Badge in Azure Chapter 356

Chapter 356: Starting to Take Shape (Part 2)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Master, it is dinnertime now.” No one knew when Nailisi had entered the room.
“Mm, have the people been captured?” Saleen turned around, looking at Nailisi.
“Jola has detained them in the southern side.” Nailisi spoke extremely softly, only Saleen could hear her. Even Aini could not hear Nailisi clearly.
Before Saleen had come to the town hall, Jola had personally led some men to capture the scouts who were discovered to the west of the city. Indeed, Jola’s capabilities were assuring. In less than a few hours, he had already captured all of the scouts.
“You are not needed here anymore. Go and find out where are they from,” Saleen commanded Nailisi. Aini was not sure about Nailisi’s interrogation methods. He only knew that she had made a silver grand swordmaster confess in the past.
Nailisi left reluctantly since she wanted to know what Saleen and Irene were conversing about. She was not that interested in interrogating prisoners. In the past, she had only been interested because her body needed to grow, and the flesh of those experts was beneficial to her progress. Now that her requirements for evolution were much higher, these tiny prisoners would not be of much help.
Saleen was a mage. He could not possibly stay here and be the owner of the city. To Saleen, the top priority was magic training. The town hall would be the place for the owner of the city to settle official business. As for the candidate who would succeed this position, Saleen would have to discuss it with Lex before coming to a decision.
No matter who became the owner of the city, the real owner would still be Saleen. After all, the intention of the city’s design was to attract the mages from Sregl Island into stationing themselves here. Lex could not possibly deploy one person to manage the city, as she just wanted a safe and secure interdimensional teleportation portal. Only if the city belonged to Saleen would both parties never enter a conflict. In the future, once the Bitter Water County had enough sorcerers, Saleen would have the power to build his own teleportation portal.
Seeing that Saleen looked so calm, Irene’s heart fluttered. If only I could marry this mage. It would be nice to do him a favor… As Irene became lost in her own thoughts, an infatuated smile appeared on her face.
Aini noticed this and was laughing in his heart. However, he did not point it out because his bond with Saleen was already too strong, so his ideas would be different from those of other people. If Saleen could marry a daughter from the Williams family, Aini would face a lot less competition. Once a woman married a man, her clan would naturally not be her top priority anymore. Aini had even thought of becoming independent of his family. Otherwise, he would not have invested all of his savings in Saleen.
“Irene, please follow me.” Saleen did not notice any difference in Irene’s behavior. It was not because his reactions were slow, but because he had never encountered such a thing before.
Irene followed Saleen and Aini to the dining hall on the second story. This dining hall was catered solely to the workers of the town hall. However, as the structure of the city had not yet been constructed, there were no officials at the moment, so the only people eating here were the swordsmen from Sregl Island.
The town hall took up a large space and was rectangular in shape. The dining hall was located to the south of the town hall. There was a row of more than twenty windows, all fitted with cheap glass. However, these pieces of glass were not colored. They were purely transparent, looking like scrapped crystals.
By this time, the sky had become dark. Saleen’s subordinates had all come to consume their meals, causing the dining hall to be completely filled. The moment Saleen entered, all noise in the dining hall ceased. The swordsmen and mages from Sregl Island stood up and bowed to Saleen. Aini’s men had their own lodgings, so they would not come to the dining hall.
Saleen nodded, then allowed everyone to sit down. In his heart, he was not used to such practices yet, but it would not be good for him to refuse them either.
As they walked to the eastern side of the dining hall, there was a single room which was blocked by a screen. Irene noticed that this screen was commonly used by the Cloudflow people. The screen was not new, and it had not been built locally. It seemed like Saleen was not lacking any material comforts. Otherwise, he would not have spent so much effort transporting these lifestyle appliances over tens of thousands of miles.
The chefs in the dining hall were from Sregl Island. Originally, they were the chefs onboard the ships, but since the port was frozen, these people had come onshore. Only some of them had stayed behind on the faraway island to look after the warships.
“Irene, the food here is not that good, I hope you don’t mind.” At the moment, Saleen spoke very diplomatically, completely unlike that forceful stance he had taken when he had first captured Irene. Saleen knew that Irene was planning to work with him since she had returned in such a hurry.
The mute enchantment on the screen was activated, isolating the room from all the noise coming from the dining hall. Immediately, the single room became sealed, and the people outside would not be able to hear their conversation.
“Master Saleen.”
Saleen smiled and waved his hand, causing Irene turn her head around. Then, she said, “Saleen, Aini…”
“Aini is my best friend. Irene, I would like to ask you, does the Williams family still possess another ship like yours?”
Irene was stunned. After staying silent for a moment, she said, “No.” Her ship had been a gift from her mother and had come from the Cloudflow Empire. The Williams family was not an expert in ocean trade, and her ship was their only vessel which could travel long distances across the ocean. If this ship sunk, her family’s status would immediately decrease drastically. Saleen’s words had hit a nerve in Irene’s heart. Other than that route, she did not have any other bargaining chips.
“I thought so too. Even if they were to produce another ship at Lianyun’s port, they will have to wait another two to three years for it to be finished.” Saleen was very knowledgeable in the concept of building vessels. An average small boat could be produced in a few months, while those expeditionary ships, which were almost two hundred meters in length, could be produced in about two to three years if the building process was quick. Of course, if the building process employed magic refinement, the speed of production would be greatly boosted. However, the cost of production would be hundreds of times more, and no one would be able to afford it.
Irene looked dejected. She had borrowed money from others and taken a huge sum of capital from her mother in hopes of acquiring another ship from Saleen so that she could go out to sea by next spring and recoup her losses. Otherwise, the family would never support her risky endeavors again.
However, judging by Saleen’s intentions, it seemed like he wanted Aini to come onboard the plan as well. When had the Williams family agreed to cooperate with the Clyde family?
“Irene,” Aini called out. Aini did not look as unfeeling as he usually did, as he was smiling at Irene.
“What?!” Irene immediately sulked. She had not forgotten the event from when she was younger, when Aini had almost broken all of her teeth.
“Saleen’s intentions are very simple. You don’t have to use the power of your family, you can execute this matter on your own. That route was not developed by your family, right?”
Irene was astonished. She had thought of Aini’s suggestion before, but it would have a low probability of success. Without her family’s backing, she would easily have been devoured by other powers. Indeed, she was the one who had discovered the route and wielded all the power, but her family had provided the swordsmen and capital in order for her to take that risk.
“You want me to betray the family!” When Irene thought of that, her eyebrows shot up into arches. Since she wore a cutlass on her, she immediately pressed her palm against the hilt of the cutlass. Indeed, the Qin people were loyal and sincere. Even though Irene was in the face of two grade-5 mages, she could not tolerate such provocation.
Aini simply shrugged his shoulders, then said, “What are you talking about? You are going to be married sooner or later. Do you think that marrying someone is considered betraying your family?”
Irene blushed once again. Then, Saleen said, “The three of us shall cooperate. You will provide the route, thus taking two shares. Right now, Aini is providing the manpower, so he will also take two shares. I will provide the ships and the warships for protection, and I will take six shares. Don’t refuse it, I still have to give half of these six shares away. This city doesn’t belong to just me.”
Aini decided to strike while the iron was hot and said, “Irene, you better consider this proposal carefully. By next spring, people from the Bitter Water County will swarm into this city. By then, it will be hard for you to even get two shares. I am just like you. If you want to provide manpower and money, you have to do it now. If you are slow, Saleen has other investors waiting for him.”
Irene furrowed her eyebrows as she did some mental calculations. If I can get tweny percent, it will be more than what I can get from the family. But, she still asked, “Saleen, if you will get the manpower in the springtime, why are you still as calculating as this?”
“This city might not be mine alone, but this business can be mine alone. I can deploy three warships…” When Saleen spoke of this, he could not help but feel annoyed. Lex had taken one warship and had promised to have the warship return first. However, the warship had not even come back. If Lex had met with trouble, the Qin Empire would have broken out into chaos long ago. It was unknown what kind of trouble Lex had faced which gave her no choice but to bring along the mages and swordsmen from Sregl Island.
“Three warships!” Irene was really astounded. She thought that Saleen only owned those large commercial ships which could be altered into exploration ships. She had not expected Saleen to have warships. A warship’s defense greatly exceeded that of an exploration ship. Even if a warship traveled in the northern seas, it would be able to break the normal layers of ice as long as it did not collide with an iceberg.
“That’s right, but I lack manpower. Of the three warships, one has to stay behind to protect the port. However, I only have a warship’s worth of manpower. The people who Aini brought are his personal soldiers, and they aren’t related to the Clyde family. If you agree to this proposal, then this business will belong to the three of us.”
“Are there any special conditions?” Irene could not believe such a good deal existed.
“You have seen my city, it is newly built. In the next five years, you two will split the capital and manpower required for each expedition. After five years, the three of us will split the burden equally.”
Seeing that Irene was hesitant, Aini said, “You only need to provide the route for the first year.”
Saleen nodded, then said, “And after three years, I will have more ships, so the business can be expanded.”
Irene then began thinking to herself. It may seem overbearing that Saleen wants a sixty percent share, but Saleen is the one providing the warships, which is something that I can never accomplish. After five years, the three of us will split the capital equally, so I won’t be on the losing end. However, since I am working on this alone without the family, the family will definitely be outraged, right?
“Irene, regarding the Williams family, I can promise you that you will get the same cut of the city’s trade as Aini. As for the other two families, I will give them some special attention.”
Upon hearing Saleen’s promise, Irene obtained some peace of mind. If she could get a huge share of the city’s trade, the family would be plenty satisfied.
“Okay, we shall…”
“The three of us shall sign a contract. You can look for a grand mage to ascertain the fairness of the contract. Once the contract is established, the three of us will be considered partners. If you really want to be independent in the future, the two of us will definitely lend a helping hand,” Saleen continued tempting Irene. If Irene had been male, Saleen would not have said that. However, Irene was female. And just like what Aini said, she would have to marry someone sooner or later. By then, she would not belong to the Williams family anymore. At least regarding her personal interests, Irene would have to plan for herself.