Badge in Azure

Chapter 353: Raphael's Magic (Part 1)

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

"It will be fine as long as the mercenaries fulfill the contract. Sir, if there aren't enough soldiers, we can simply hire a few mercenary groups, or we can ask them to station their forces here. Since this is a newly formed city, the mercenary groups will not charge you any fees as long as you provide them with accommodation. And, they will help you defend the city too," Jola explained to Saleen.

Saleen said to Jola, "This is my personal city. I will not place its safety into the hands of untrustworthy people. Sometimes… a contract is not binding."

"But sixty thousand people are needed. Even if we spend a year acquiring them, we will only be able to recruit half of that number." After Jola listened to Saleen's analysis, he knew that it was almost impossible to conscript soldiers. Almost all of the aboriginals had been captured by the Holy See, so Saleen could only rely on his wealth to amass manpower.

Furthermore, this city would continue to expand. Two giant fortresses would be constructed in the north, forming the shape of two prongs and thus stabilizing the city's defenses. Since the city was a commercial and military town, there would eventually be more than one hundred thousand soldiers stationed here.

Saleen sighed, then said, "Don't mention the hiring of mercenaries anymore. We will sit on this matter for the time being. Conan, continue recruiting the aboriginals. As of now, how many people are willing to settle down in the city?"

"Sir, when you were not around, almost one thousand people already signed up," Conan answered solemnly. In the north, most of the barbarians had already been massacred by the Holy See. Of the remaining population, most of them had already chosen to go to Saleen's city since they did not want to be exterminated, with the exception of some stubborn elders.

"Aini, your five hundred swordsmen…"

"They are my private soldiers," Aini replied decisively. The reason why he had been able to bring so many people was because of other factors in addition to his family's support. In truth, these people had been acquired in exchange for money. There were also some who were followers of Aini's father. These five hundred swordsmen comprised all of Aini's power.

"I want to establish a mercenary group and register it in the Bitter Water Prefecture. They can join the mercenary group. That way, it will be easier to control any external forces." Saleen thought to himself, Once the forces from Sregl Island are shifted here, I won't have to worry about all these problems anymore. Aye, my dear teacher, when can you bring those people over?

"No problem!" Aini clenched his teeth. At this moment, he was betting that Saleen would have a great future. If Saleen and his city were ruined, then Aini would not be able to recover even a single cent. However, if Saleen succeeded and managed to resist the Holy See's attacks, then the city would bring immense fortune to Aini. Obviously, Saleen only wanted the city to have one mercenary group. The backbone of this mercenary group would be formed by the five hundred soldiers brought by Aini.

"Daniel, bring Gurney along and build the first camp. Right now, I can only spare you two hundred men. If that is insufficient, you will have to use the spirits to supplement them. Jola, you shall establish the second camp. I will not give you a single man. You will have to think of a solution yourself, but whenever you lack money, you can come and look for me. Jupiter, you will build the third camp. By next spring, when I can go out to sea, I will then supply manpower to you. Pasatilo and Kanuka, you two will build a mage's camp, which is the fourth camp. As for the remaining two camps, I will think of something."

"Sir…" Pasatilo and Kanuka were slightly hesitant. After all, there were two other grade-5 mages from Sregl Island in the room at that moment.

Saleen understood what they meant. Then, to the other grade-5 mages, he said, "Kredian, Francis, the moment Lex gets back, you will rejoin the fleet with Basta."

"Yes, sir." These two grade-5 mages were overjoyed. Controlling the fleet was obviously a more popular choice than being on land.

"Sir, what about me?" the barbarian named Conan asked nervously.

"You will wait for the arrival of the Caucasus people, then you will build the fifth camp. There is no rush on this matter." Saleen felt that the fifth camp should be helmed by Sika, and was not to be managed by Conan. However, Sika did not seem like she was cut out to be a general. Saleen would have to spend some effort to search for a suitable commander. The barbarians and the Caucasus people possessed high offensive abilities, but without a good leader, they would be as useful as sand.

Saleen could clearly remember how Lex's swordsmen looked when they charged onto a battlefield. Even if there had been an equal number of barbarians, the barbarians would still have been defeated by them.

"Saleen, you can recruit some soldiers from Laiyin Duchy," Aini suggested as he stood beside Saleen.

"Why do you say so?"

"The Laiyin people are courageous and fearless during battles, and most of them are also infertile. In fact, many of the mercenaries in Sikeqinya are Laiyin people. With only a small sum of money, people will come forward voluntarily. Being a private soldier of a nobleman is much better than being a mercenary in Sikeqinya."

"What about the Grand Duke of Laiyin?" Saleen was a little worried. The Grand Duke of Laiyin was as weak as the Grand Duke of Phoenix. Such actions would easily anger him.

"Don't you want me to establish a mercenary group? I will go to Didypus and build a base there before recruiting people from Laiyin Duchy. Thereafter, I will transport the people from Didypus back here. By doing so, the Grand Duke of Phoenix will not be able to say anything. By then, those who want to be mercenaries will follow me. If not, they will follow you."

"The mercenary group has to be registered in the Bitter Water County. Lex needs to be back before we can proceed with this matter." Saleen was in favor of Aini's suggestion, but he did not start on preparations right away. The land of registration represented the home of a mercenary group, and the mercenary group was obligated to defend that place.

More than eighty percent of the mercenary groups on the mainland were registered in Sikeqinya. Once a war broke out, these mercenaries would become Sikeqinya's manpower. That was why Saleen did not trust any mercenary groups. As of now, there was not even a single mercenary group registered in the Bitter Water Prefecture. Thus, if war broke out, there would not be any mercenaries fighting for Bitter Water Prefecture.

The reason why such a situation would occur was because Saleen's newly built city was very remote, and not much effort was needed even if the Bitter Water Prefecture wanted to recruit more soldiers. As long as a magic notice was disseminated, tens of thousands of swordsmen would come forward to join the army in a few months' time.

However, if Saleen were to establish his city in the heart of Qin, the nobles surrounding his city would deploy their troops to conquer it, not to mention the disapproval from the Holy Rock City's parliament. The Qin Empire might have been vast, but the good areas had long since been divided among the noblemen. It would be impossible for Saleen to try and get a slice of that cake.

As the rest of the people went off to complete their assignments, Saleen began his training. Many tasks could only be continued when Lex returned, such as selecting the commanders for the army, equipment, training, etc.. Luckily, it was the end of the year already. Lex could potentially reach the city base by April, and hence, Saleen would not need to wait for a long time.

Since the three kings had been subdued, Saleen dispatched the two grade-5 mages, Kredian and Francis, to Phoenix's border to welcome Lex's men. As for the rest of the tasks, they were delegated to Nailisi.

By now, Saleen no longer trained in a systematic manner like he once had. Instead, he specialized in water flame alchemy and the crystal finger. In the past few battles, Saleen's life had been endangered, so he had no choice but to increase his offensive abilities. It was good that water flame alchemy was a practical spell. It was extremely useful in helping a person comprehend the water element. The crystal finger was a close range spell which possessed a high level of destructive power. Even though Saleen had many high-grade warriors around him right now, he still trusted his own magic the most.

Against mages of a similar grade, Saleen already had nothing to be worried. He was most afraid of assassins and grand swordmasters, thus he really wanted to finish learning these two spells. This was especially true with the crystal finger, which was undefeatable within a distance of ten meters.

According to the magic notes left behind by Raphael, the crystal finger was a progressive spell, with its base level being level-6. Because of Saleen's special constitution, he could reduce the level of this spell by one. Hence, he could already learn it at grade-5.

However, such an adaptation was not exactly prosperous. Had Saleen learned the crystal finger at grade-6, he would have been able to cast this spell twenty-four times in succession. However, since Saleen was only at grade-5, so his magic chords could only support the casting of this spell twice.

Even if Saleen were to cast level-6 spells at this moment, he would only be able to cast two of them. It seemed like the adaptation of the crystal finger had not been successful. Fortunately, the crystal finger was a progressive spell. Once Saleen advanced to the next grade, the power of the crystal finger would be increased, and by then, he would be able to cast it many more times. However, Saleen was not sure how many more times would that be.

Before acquiring this spell, Saleen had not really paid much attention to it, as he had adored the current cutter. Especially after the gourd had been refined, the current cutter almost did not deplete Saleen's magic chords at all, as it only depleted his mental strength. Furthermore, the current cutter had high vitality.

The vitality of the current cutter could be replenished within the gourd. As Saleen's mental strength far exceeded that of his current grade, he loved the current cutter. The current cutter might have been strong, but it could not be advanced. Hence, it would not cause any harm to true experts.

At the very least, Saleen knew that the current cutter would be ineffective against a sorcerer unless he became one himself. Plus, the release of the water flow was a little slow, and it could never be released instantly. Saleen had almost died the past few times because of the aforementioned reason. Thus, Saleen had begun paying more attention to the crystal finger, even though the crystal finger depleted a larger amount of his magic chords.

How strong was the crystal finger? Even an expert like Raphael, who had created the crystal finger, had needed to rely on the powers of magic equipment to withstand the backlash from this spell.

In his own room, Saleen placed a stack of white rocks in front of himself. These rocks were used to make drainage facilities, and holes had to be made into the middle of the rocks. Currently, Saleen used to them to practice his crystal finger, and at the same time, he could complete some work.

Saleen wore Raphael's crystal ring on his left index finger. Without chanting any mantras or making any magic hand gestures, the part of Saleen's left index finger which was below the ring suddenly became transparent.

Saleen knew that his finger was not really transparent. Instead, water elements had formed countless facets on the surface of his index finger, transmitting the images at the back of the finger to the front. If his finger had really become transparent, then Saleen would have seen his bone already.

Saleen rotated his wrist, causing his index finger to look slightly hollow. Between his index finger and all those rocks, a ray of pale blue light appeared. This ray of light was not very thick, and was only as thick as Saleen's left index finger. However, when that ray of blue light came into contact with the rocks, a hole which was the size of a bowl appeared silently in the middle of those rocks.