Badge in Azure Chapter 360

Chapter 360: Nailisi’s Bewitchment (Part 2)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The sun rose late in the morning in the north during the winter. When Saleen woke up, the sky was not bright yet. The shadow of the temple stretched incredibly long and several hundred spirits were hiding within the shadow. They allowed the people in the temple sleep peacefully.
Saleen stretched his body and stood in front of the window. There was not a hint of snow in the square, the giant magic array gave off a weak elemental energy on the white floor.
A graceful figure walked over from the East and stood on the platform of the temple.
"Irene? What was she doing here so early?"
Behind the pillars along the corridor of the temple, two swordsmen appeared and blocked Irene. Irene said something in a low voice, the swordsmen shook their head and did not allow her into the temple. Saleen thought hard before returning to his bed and said towards the magic array, "Let her in."
The temple had already been built to the fourth floor and Saleen was staying at the top, taking the entire floor. There were only two people on this floor, Saleen and Nailisi.
Nailisi had already crawled out of bed, she ran into Saleen's room and helped him into his clothes before asking, "Master, why are you up so early today?"
"Irene is here."
"What is she here for?" Nailisi helped Saleen with his belt as she put on a shocked expression.
Saleen muttered, "You seem to know she would be coming."
Nailisi shrugged her shoulders. No matter how she reacted, she could not stop Saleen from feeling her senses through their bond. Saleen did not care what she had done, he changed into his clothes and brought her to the second floor of the temple.
The third floor was where the mages from Sregl Island lived. Most of the mages were not up yet. Saleen did not startle anyone, only Jola realized Saleen was up and followed him to the second floor.
Saleen did not reject her. When Sika was not there, Jola could replace her. Jola was obviously skilled in her swordsmanship. Just counting strength itself, she was not as good as Sika. When it came to combat techniques, however, she was almost the same as Sika. Under normal circumstances, Jola would not be a match for Sika.
There were more rooms on the second floor, however, they were all empty. This temple was meant for the followers of Saleen, he would build a giant interdimensional teleportation array at the bottom.
"Saleen." Irene bumped into Saleen along the corridor and her face flushed slightly red. Saleen nodded and pointed towards the door, he went into the room first. This room was meant for Saleen to process his equipment. The space was huge and there was a large amount of alchemy materials. Saleen was not good at using an alchemy magic array, hence, there was not a platform meant for processing alchemy.
He sat behind a table and said, "Nailisi, bring a chair over for Irene."
Irene sat down tentatively. She had thought the whole night about what to say, but did not know how to start.
Nailisi took out an intricate cooker at the side and poured some magic powder into the tough, she burned it and steeped some tea. Looking at Nailisi's smooth actions, Irene calmed down. This was the first time she was attracted to a man, she could not just retreat like this. At this thought, Irene started saying, "Saleen, I have heard that you need a large number of magic nuclei?"
"Yes, did Nailisi tell you that?"
"Yes, I heard that you can go out to sea in this season too. It is December now, if we go to the Oceanic Ice Block now, we can make it back by March." Irene looked into Saleen's blue eyes, they had become peaceful suddenly.
"It's because of this, you do not lack money now, do you?" Saleen asked laughingly.
"Why do I not? If I follow your plan with Aini, I will not get any financial support from my family any longer." Irene only then remembered that even if Saleen did not need magic nuclei, she was in dire need of money. If she sold the sea route to the Oceanic Ice Block, her family would no longer support her adventures.
"Yes, Jola, call Aini over." Saleen did not say anything else as he commanded Jola.
Irene did not expect Saleen to promise it directly without asking any questions. She thought that she would need to spend a lot of effort to convince Saleen to go out to sea.
As the people in the temple started to wake up, Nailisi walked towards the door and commanded someone in a low voice to bring breakfast there directly. Saleen poured some tea for Irene and said, "I still have two sea routes that I can use now, but they all point to the South. I can't go to the Oceanic Ice Block. If we go this time, I will provide one special ship. You are not to bring anyone from your side, is that okay?"
Irene hesitated before nodding her head. Saleen said, "It is the same for Aini, we will sign the contract in a short while and we will talk about this. Besides my men, the two of you can only bring yourselves. When summer is here, I will organise another team to go on another adventure. By then we won't need to do things like this."
Saleen made things clear first. He needed to keep the Pan's Turtle alchemical boat a secret for now, even though people would find out about it sooner or later. If a war was to break out at sea in the future, he would have an advantage if his enemies did not know that he had such a ship. If the Pan's Turtle alchemical boat wanted to attack an enemy, he would be within range of a sorcerer's attack. He had to be cautious.
He intended to go take a look at the Oceanic Ice Block too. With the Pan's Turtle alchemical boat, he was not afraid of the ice mountains. Even if it knocked against the ice mountains it would not be destroyed, so long as it was not speeding. The magic compass from Irene's ship was already installed on the ship. Saleen was long prepared and was waiting to go out to sea.
He needed a large number of magic nuclei to build the city, almost every building required a magic array and this was unimaginable in the past. Now with the three kings doing the hard work, Saleen wanted to raise the defences of the city immediately.
Under normal circumstances, his city would only need two barracks. This city was alone by itself and if a war were to break out, Saleen would have no aid. He had no choice but to expand his army and to equip the city until it was at its best.
Before the mages from Sregl Island arrived, Saleen could only count on himself. The magic cannon that was torn down from the Second Dynasty combat vessel required a large number of magic nuclei. If he did not go to the Oceanic Ice Block, he would need to go to Alchemy City to get enough magic nuclei. Saleen did not want to go there now, it gave him a sense of danger.
Aini quickly rushed over, the door towards the alchemy laboratory was quickly shut and there were only five people in the room; Saleen, Jola, Nailisi, Aini, and Irene. Saleen took out the contracts that he had prepared and placed them on the table, one for each of them.
Irene looked at the contract that Saleen had prepared and suddenly became dejected. It seemed like even if she had not mentioned it, Saleen would have discussed the trip to the Oceanic Ice Block with her on his own.
Aini looked at the words on the contract carefully, it had not been touched on but it was clearly stated that the trip this time was meant to be a secret.
There were not many people that knew of the Pan's Turtle alchemical boat. Among the mages from Sregl Island, only Truman knew. Daniel knew and Lex knew as well. The three kings knew too but they had already become summoned creatures that were under their control.
"Now, do you all agree to it?"
Jola did not say anything, she took up the magic pen and wrote her name on it. The contract combusted into a green smoke.
Aini laughed as he imprinted his focus onto it, his contract was burned cleanly too.
Irene read the contract patiently. On the contract given to her, there was a part on how the profits were to be split after the expedition. She and Aini would get twenty percent, Saleen would get thirty percent while the remaining thirty percent would be stored in the city's warehouse.
Saleen imprinted his focus onto the contract too. Upon seeing Saleen signing the contract, Irene had no choice but to write her name down. Nailisi had no contract but after Irene signed it, a magic array among them lit up and the contract went into effect.
"Okay, let me prepare and we will set off at noon. Go arrange your men. When we're gone, they will need to listen to instructions."
As he was talking, someone knocked on the door. Aini removed the mute enchantment as Daniel shouted from outside, "Master, Sika has returned."
"Truly?" Saleen jumped up and rushed towards the door as he said to those behind him, "Go now, we will meet at the port in the afternoon."
Irene was shocked, she had not known Saleen for a long time but she had never seen him so excited before. It could even be said that he has lost control of himself. She asked Nailisi suspiciously, "Who is Sika?"
She had not reacted because the name was pretty neutral.
"Oh, you will find out soon." Nailisi said and clenched her teeth. Sika was back and Master was this happy, it seemed the thing with Irene would not be a success.
Saleen rushed out of the temple as quickly as he could. His body was almost as strong as a swordsman, Daniel could not even catch up with him and could only yell, "Master, they are rushing over!"
Saleen could not care what Daniel said. After having parted for so long, he realized now how much he had missed Sika. No wonder he was so lethargic with whatever he did recently, he could only create weapons and armors for the swordsmen from Sregl Island and it was incredibly boring.
A black mist spread out around Saleen's body, he stepped onto the air and flew towards the West of the city. Even the spirits that were busy building houses could feel the changes in the sky. Saleen's focus vibrations were too intense and he had not hidden it, his speed increased to its maximum.
"Sika has returned!"
Saleen felt a warmth within him, he had not felt before. The only thing that was of comparison was when he and Jason had reunited. However, such feelings were too complicated and were not as direct as this. Saleen wanted to see Sika as soon as possible, he activated his icy sight as he surveyed below.
From afar, a huge group of people was rushing towards the city center from the West. Saleen did a sweep with his senses, there was at least two-thousand people! Did Sika bring back all of them? Saleen observed simply and they were all indeed Cascausus people. Innocent faces all around, the old bringing the young. All of them had a simple weapon in hand. Had he not had Lex bring them gold coins the last time?
Saleen did not continue processing as he quickly jumped down from the sky, he had caught sight of Sika.
Buzz!
The air vibrated intensely, Saleen felt as if his ear drums were about to burst. A giant cudgel swept towards him.
"Sika, it's me!"
"I know." Sika did not stop her cudgel, Saleen rapidly released a series of water shields. They clashed together as Saleen spun in the air and landed on the ground. Twelve water shields were completely destroyed by Sika.
"How is it Saleen? I have improved, haven't I?" Sika laughed as she took a good look at Saleen, her cudgel in her hands. Her black eyes were incredibly pure, reflecting the snow from afar.