Badge in Azure

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

There were four magic beast swordsmen that had decided to follow Jola. All of them already possessed the abilities of high-level swordmasters and had done a good job training up Saleen's soldiers.

"Master, you may not be aware, but the four of them have been training very hard and have all become zun grand swordmasters. If the four of them were to support Sister Sika after she becomes Lady of the City, she will not have to face the annoying demons every day."

Nailisi was unwilling to see Sika staying in the demon city all the time partly because she hoped that Sika would tie Saleen down to prevent him from being attracted to other women. This was Nailisi's selfish intention, but it was beneficial to Sika too.

As a priestess, Sika had many Caucasus followers. Now that the number of Earth Priestess' were fewer than grade-10 Professionals, the Caucasus people were more than willing to come to Metatrin City. The southern part of Metatrin City had regions with similar climate and mountainous terrains to what the Caucasus people were used to. There were also more than enough magic beasts in the region for them to hunt. All these things had kept the Caucasus people happy.

If Sika continued to progress down this path, it would not be difficult for her to become a Nature Priestess. There was no need for her to hang around demon city.

"Alright, you will discuss it with the four of them and tell them how to go about settling the daily duties. As for Sika…"

"I will personally explain things to Sister Sika," Nailisi promised with a smile. She realized that as long as she formed an alliance with Sika, no one would be able to interfere between them, except for Soldier…

After sending Nailisi away, Saleen took out the over eighty magic beasts that the winged skeleton had captured for him and began to study their magic patterns.

Saleen had already decided that he must make full use of this opportunity to study these magic patterns and natural magic arrays to advance into a grade-7 sorcerer.

While Saleen was focused on training, Daniel was taking charge of the town hall even as the fighting arena was in the middle of construction. Metatrin City had settled down into a peaceful rhythm for the time being, but this was not the case for Holy Rock City or the Holy City.

In Holy Rock City, in the Prince's mansion, Safilos had gathered six Dukes from the House of Commons and another six from the House of Lords. They had been locked in a stalemate with Luolan. Safilos was no longer trying to avoid suspicions and decided to lead the attack personally.

This time around, Safilos was not discussing the battle situation. Instead, it was about the new kingdom that had appeared north of Phoenix.

"Dear Lords, Theisio sent forth an expedition that was one-hundred and twenty-five thousand strong to Metatrin City. The entire expedition was defeated. What do all of you think?" Safilos' expression was awful. After so many battles at the borders of Luolan, although Qin's losses were much lower than Tanggulasi Empire's, the former had yet to conquer any big cities.

Whenever the Qin army managed to break into Luolan, they would often be pushed back within one-hundred miles. His niece, Viscountess Lex's army, had already appeared in the southeast part of Luolan. It entered Luolan through a narrow road from the rear of Bitterwater Prefecture and had managed to take over some lands and were already building a city there.

Lex had many high-level mages under her so this was understandable. What about Metatrin City? Had the city not been built for only two years? To think that it could defeat an expedition that was one-hundred and twenty-five-thousand strong. This was an insult to the Qin armies.

"Your Highness, the Holy See mobilized so many people and traveled for more than twenty-thousand miles. They must have been very weak and tired. Metatrin City had the upper hand since they only had to wait for the expedition's arrival," a Duke began to argue. All the twelve Dukes present had sent their armies to battle at Luolan so they could not stand the comparison.

"Is that so?" Safilos laughed coldly. "The entire one-hundred and twenty-five-thousand strong expedition force was destroyed and that included five-thousand wardens from the supreme court. These wardens were equivalent to the most elite troops in our royal swordsmen battalion. Do you know what 'completely destroyed' means? Let me tell you; news have come from Guderian City that the red Grand Bishop Nicholas, who led the Holy See expedition, has betrayed the Holy See to become a fallen holy priest and has now pledged his allegiance to Metatrin City."

"What?!"

"Impossible!"

The Dukes began to discuss it amongst themselves frantically. How could a red Grand Bishop betray the Holy See? Someone who had attained such a position must have wanted to fight for the chance to become Pope.

"It is what it is. The news is not wrong." Safilos' words had taken the Dukes by surprise. It was the first time something like this had happened since the Holy See was founded one-thousand years ago.

"Your Highness, we must take precautions against Metatrin City. I heard that this Saleen has already named himself King and has set up a kingdom. Why don't we send forth a punitive expedition?"

"Rubbish," Safilos said angrily. "If this event has yet to take place, of course we can send forth a punitive expedition. He has just defeated the Holy See's expedition. If we send forth a punitive expedition, we will be slapping ourselves in the face."

The Dukes calmed down. Safilos was right. Everyone was on the same side now. What reason would Holy Rock City have to send forth a punitive expedition?

"Metatrin is a surname that was illustrious during the fourth dynasty. This man must be of the Metatrin clan. His identity is not important though. What matters now is how we can make use of this opportunity."

"Your Highness, the Holy See must be furious that the red Grand Bishop has betrayed them. They will surely send armies to attack Metatrin City. We only need to wait for the right opportunity to present itself."

"Wait? Have you not waited enough? Look at what is happening in Luolan. What a mess!" Safilos was really furious. It was excusable if he could not control the noble families from the south, but even these fellows from Holy Rock City were not giving their best efforts. All the elite soldiers fighting at the borders of Luolan came from Holy Rock City. The noble families seemed to be reserving their forces for some reason.

"If no-one willing to give their best troops, I will have no choice but to follow my brother and personally fight at Luolan. Perhaps I will just die on the battlefield!"

The Dukes were horrified after hearing what Safilos said.

"I have decided that we must take down the east of Luolan before winter. May I know how many soldiers all my Lords will send?" Safilos had lost all patience. He could not believe that these noble families were naïve enough to think that it was alright for them to be locked in a stalemate at the borders of Luolan. If they did not push on to attack, the Tanggulasi Empire would quickly launch an attack on the north of Qin once they sensed that the Qin soldiers were fatigued.

Seeing how the King of Qin was putting pressure on them, the Dukes all promised ten-thousand soldiers each and they would all obey Safilos' commands.

This was equivalent to Safilos gaining another twelve-thousand elite soldiers, he would be able to split up his forces now. Holy Rock City's ten-thousand elite soldiers were focused on attacking in one direction, but if the Holy See deployed armies to attack Metatrin City, the entire battle situation would be blown wide open.

"His Majesty has also decided to send envoys to Metatrin City to exchange letters of credence to acknowledge the existence of the Metatrin Kingdom," Safilos said with a solemn expression.

"Your Majesty, you must never do that!"

The atmosphere quickly tensed up again. These men were fiercely loyal to Holy Rock City and could not understand the Emperor's intention behind his actions.

"Why not?"

"Your Majesty, Metatrin City is a force to be reckoned with and it is also close to Phoenix. Phoenix's hatred towards us has yet to be resolved. If Phoenix decides to form an alliance with Metatrin after the latter has been recognized, what should we do?"

Safilos sighed again. These nobles might be self-centered, but at least they understood the situation. He was worried about the same thing, but the Emperor had already made his decision, what else could he say?

"The Grand Duke of Phoenix is still in our hands so we don't have to worry about that for the time-being. My Lords, his Majesty has asked me to choose one person to negotiate with Metatrin. Who amongst you wishes to go?"

Seeing that no one was going to volunteer, Safilos said, "If that is the case, I will have to choose one of you."

The Dukes felt helpless. No one was willing to take up this task because there might be danger involved. According to Qin laws, this person would be able to ask for royal mages for company.

"Barde, hand over your responsibilities to your assistant for the time-being and take a trip to Metatrin City," Safilos pointed at the youngest Duke.

Barde nodded and said, "Your Highness, I dare not disobey your order, however… how many mages will His Majesty send forth to ensure my safety?"

"I will speak to His Majesty to appoint a sorcerer and four grand mages to you. I will let Vincent choose two-hundred elite soldiers from the army to protect you. You can bring along another two-hundred men as well, on top of one-thousand soldiers from the guard of honor. This should suffice."

Barde calculated. One-thousand and four-hundred elite soldiers along with four grand mages and one sorcerer. Indeed, this was a rather powerful group of envoys. For some reason, it still felt unsafe. He would need to pass through Phoenix. It was possible for them to encounter some lunatics from Phoenix who would want to harm them. If only the Grand Duke of Phoenix had not died for no good reason in Holy Rock City.

"Guderian City will also deploy two regiments for your protection. This should be enough." Safilos said impatiently. At the back of his mind, he knew that he was different from these Dukes. As a grade-9 Professional and a gold grand swordmaster, he rarely had to worry about his own safety. Even if these nobles picked up swordsmanship, they were only at the level of swordmasters at most. It was only natural for them to worry about their own safety.

"Your Highness…"

"Barde, stop trying to stall. Guderian City cannot deploy too many soldiers and horses. I will write a letter to Metatrin City beforehand so that they can prepare soldiers to bring you in. If you are worried about Phoenix…"

"Your Highness, I will go, I will go!" Barde hurriedly made his stand. Although this was a dangerous task, it also served as a kind of political capital. It was not as if there were no benefits to be gained. Besides, the Prince had already fought hard for his protection. The soldiers deployed from Guderian City were the best proof of this.

"On this trip to Metatrin City, you will need to find out what is really happening there. The news brought back by merchants may not always be reliable. Go to the palace now. His Majesty has other tasks for you. Do your best," Safilos' expression softened. He recalled that Barde's son was still young. If anything happened, his family would be in trouble, so Safilos stopped chiding the young Duke.

Over at the palace, Ojarvis was receiving the Heads of the four major families, which were also the four palace Earls.

The four major families; the Tiffany family, the Rolande family, the Williams family, and the Clyde family, all possessed enormous wealth, but lacked political powers. Everything was held within the tight grasp of the royal family.

Ojarvis looked at the four elders and said slowly, "I know that some members have split from your families to pledge their allegiances to Saleen. What I am trying to say is, don't try to stop or hinder them."