Badge in Azure Chapter 458 - Sika’s agenda (Part 2)

Chapter 458: Sika’s agenda (Part 2)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Lex, just accede to Sika’s request. I will resolve the issue of the magic nuclei.” Saleen finally opened his mouth. The magic wolf cavalrymen of the Caucasus people were not suitable to act as charging riders, since it was more expensive feeding a magic wolf as compared to a warhorse. A warhorse fed on specially produced grass while a magic wolf consumed meat. Occasionally, some magic powder had to be served in order to help a magic wolf maintain its powerful strength.
Such cavalry mounts were simply too costly. It was too troublesome rearing expensive items and it would be too painful to lose a few of them. In the future, Saleen had planned to deploy the Caucasus magic wolf cavalrymen as the city’s defenders or scouts. It was impossible to build a large formation of cavalrymen. The magic wolf cavalrymen were suitable for mountainous battles, and normal cavalrymen would lose out to them.
There were countless of forests in the vicinity of the Metatrin City. If the Caucasus people occupied that area, no one would be able to infiltrate Metatrin through the woods anymore.
The capital required for hunting magic nuclei from the Frozen Sea would not be too high, since a huge quantity of magic nuclei could be obtained each time. Even if the warship’s consumption and forecasted depletion were included, the price of magic nuclei would still be able to match that of the ones obtained from hunting on land.
“Since Sika has spoken, I will agree to it. The Caucasus people will have the selling rights to alcohol and the rights to extract a mine. Every Caucasus person will be allowed to rear magic beasts, and not to hunt them.” Lex’s words were equivalent to law in the Bitter Water County. Sika was overjoyed when Lex acceded.
Metatrin City was developed by Saleen, but it had to be attached to the Bitter Water County legally, otherwise the Holy Rock City would conquer it at all costs. As a result, Lex’s agreement was needed in the aforementioned issues.
If it was not for the chaos brought on by Nailisi, Lex might not have agreed to those things so easily. Sika patted Nailisi’s shoulder, but did not say anything. That caused Nailisi’s face to contort disgustingly, losing all her image. Sika knew that Nailisi was a demon, so Nailisi had to have a great physique. She did not withhold any strength. If Sika had patted Saleen, Saleen would have to bathe in magic liquid already.
A blanket of silence fell over the carriage suddenly. Sika had stopped talking, while Nailisi rubbed her shoulder, not intending to carry on sowing discord. Saleen felt slightly awkward, but was concerned about this duke who had suddenly come into the picture. He began thinking of ways to manage the relationship with the duke. “Lex’s friend? Heh, he is more like Lex’s suitor.”
Saleen’s guess was not entirely wrong. Five to six years ago, the small duke from Titan had went to the Bitter Water Prefecture in hopes of recruiting a batch of low grade mages. Back then, the Lex he knew was amazing. Despite Lex not being an adult yet.
Afterwards, both parties shared a business relationship, frequently communicating via letters. The small duke from Titan even acquiesced Lex to deploy her spies into the Cloudflow Empire using his duchy as a medium. This was no small matter. If those spies were captured, he would be responsible.
It would be wrong to claim that the small duke from Titan was Lex’s admirer, at least he was not bent on marrying Lex. He simply wanted to please this female prodigy from Qin.
Given the culture in the Cloudflow Empire, loyalty would not amount to much. The small duke definitely possessed the heart to love.
The fact that Lex and the small duke could cover each other’s tracks meant that they were excellent friends already. This time round, Lex was going to help him shift his assets around, which the Cloudflow Empire wanted to keep in their possession.
If the Duke of Titan did not make a trip to Cloudflow, the Cloudflow Empire would have deployed their troops for an offensive, just like how Qin dealt with Phoenix. If the troops were deployed, the Duke of Titan would never have the chance to return to his duchy again.
Lex did not give further thought into Saleen’s issues, she began calculating the amount of fortune in Titan’s treasuries. A duke’s private assets could not be touched. Many treasuries were categorized as public assets, though, and they belonged to the Cloudflow Empire on paper. This was unlike Qin. Qin only demanded taxes from the local nobles, but Qin would never build a separate treasury.
The small duke granted Lex twenty percent profits because she had the God’s Ring, which could help him transport large quantities of items. A twenty percent cut was not a small sum, a small duchy was very much richer than the Bitter Water County. Once the Pink Army got extirpated, its fortune would go to Lex. The small duke only wanted the Pink Army’s secret base.
Of the current five large duchies, Phoenix was fragmented while Loulan had been razed to the ground, and Titan would soon be seized by Cloudflow. God Grace Duchy was also rumored to be in turmoil, where insurgents had launched an offensive against the army of the Tanggulasi Empire. Only Laiyin Duchy remained fine. The Sikeqinya Empire was no better, its emperor was only after profits.
Once these duchies disappeared, the four big empires would share a border. There would be no more buffer regions anymore.
It had to be noted that the small duke was extremely sagacious and decisive in wanting to seize all the assets in the duchy, leaving behind an empty shell for Cloudflow.
When day broke, they were almost reaching the princess’ castle. Lex allowed the convoy to stop and take a two hour break. The convoy only continued after the men had consumed some food.
Staring out the window, the fields on both sides were extremely fertile, they were filled with oil-producing vegetables. Titan had done a great job in the area of irrigation. Saleen spotted a magic water wheel and some low grade puppets ploughing the lands.
A puppet was better than cattle because cattle would get sick due to effects of the weather. When dealing with high value crops, the wealthy nobles would procure some puppets and hire some magic disciples to care for the crops.
Saleen lapsed into gloominess when he realized that such a good farmland was going to be destroyed by the flames of war.
By withdrawing the land of the Titan Duchy, the Cloudflow emperor was planning on participating in the contention. A few years back, they were still sitting on the fence, but they had finally come to a decision already.
From afar, the princess’ castle could be spotted. It was totally unlike what Saleen had expected. The princess’ castle was void of any romantic vibes, it was a purely militarized castle. There were grey towers dozens of meters tall with tipped roofs, like a longsword piercing through the skies.
Even though there were no extravagant metal battlements like those found in Goodrid City, there was a pitch black magic structure at the front of the princess’ castle. This structure could not be considered as a magical tower, it was a magic platform. Standing upright on the platform was a gigantic puppet with its eyes closed.
Such a large puppet was the specialty of Titan. It was rumored to be constructed based on the form of the giants. Even the name of the duchy emulated that of this puppet – Titan.
This castle gave people a feeling of oppression. On the lower portion of the grey city walls, the color was even darker, as though it had been soaked in fresh blood.
Unlike the castles in Qin, the doors to the Titan’s castle was very narrow and very tall. There were two protruding horse tracks located on both sides of the city gate. The ends of the horse tracks were elevated dozens of meters off the ground, they were very steep, almost perpendicular to the ground. During wartime, metal bridge planks could be slid down these horse tracks, allowing the cavalrymen to charge forward. At such an angle, the cavalrymen would need to be as proficient as a swordmaster to achieve that. Their warhorses would require at least five years of training.
The castle made Saleen feel cold, a kind of frostiness which penetrated his bones.
“Damn it, mental magic is fused into this thing. Powdered obsidian is even fortified into the front tower!” Saleen quickly regained his senses, and stopped observing the structure of the castle. Since the crux had been discovered and Saleen was a grand mage, the obscure tricks of this castle would hardly be able to harm him anymore.
A strange design like this was absent in Qin. If the enemy tried assaulting this castle, the normal soldiers would definitely be affected mentally, undoubtedly reducing their morale. The best method to deal with such a defense was to bombard it with several ancient magic cannons, in order to destroy the magical structure of the castle, before deploying the main army.
The other magic war chariot emanated several rays of magic light, descending upon the accompanying swordmasters. Lex’s subordinates were slightly affected before reverting to their normal selves.
“Master, there is something amiss with this castle. I am afraid there might be a monster living inside,” Nailisi muttered bitterly. Even though she was not affected, she could detect the gruesomeness of the castle. It was similar to that of black magic. In order to create such a mental effect, it was likely that many people had to die.
Hurried trots were heard as a team of cavalrymen rushed out from the city gate. The leader of the team was clad in extravagant hollow armor, trailed by a vibrant and colorful cape. With the gray castle as a backdrop, it looked very conspicuous.
A youthful voice spread from afar, “Your Highness Lex, you are finally here.”
The warhorses in that team were robust, they had reached the front of the convoy in the blink of an eye. Saleen noticed the face of a Cloudflow noble. Behind the astonishingly weak helmet, a bundle of onyx hair danced along with the wind. Even the helmet was hollow, any simple arrow could easily kill the wearer.
The riders following this youth were also clad in identical hollow armor, extravagant but impractical. If Saleen’s subordinates dared don such items, they would have been beaten into pulp.
Jola, who was at the front, had his eyebrows locked in thought. “This youth is not a weakling, if I don’t have the Tears, it might be a little difficult to deal with him.” Such an outstanding pugilist did not dress flippantly because he was an idiot, but because he was confident. Jola did not wear much armor. His armor made by Saleen contained leather. Its defensive ability was not outstanding. An advantage was that it was lightweight, which would not affect his movements. At the same time, it possessed magic resistance.
This person’s metal armor had the same characteristics. “It will be best not to let such a person get close to Saleen.” Instinctively, Jola stood in the way of the youth.
The youth did not show a change in expression. He simply smiled breezily, he did not give a hoot about Jola. The riders behind him wielded onto blades, pointing the tip of their blades downwards as they stared at Jola.
“I am not Lex’s subordinate, there is no use glaring at me.” Jola observed the team of swordmasters. With a simply calculation, there were about twenty cavalrymen who were at the standard of a swordmaster. He could not possibly deal with all of them. At the very least, he could not guarantee Saleen’s safety.
“Since you are not Lex’s subordinate, then Lex will not blame me if I kill you right?” The serene youth suddenly flashed his teeth at Jola. His snow-white teeth also emanated an insidious vibe.
“Yes. Even though you are a small duke from Titan, I will not show mercy when I take action either.” Jola would not budge. At this point in time, Saleen’s voice came from the chariot.
“Jola, this is the small duke’s territory, don’t be rude.”
“Okay.” Upon listening to Saleen, Jola then rode to one side.
“Lex, you have brought outsiders here?” When the youth saw that Jola had made way, he did not continue advancing. Instead, he froze in his tracks, a grim spreading across his face.