Badge in Azure Chapter 365

Chapter 365: Single-Horned White Whale (Part 1)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The winged skeleton took a seat at the table as he sent the two blood winged skeletons away. Saleen could hear Banchajanna’s eerie laughter. Saleen pretended he had not heard it. He realized that the winged skeleton was playing a prank under Banchajanna’s incitement.
“How far have we traveled?” Saleen asked.
“We are at the place where I sunk my ship,” Irene replied. She was already looking at the sea map, providing the coordinates for the magic compass.
“You were in your room, you didn’t even react when I called you.” Aini rolled his eyes. Jola looked weirdly at Nailisi, hoping to find out something from looking at her body. What left him shocked was that her hair was not even messy. The more Jola looked, the more stunned he was. He realized that Nailisi looked exactly the same as when she entered Saleen’s room, there were no changes.
Could this be a secret professional? Jola was cautious for the first time. He suddenly realized that everyone around Saleen was powerful. Even though Sika did not have any sword aura, she looked more dangerous than Aini. If that was the case, he needed to be more diligent.
Jola warned himself that if he did not train hard, he would become a commoner. If he became a commoner, no women would appreciate him.
“This has overlooked my attention, Aini and I are mages and we can endure long periods of being alone, you all can’t.” Saleen said as he commanded the winged skeleton to take over control of the alchemical boat. He then let the five mages come over to eat.
“With this voyage, besides hunting, I want everyone to be familiar with the sea route. This route will be under my protection in the future and when summer comes, I will send a combat vessel to patrol. Besides us, no one else is allowed to go near the Oceanic Ice Block. How about this, during the day, everyone will interact here. Introduce yourself to everyone and share your past experiences. I can give you all some pointers on questions relating to magic. Jola, you can help Irene in her swordsmanship.”
“It seems we are still lacking a chef, I think no one wants to eat what the winged skeleton has prepared. If only we had the lifestyle mages that Lex had with her.”
“Master, I can serve you all.” A low-grade mage replied.
“No, the purpose of this voyage is for you all to familiarize yourselves with the alchemy ship. Preparing food isn’t going to help with your control in magic, that needs a conducive environment. As for cooking, Jola, can you do that?” Saleen suddenly looked at Jola. He did have food with him wherever he went. It was usually all bread, smoked meat, and at most alcohol and tea. Sika was not picky when it came to food, but the rest might not be able to eat such simple food.
“I… can.” Jola wanted to reject at first. He was a grand swordmaster, asking him to be a chef was humiliating. Sika, Nailisi, and Irene were all looking at him though. Under the gaze of three women, Jola gave in.
Jola had led a hard life in the past and he was better at cooking than he was at his swordsmanship. In the past no one had taken care of him and he could only count on himself.
Jola grudgingly went to the kitchen in the back. There was quite a lot of food on the ship and at this scale, hundreds of swordsmen could be on board. After modification, it could only take this many people.
“Irene, what dangers do we need to watch out for on this route?” Saleen watched Jola going to prepare food and started asking Irene about the sea route.
Nailisi was pouring tea for everyone, Irene held up her tea cup and finally felt better. She thought hard and said, “The Oceanic Ice Block is about twelve-thousand miles away from your city. Of course I am talking about the sea route distance, the displacement might be smaller.”
“That far? Wouldn’t it be very cold?” Saleen was shocked, he had assumed the Oceanic Ice Block was about three to five-thousand miles away. If it was twelve-thousand miles, this sea route would be harder to protect.
“Not really, the temperature in the north is almost the same. Even if we are near the Oceanic Ice Block, there are three to four months where plants can grow there. There are many islands in the north and even though they are big, they are uninhabitable. They are either infertile lands with fatal plants growing there or have a lack of water source.”
“Oh, you haven’t seen other ships over the years?” Saleen thought back to Shenfeng Country. In the east, the island countries were incredibly advanced when it came to navigating in the sea and there might be people entering the Oceanic Ice Block.
“I have only seen some ruins, those that are alive are probably only those from my family. ”
“You talked about a hunting ground the last time, is that within the Oceanic Ice Block?”
“No, my ships cannot enter the center of the Oceanic Ice Block. They can only hunt at the outside. I have told you the target before, it is giant prawn. We use a special net that has magic medicine in it. When the prawn lose their assaultive strength, we fish them out.”
“You mentioned these prawn all have a grade-4 magic nucleus in them. With my calculations, your haul isn’t that impressive.”
Irene gave a bitter smile and said, “They are grade-4 magic beasts after all. Every time I use the magic medicine, it is a huge investment. I need to haul a sufficient amount before I can recoup my losses.” Irene asked the next question with much trepidation, “Saleen, are you only interested in the magic beasts on the Ice Block with this hunt?”
“No, I’m interested in the prawn. They are the main target.” Saleen had his own Alchemy spell and Irene had mentioned that fallenstar could be extracted from the front legs of the prawn. They were enough for Saleen.”
“But I do not see you preparing any net or magic medicine.”
“They are not needed, you will understand when we arrive.” Saleen thought, who else was more suitable for this than Banchajanna? His horrifying skill was just right to deal with the magic beasts in the sea. So long as his weapon clashed against each other, any grade-4 magic beast within the attacking range would be destroyed. Even if they did not die, they would lose consciousness. By then, Banchajanna would just need to use the dimension stone. He did not need to use any magic medicine or create any special net at all. Saving on these costs, his revenue would be a huge amount. These were grade-4 magic nuclei!
The price of a grade-4 magic nucleus could vary greatly but even the lowest grade-4 magic nucleus could sell for as high as the highest grade-3 magic nucleus. That was one-hundred and fifty gold coins. Not all the magic beasts in such seas might have magic nuclei, the quality could vary too. Saleen intended to have an enormous haul in his first try. The magic nucleus problem for his city would be solved then.
Seeing Irene a little disappointed, Saleen laughed and said, “Even though you haven’t helped much this time, I promise when we return, I will give each one of you a ship. In summer next year, you can bring your own people out to sea.”
“I can’t afford such a ship.” Aini said.
“It’s an ice-breaker, I will still need this alchemical boat for my defences. I can’t use it to hunt in the future.”
The color returned to Aini and Irene’s faces. Saleen laughed silently to himself, by then Irene would still be lacking in sailors and she would still need to rent from him. He would not be making a loss. If Aini and Irene wanted to break away from their family, they would need to get their resources from him.
Once the two of them were successful, they would naturally attract the youths from the other four houses to work with him. By then, his profits would snowball.
Irene was still a little confused but Aini had already guessed Saleen’s intentions. He was not losing out at all and it was true that he was dissatisfied with his family. Being independent was something he had always dreamed of. Saleen’s conditions were too good and he could not refuse.
Aini asked Irene, “Irene, the people that you brought with you, will they obey your commands without questions?”
“Yes, those people were arranged by my mother. Even the elders in the family have difficulty commanding them.”
Aini nodded, not asking further. It seemed like Irene was the same as him. Before meeting Saleen, she had considered her benefits clearly. Saleen had a powerful backer, but the two of them did not.
Saleen had thought of it even more clearly, his main issue now was to build a powerful army to protect himself. When they went out to hunt it would be a huge investment, if they did not use the alchemical boat and Banchajanna. He did not want to spend such money. With this money, he could use it to buy rations and equipment.
In Sikeqinya, a true merchant controlled the capital and would not do things himself. Letting the people from other families provide the money, he would provide the combat vessel and resources. Selling these would net him a large revenue. Getting back sixty percent as profits, that was truly earning money.
Irene was lucky, Saleen had wanted Aini to be the only model to attract more funds. Since she was there, Saleen did not want to waste any effort calculating the contents of the magic compass. The earlier he could get this to work, the earlier he would get rich.
Letting the merchants from the Qin Empire get the benefits, when the Holy See built up their combat fleet, the Qin Empire’s wealthy and merchants would definitely be pissed. By then, Saleen would not need to do anything by himself. All the powers would come together to protect this precious resource.
Saleen’s only concern was Alchemy City. He had not found a way to reject if the people from there wanted a share too. If he rejected cooperating with Alchemy City having the combat fleet from Cloudflow coming would be a disaster for his city, even if they did not come to snatch.
Such backstabbing behavior was something the people from Alchemy City were capable of.
“Master, there is a magic beast following us!” The winged skeleton’s voice sounded in Saleen’s heart.
“Oh?” Saleen stood up and walked to the front of the cabin. The image from the Eye of the Dead was very clear. Irene who had been following behind Saleen gave a scream, she saw the magic beast clearly.
‘You recognize it?”
“Single-horned white whale, a grade-9 magic beast!”
“Is it dangerous?”
“Of course, however it would not attack our ship… unless we snatch its food.”
“What does it eat?” Saleen had a bad feeling.
“Prawn. This beast doesn’t have any teeth, it loves to eat the prawns near the Oceanic Ice Block. Do you see its single horn? When it is angry, it can break apart even an ice mountain.”
“There is still a few thousand miles to our destination, it wouldn’t go there, would it?”
“Yes it will, we return early every year in fears of meeting this magic beast. Releasing any magic medicine within its hunting radius spells certain death.”