Badge in Azure

Chapter 311: Williams (Part 2)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

"Which clan are you from?" Saleen asked, completely steering the conversation away from the topic of prisoners. He had not meant to scare her earlier. He really did not wish to keep anyone as his prisoner. However, the fact that this girl had suddenly appeared at his harbor with more than a hundred people was not something which could be brushed off easily. Even if she was not out to get him, she must have had something to hide. This could actually be beneficial to me, Saleen thought.

Saleen had no desire to help this young lady unconditionally. To a mage, there was no such thing as a free lunch - everything came at a price.

The young lady hesitated for a while, keeping her mouth tightly shut as she stared at Saleen defiantly. Saleen chuckled and took a sip from the cup of tea that Nailisi had passed to him earlier. This was just one of the few habits that he had developed after being with Lex for so long. It was not a form of mimicry. Rather, this habit had been formed naturally.

The rich, strong, and powerful never cared about how they were viewed by the people below them. They loved doing whatever they pleased without a care in the world. Saleen was no different.

Every ounce of the young lady's pride was trampled by Saleen. What was worse was that she knew that Saleen would not even bother trying to be nice to her. She had no choice but to reply meekly, "My name… is Irene Williams."

"Oh?" Saleen replied, suddenly taking a little bit of interest in the female sitting before him. Never in his wildest dreams had he expected her to be part of the Williams clan. Even then, her name was in the Cloudflow style. The Qins, especially the nobles, would never give their daughters the name Irene, as it did not sound grand enough. Saleen was not a nobleman and thus he had never studied the ancestral lineages of different clans. However, even he knew that this young lady must have been the offspring of someone from the Williams clan and another person from some Cloudflow clan.

Even though the Williams clan was very powerful, their highest noble rank was only that of an earl. The fact that this lady named Irene had been able to attain this rank meant that she had a massive influence within her clan.

Saleen knew that royal and noble ranks in the Qin Empire were very hard to attain. Even if the positions could not be inherited, the royal family made it even harder to attain these ranks. The different houses imposed restrictions on each other in an attempt to reduce the number of royal ranks that the other parties could accommodate. Thus, these ranks were quite sought after in the Qin Empire.

"The Williams clan is considered one of the more powerful groups. Why would they have a pampered person like you travel north to face hardship?" Saleen asked slowly. This question was the main question that he had been dying to ask the young lady ever since he had found out that her surname was Williams. He wanted to find out exactly why she had come here.

"That is our clan's business. Please excuse me for not being able to answer your question," Irene replied. By saying this, she was risking it all. She did not believe that the young mage would actually kill her. She was part of a very influential clan, after all. Helping her would bring Saleen tremendous benefits.

"Hm… But the Williams clan seems to travel up north a lot. I advise you to answer my question. If not, do not blame me if I personally cut you off from your source of wealth. I am a mage, as well as a businessman. The only thing I know now is that your clan must have discovered something that would bring prosperity to your group. If I can't force that 'something' out of you, I'll personally cut off your northern shipping route. That way, everyone will lose. Understand?" Saleen said, his voice sickly sweet as he uttered the last word.

Saleen was currently the more influential person, and he was going to make sure the young lady knew that. He was not about to let the young female noblewoman call the shots. In fact, he did not even want to make small talk with her. He also could not be bothered to be tactful. After the construction of the city was complete, he was going to take control of the northern shipping route, and he would keep Alchemy City in mind as reference. The northern shipping route was practically unused. Out of the entire year, the northern seas were only occupied for less than six months, and even then, they were only used by Sikenqinya merchants who used it to go to and from Lianyun City.

It was obvious to Saleen that going on voyages during this season was not a good idea. Irene was definitely not here on a vacation. What could be so valuable about the northern seas that even the most important person from the Williams clan needs to personally risk her life coming here? This was the question which Saleen was dying to find the answer to.

"You need to be reasonable here!" Irene shouted indignantly, her face paling in fear. Never in her wildest dreams had she thought that a mage as respectable-looking as the one before her could be so money-minded.

"I'm already being very reasonable here. Right now, I'm in the middle of building an entire city. I have already been authorized by the royal family to govern the ocean territories up to several hundred miles from where we are sitting now. I couldn't care less about how you used to make your trips. But this is my territory now - and if you want to pass through my territory, you'll have to go through me. Think about it. Your ship is probably lying on the ocean bed, and your men are freezing to death. You can't be that naïve to expect me to help you for free? Honey, everything comes at a price. You'll have to make a sacrifice," Saleen said lazily.

Irene was simmering with anger by now. Now that she thought about it, the mage was being reasonable. However, it was the way he had conveyed his message that irked her so much. He had spoken in a condescending tone, almost as if she were mere dirt found on the bottom of his shoe. For a girl like her who had been pampered since her birth, it was a bit hard to accept being talked down to like this.

"Don't you wish to become friends with the Williams clan?" Irene asked as confidently as she could.

"There is no such thing as friendship in the world of business. Perhaps we could end up as friends one day, but this friendship would have nothing to do with your clan. I've always viewed friendship like this, and I'm not about to change my mind," Saleen said with a smile on his face. He was not playing around when he said those words. Take the business relations between Saleen and the Clyde clan, for example. He was more than happy to share some of his profits with Aini. However, he would not give a single penny to Aini's clan. That was where he drew the line.

"I ain't becoming friends with you!" Irene roared in anger, mistaking Saleen's honest words for mockery.

"See what you're doing? You're rejecting a potential friendship with an archmage, yet you're scolding me for not wishing to get into the William clan's good books. Aren't we both doing the same thing?" Saleen asked patiently. If the city that he built was going to depend solely on agriculture for its primary source of income, Saleen knew that his entire city would be knee-deep in poverty. The earnings from farming were meager. If he chose to allow the city to depend on it as its primary source of income, he would be happy if the money could even support the migrants who moved here. If he wanted to be more ambitious about his city's development, Saleen would have to venture into business just like Alchemy City. However, he could not do just any business. It had to be something that no one had ever done before.

Perhaps he could depend on the Sregl Island mages in the early stages of the city's development. However, the business issues that would arise were things which could not be solved by mages alone. He would need the help of clans in the empire who were experts in managing businesses.

Irene looked to be severely lacking in strength and power. One good look at her and Saleen could tell that her grade was probably equivalent to that of an advanced swordsman. This did not matter, however, as she still had a huge influence in her clan due to her position. Saleen had already set his heart on collaborating with her. After all, he could not share all of the city's profits with the Clyde clan alone.

The Clyde clan and Williams clan were business rivals. Saleen wanted to see both clans fight to get into his good books, as it meant that he could get more out of them.

"Master Mage, could you please let my men seek refuge on your shores? They're…" Irene pleaded before she paused slightly. The young female might have been well-educated, but her business senses were very unlikely to be keener than Saleen's. Right now, she was not in a good position to negotiate anything with the male mage sitting in front of her. Her family's merchant ship had sunk, causing the deaths of many of her men. Even those survivors were on the brink of death. If they died as well, it would implicate her parents. Under these circumstances, even if she had been the most intelligent person in the world, she would not have been able to win against Saleen.

"My name is Saleen. Saleen Metatrin."

"It's you?!" Irene exclaimed, her eyes widening in shock as if she had heard his name somewhere before.

Saleen touched his face gently as he stared at Irene, shocked at her outburst and more importantly, her reply. He asked, "What? Am I famous or something?"

"I heard of you when I was in the imperial capital two thousand years ago. At that point in time, you were in charge of business deals between Viscountess Lex and the Clyde clan. Of course I'd remember you," Irene gushed.

Saleen smiled, refusing to continue the conversation. Irene sighed before saying, "Since you're Mage Saleen, I don't think you're pulling a fast one on me. Let my men seek shelter for now. I won't run away. You want something from me? We can talk about it."

"So… can I safely assume that the Williams clan has had long-term business deals over in the northern ocean?" Saleen asked.

"Yes," was all Irene replied.

"Good. Nailisi, deploy some of our people to escort Irene's men onto the shores. Pitch a tent and prepare some food for them as well," Saleen instructed.

Irene watched as the goddess-like woman stood up and sashayed past her. For some reason, Nailisi's actions had Irene feeling a certain way. Nailisi looked absolutely bewitching. Her hair now sported a few streaks of green, and her azure green eyes looked just like the lakes in early spring. Her eyes glistened brightly under the light. Nailisi was so breathtaking that it shook Irene to the core.

Irene tried her hardest to compose herself. Saleen has such a beautiful woman by his side. Would he even take an interest in me? Probably not, Irene thought. She had also heard about how attractive Viscountess Lex was. It was no wonder that Saleen had looked at her in the manner that a businessman would inspect his cargo instead of the usual look of lust that most men sent her way.

Saleen was also closely inspecting Irene's facial features. At the moment, since Irene donned a male outfit, she actually looked handsome and not feminine at all. She had a pair of light blue eyes, just like the minority of the people over in the Cloudflow Empire. Her eye color was slightly different from that of the Qins, who had dark blue eyes. Her eyebrows were obviously groomed to perfection. In fact, they looked a bit like Lex's - arched and clear, just like knives. Her nose was a lot sharper than most Qin women. Thus, she really did look the part when she dressed herself up as a man.

She's a beauty, Saleen thought.

Seeing that Saleen had softened his gaze, Irene did not feel uneasy. In fact, she felt more comfortable being around him. When they had first started chatting, Saleen had looked at her with a cold and calculating gaze, making her feel very nervous sitting in the same room as him. It was as if she had once again stumbled into the wild and encountered a formidable magic wolf, feeling like prey waiting to be pounced upon by a predator. Saleen was just like that magic wolf. The only difference here was that Saleen did not seem to be a ravenous magic wolf. In other words, he was holding back from attacking her. However, those eyes were obviously roaming about her face, taking in as much of her appearance as possible in order to form some sort of analysis. She was not going to snap at Saleen and tell him to stop.

Humans looking at their fellow humans and magic beasts looking at humans were two entirely different things. This Saleen was a very dangerous character. Irene could feel some type of uncontrollable power emanating from Saleen's body in waves.

If Saleen had known what Irene was thinking, he would certainly have disagreed. After being promoted to a grade-5 mage, he had much better control over the elements. He had no idea that being constantly immersed in danger had changed his aura in a very complex way, such that he came across as much more domineering than he actually was. In Saleen's presence, Irene was already considered calmer and more confident than ordinary folk. That was because she was a psychologically and mentally resilient person. Under Saleen's piercing gaze, other people might not even have dared to lift up their heads and make eye contact with him.

Thus, when Saleen had mentioned that he did not like keeping people as prisoners, it had never occurred to Irene that he was joking. She treated every single one of Saleen's words seriously. In fact, she had already considered Saleen to be one of the more perverted mages that she had ever crossed paths with.

Upon sensing that Saleen had begun giving her some sort of affirmation and admiration, Irene heaved a sigh of relief. Saleen, on the other hand, was very satisfied with the outcome of his interrogation techniques. Just a few sentences had been enough to get Irene to crack. Now that Irene's cold, tough outer shell had been shattered, it was time to discuss the unknown business that the Williams clan had been involved in. He had three warships and plenty of men under his command. Thus, he was certain that he had more than enough resources to venture into their field of business.

Saleen was confident that the Williams clan would not reject his offer to join forces with them. After all, the Williams definitely did not possess any battleships. Thus, the Williams would have no choice but to work with him if they wanted to continue their business in the north. To Saleen, talks between businessmen were the easiest form of communication in the world. As long as he gave the Williams clan a large portion of the profits - well, large enough - he would end up benefitting much more in the long run as he too would get a hefty share of the wealth generated from this business.

"You can speak now, you know. What type of business does the Williams clan run in the north?" Saleen asked. Irene did not hesitate too much this time. She could tell that Saleen had the manpower and strength that easily rivalled two cities back in her clan. That was excluding the fact that Saleen owned three battleships. She had been kept in the dark about these sea vessels the entire time. She did not know that one of them had been hidden in the neighboring islands while the other two would only come back in the spring, which would be next year at minimum.

"There's a place in the northern part of the Myers Mainland that is almost always completely frozen over. We call it the Oceanic Ice Block. As the name suggests, there are huge icebergs that float around all year round. Most ships aren't able to travel through the Oceanic Ice Block, unless the people onboard have a death wish. The ocean territory we're talking about here is massive. Not only that, but the Oceanic Ice Block is surrounded by many neighboring islands. In fact, it is rumored that there is actually more undiscovered land to the north that has been completely sealed over by ice. The Oceanic Ice Block is the best place to hunt down magic sea beasts. Many large magic beasts often roam about the floating icebergs as well. Since they move very slowly on land, as long as you have whale hunting crossbows, you'll be able to slaughter them and sell them off for big bucks," Irene rambled.

Saleen smiled and asked, "Is that it? Are you sure that this business venture is all you're risking your life for? Don't you think that the risks relative to the returns are too great for the most important person in your clan to be coming here?"