Badge in Azure

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

There were two types of death mages; one was a support-type and the other was the fearsome battle-type. Amongst these bandits some were smart and knowledgeable enough to know that there was no chance of winning the fight the moment the corpses appeared.

There was no limit to the number of corpses that death mages could create and it was unrelated to mental strength. With time on his side, a death mage could create an entire army of death troops. Although Telensu Town was a small city, its walls were still firm and stable. Attacking the town through the city walls was meaningless. It was wiser to retreat and form a siege around the town to attack the caravans.

"I must give it to them for how fast they can escape." Aini looked at the fleeing bandits and knew that there was no way the corpses would be able to catch up with them. He ordered them to block the city walls and brought the bodyguards and mercenaries back to camp.

The bandits could be considered lucky. Aini's corpses only needed to be triggered slightly to become berserk corpses, where their speed and strength would have increased by more than ten times. The only problem was that berserk corpses only had a few hours of activity before their energies were exhausted and they would disintegrate into pieces.

The corpses were still considered as spirits of the dead while the berserk corpses could be considered as magic puppets that could only be used once.

Saleen noticed the bitter look on Aini's face and that Sharman was looking solemn, and said, "What's the rush? Someone must be in command of the bandits. An attack will come sooner or later. I have an idea, not sure if you want to hear it though."

"Just say it and cut the crap." Aini was frustrated. If he was not selling magic wolves, he would not have cared so much about the bandits. Death mages were least afraid of sieges. The more the people involved in the siege, the more materials he would have to create corpses. Right now, he was only worried about his goods.

Out of the eighty magic wolves that he was selling, twenty were caught by Caucasus people and were already partially domesticated and could fetch high prices. The remaining sixty wolves were about two to three years old. Excluding the costs incurred for buying them and transporting them, he could still make a profit of five-hundred gold coins per magic wolf. This trip could potentially net him forty-thousand to fifty-thousand gold coins and that was excluding the magic nuclei that he was carrying.

This was the amount of profit he would make after excluding the costs incurred. The expenses incurred for the logistics of this journey, the capital to buy the magic wolves, and the expenses of the soldiers would also be paid for by whatever profit he earned. If he lost the magic wolves, he might have to lose more than ten-thousand gold coins.

"There are already large-scale caravans in Metatrin City. About eighty percent of them used the sea route, but this route is also used by about twenty percent of caravans. So many caravans have used this route yet I have never heard of anyone being attacked by bandits. We actually have quite a large number of soldiers at the moment."

Sharman and Aini nodded. There were about three-hundred and fifty soldiers on both sides. Including the servants that could fight as well, they had eight-hundred men in total. Typically, a band of bandits numbered about one-thousand members and they would normally only attack when they outnumbered their targets by five times.

"If these bandits have been occupying this area all this while, how did the merchants leaving from Metatrin City pass through this place? Since these bandits were gathered here in a short time, as long as we break through the siege very suddenly and take them surprise, they will not dare to do anything to us. I bet that whoever is in command of the bandits is still in the midst of making preparations. We cannot keep wasting time here. Once dawn breaks, we leave through the south."

"We will suffer substantial losses on our way out." Although Sharman knew that what Saleen said made sense, she could not bear the thought of losing even one of the guards that she had brought along from her clan.

"No worries. The enemy's main force is not here so I can help you settle the rest of them." Saleen then turned to Aini and said, "I will ask them to try to leave behind corpses that are still in one piece. By tomorrow, we will have more than one-thousand corpse soldiers. By then, even if the number of enemies increased, there is nothing for you to be afraid of, right?"

"Yes." Aini curbed his anger and knew that it was pointless to direct them towards the enemy. He tried to console Sharman, "I am only worried about the goods. Let's not worry too much about the bandits."

Saleen thought to himself that Sharman's goods could actually be transported easily with his dimension stone. What mattered now was only Aini's goods, so the situation was actually not that dire. As long as the enemy did not spring a surprise attack, Saleen could always use his clan badge to instantly kill anyone below grade-9.

Besides, he and Aini possessed flying abilities so they could always use that to escape if they could not win the fight.

Sharman was still worried. It was the first time she was leading a caravan, so if something happened this time, there was no way her mother would let her take the lead again in the future.

Aini was also weighing his gains and losses. If something really were to happen, at most Saleen would have to help to carry the magic wolves' corpses so that he could still cut the losses. He tried to console Sharman again, "We have three grand mages and one silver grand swordmaster. The enemy will need at least a grade-9 sorcerer to defeat us. Even if they had a grade-8 sorcerer, there is nothing for us to fear. Do you think there will even be sorcerers in a band of bandits?"

"By right, no…"

"Then just leave it to me." Aini did not want to boast to a young girl. His mood was totally different once he ignored the safety of the goods. He pulled Saleen away from Sharman's barrack and went back to his. Narnia and the rest followed closely behind.

Once they were back in Aini's barrack, Saleen told him, "I was thinking along the way that I was right all this while. Someone is trying set up a trap for Metatrin City. If a major caravan was robbed on its way from Phoenix to Metatrin City, business would surely be affected. What do you think?"

Aini pondered for a moment before saying, "Between Telensu Town and Metatrin City were all prosperous towns and villages so you can still use your own men. This town over here belonged to Phoenix. The Grand Duke of Phoenix… that child is still under the control of Holy Rock City. If you wish to take over this town, you will have to talk to Holy Rock City."

"This town is only two-thousand miles away from Metatrin City and more than ten-thousand miles away from Holy Rock City. What is there to talk about? Occupy this town and let Holy Rock City acknowledge my authority here."

"You are not afraid of starting a war?"

"No. You?"

Aini smiled and said, "Neither am I. You can occupy this town with our troops in the name of vanquishing the bandits. The real problem will only come in the future on whether Holy Rock City will do anything about your presence here."

"I will need your help."

"Me?" Aini was surprised. His abilities were limited. In terms of business, he was perhaps equal with Saleen. When it came to setting up base troops, he did not have the necessary qualifications and experience.

"I need you to help me train up a few death mages. Don't reject me yet. There is something in it for you. Leave the dead soul flames to me."

"Why don't you ask Daniel?" Aini did not refuse. Saleen said there would be something in it for him so it should be something worthwhile. He still had his doubts. Daniel was also a grade-5 death mage. If Saleen asked Daniel to train up death mages, expenses would definitely be lower. Daniel was Saleen's follower while Aini was just a friend to Saleen. Things were different.

"Once the issue with Holy Rock City is settled, you won't need to travel around anymore, whereas Daniel will go on expeditions for me. He will not have the time to take students. This is the border of Phoenix. I need a few death mages to be on guard. Death mages advance the quickest amongst mages, so as long as I am willing to spend, I should be able to have grade-3 mages within a few years."

Saleen's thought process was simple. Death mages were of utmost importance to armies. Element mages were used to counter holy masters, while death mages could kill off large numbers of enemy troops. When attacking cities and countless numbers of corpse soldiers and skeletons were desperately climbing up the walls, it would put a lot of pressure on the enemy.

"Okay, I promise you." Aini accepted readily. Helping Saleen was like helping himself. It was also Saleen's idea that they head to Holy Rock City to bring his parents out. Once they were out of Holy Rock City, Aini would feel more assured about carrying out his tasks.

Aini's parents had killed many people from the Holy See before. Now, since Qin and Tanggulasi empires were officially at war, Aini's parents were no longer under so much restrictions. Even if the clan released them, Holy Rock City would not interfere too much.

"We will need your maximum effort tomorrow. The bandits do not have too many horses so once we break through, they will have to rely on the few bandits who will be riding on horses. I will lend you fifty alchemy crossbows. Make sure they stop chasing us."

"Heh." Aini did not reject the plan. He did not have any rank of nobility so his bodyguards would not be allowed to use the alchemy crossbow. Both Saleen and Sharman did not have a rank of nobility either. The bandits would never care about the law though. They would most likely possess alchemy crossbows of their own as well. If Aini and his soldiers only used their own iron crossbows, their range would be shorter than the enemy and they would be in trouble.

The bandits would be able to afford to cluster at a safety distance and make full use of the advantage of the alchemy crossbows to disrupt the caravans.

If only Aini was a death sorcerer, he would have been able to summon grade-6 death knights, who were powerful and could charge at a speed that far surpassed what human knights could.

"Narnia and I will not interfere. We will have to trouble you."

Saleen did not wish to expose his identity. These bandits attacked the caravans despite knowing that their opponents had a few grand mages, so they must not be typical bandits. There must be a mastermind who was supporting them, but Saleen was not sure who it was. He must be patient until the real enemy was revealed. Whoever was trying to control this trade route, Saleen must destroy them.

This road was his. From Metatrin to Telensu, from Telensu to Deep Forest Town, and from Deep Forest Town to Didypus through the chaotic swamp; he would not allow any other forces to occupy any parts of this road that was a few thousand miles long.

After finalizing the arrangements for the battle, Saleen left behind the alchemy crossbows and returned to his barrack. The sky was completely dark and the bandits within Telensu Town had already been chased out. There were spirits of the dead guarding both the north and south entrances. The bandits that were forming the siege did not attempt to attack during the night so the night passed quietly.

In the morning of the second day, the caravans gathered and prepared to set off.

The servants in charge of the big wagons began to distribute wooden shields and long swords. All the wagon-pulling horses had already been switched to skeletal warhorses. On Aini's side, the servants in charge of the wagons had already been armed with iron crossbows while his knights had changed to the alchemy crossbows that Saleen has lent him.