins.
“You dared to do something so dangerous?” Upon hearing that Aini had absorbed death flames that had caused the death of another individual Saleen was worried, even though Aini was standing perfectly alright in front of him.