Badge in Azure

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

Earl Besta stood to the side and listened. He knew what Saleen's intentions were, so he did not raise any objection. He was very afraid that Saleen might create trouble for Antos in the heat of the moment.

Saleen's bounty was a warning to Antos to stop opposing Metatrin. At the moment, the world was in more and more turmoil, there were many people who were willing to assassinate Antos.

Once the bounty was disseminated, Antos could either continue offending Saleen, or he could ask someone to mediate and ask Saleen to retract the bounty.

By getting Saleen to withdraw the bounty, it would mean that Antos had softened his stance. Whatever compensation Saleen had to pay would be borne by Antos, that included interest and fees for canceling the bounty. Antos would have to pay at least one-hundred-thousand gold coins.

Saleen's retaliation might not appear powerful nor weak, but Saleen was loitering here deliberately. He allowed the winged skeleton to have thoughts of killing the enemy. "A twenty-thousand man army wants to besiege me, does that mean that the winged skeleton's past year of summoning will go down the drain?"

Saleen's consumption of magic nuclei was very high and that was largely because of the winged skeleton. The jade skeletons created by the winged skeleton possessed intelligence, they could summon other spirits. Other than steering warships and training the navy, these skeletons would help Saleen amass a spirit army during their remaining free time.

Saleen did not have so many Green Spirit rocks. In order to help the spirits maintain their offensive power, he had to install a colossal magic array to absorb strength from the death plane regularly to rear the spirits.

Most of the Green Spirit rocks were with the winged skeleton. Around fifty-thousand spirits were stored, while the remaining spirits had to be sustained using magic nuclei.

"This time around, a number of spirits were brought along to be given to Lex as soldiers for her warship. Since I have come under attack, I shall let these spirits battle with Qin's army for a while. It will be good to let the winged skeleton have some practice targets."

Saleen did not continue interrogating the six white-robed mages, he only spoke to the two injured mages, "The person who wounded you is called Cuisi, do you hate him?"

The two mages raised their heads, Cuisi's whip had disappeared, Cuisi was simply standing behind Saleen with an unfeeling gaze. The two mages laughed bitterly and said, "Cuisi is Sir's subordinate, we would not dare…"

"That's great, I was still worried that you two might die without rhyme nor reason. A mage is precious, don't put your own lives at stake. What grade are you all at?"

"Sir, we are all grade-2 mages, the Qin army never has grade-3 mages. The grade-3 mages are thinking of how to advance to a grand mage."

"A grade-2 mage is still useful." Saleen's words made the white-robed mages demoralized, they still thought that Saleen wanted to recruit followers. They never expected Saleen to overlook their capabilities. At that moment, Isabella and Eleanor entered the room.

"Sir!"

Seeing the gray magic robes worn by the two ladies, the fantasy harbored by the six mages was destroyed. The two female mages were clad in robes with three magic symbols, it was the trademark of a grade-6 grand mage.

"Seems like Saleen's followers have to be at least at that grade."

Of course Saleen would not sign a follower's contract recklessly, the number of follower's contracts a mage could sign was limited, it was dependent on the magnitude of a mage's mental strength. If too many contracts were signed, contractual loopholes would appear easily.

Saleen had signed contracts with Nailisi, the winged skeleton, Nicholas, Jola, and Su. They were all experts above grade-6. A contract with any of them took up more than two contractual slots. Nicholas alone already occupied six contractual slots, this was to ensure that the contract would be stable.

Regarding the signing of contracts, a low grade follower would occupy one contractual slot at the minimum. Saleen would never waste one on a grade-2 mage.

Having a grade-2 mage as a follower was pretty good for other grade-6 mages. Saleen could not be satisfied, he demanded the best talents.

At that moment, Tolesi entered and whispered the arrangement at the city entrance to Saleen. Saleen nodded and said, "Besta, the enemy only has about twenty-thousand men, the battle will be over very soon. I need to get to Daliang City as soon as possible. After the battle, I will ask Soldier to create some undead soldiers and zombies to aid you in defense."

"Thank you, Your Highness…" Besta knew that Saleen was worried that the Qin people might continue wreaking havoc after his departure.

"You don't have to thank me. This time, I want to give a warning to Holy Rock City that they have gone overboard." Finishing his sentence, Saleen told the six white-robed mages, "Follow me to Daliang City, but before we leave, we have to sign a contract. Mm…" Saleen pondered, then asked Isabella and Eleanor, "Do you need manpower?"

Eleanor shook her head, she did not need any male mages to follow her. If she lacked manpower, she could request a few female Caucasus warriors from Sika, whereby it was even possible for her to cultivate one or two mages.

Isabella also shook her head, by following Saleen, she would not need any disciples as everything had been taken care of by Saleen. "If I accept these mages, I still have to spend money to take care of them."

The six white-robed mages got slightly anxious, they never expected that a day would come when they would become an unnecessary burden.

"Sir, give them to me then," Tolesi said, his forte laid in mental magic, he was not very fond of melee fights. With a few mages to impart his skills to, he could help these six people grow their mental strength explosively and they could advance to grade-3 quickly, they would be great helpers.

Saleen turned to the other demons. Cuisi and the rest shook their heads.

Cuisi did not require any helpers, if he had a choice, he would rather lead tens of thousands of demons to battle. Luola fought like a human swordsman, his techniques were similar to that of an expert at the standard of a grand swordmaster. Aiwa was a demon who relied on brute strength, he did not have any intention of recruiting mages.

"Okay, they will go to you, but I don't wish to see them die mysteriously after a few years," Saleen warned Tolesi. Saleen had to constantly oppress the demons aggression, they might wreak havoc otherwise. If the mages subdued by Saleen ended up dead, no one would dare defect to him in the future.

"Of course not, Sir. If I did that, Master Nailisi would kill me," Tolesi answered while grinning widely. He was already fantasizing, "Once I make these six human mages advance to grade-4, I will have six grand mages to bless myself with shields. I will then be much safer during battle."

As to whether the six mages could progress any further, this was not a question Tolesi needed to consider. In the past, it was always humans subduing demons, now it was finally his turn to subdue humans.

The six white-robed mages signed a contract with Tolesi helplessly. When they saw the symbol on the contract, they sunk into despair. They had noticed symbols of the demonic language!

Tolesi smiled brightly as he looked at the six human mages, then said, "Not bad, not bad. You are very knowledgeable, you actually recognize demonic writing. I am a demon, Sir Nailisi's demon. If you are disobedient in the future…"

"Tolesi?" Saleen narrowed his eyes and glared at Tolesi.

Tolesi quickly altered his words, "If you are disobedient, then you won't get the chance to advance. I will help you guys become grand mages and master demonic magic!"

One of the white-robed mages was crestfallen and said, "How did it come to this…"

Saleen stood at one side and observed. Tolesi did not possess many threatening tactics, causing him to feel depressed, "Why is it so difficult to subdue a few weak humans? These humans who have signed a servant's contract still have disdain for me in their hearts!"

Saleen noticed Tolesi's expression, then said through furrowed brows, "Tolesi, just reveal whatever benefits you can give them, stop wasting time. The four of you shall assist the army and chase the enemy away."

Seeing that Cuisi was glaring at him, Tolesi quickly told the mages, "Within a month, I will help you all advance to grade-3, within a year you all will attain the pinnacle state of a grade-3 mage. You will have to depend on yourself to become grand mages."

Despite Tolesi laying everything out, the six mages were still in disbelief.

"If I didn't have to battle now, I would make you guys train immediately. Follow me." Tolesi huffed.

"Wait." Saleen stopped Tolesi, as he took out six low level magic staffs and twenty-four low level scrolls. Handing these items to the six white-robed mages, he said, "Use these. If you have other needs, just tell Tolesi, he will be glad to help you guys."

Even though Saleen wanted to stifle the newly subdued mages, he was not willing to see humans being toyed with by a demon. Six mages were presented to Tolesi, but Tolesi had to take care of them in the future. Saleen could not possibly pay for everything, otherwise what would the demons do?

The six mages hung their heads low as they followed behind Tolesi. Once they left, Saleen discussed the itinerary with Eleanor and the rest. This location was still a great distance from Daliang City. Given Saleen's speed he could reach within three days. Saleen was not sure whether Marquis Antos would be enraged from all that embarrassment after leaving.

"If such a thing happened, Antos will surely send more troops to attack this place. Once I leave, Earl Besta will be in great trouble." Saleen knew that Earl Besta would not abandon the town unless Lex gave him the order to do so. "I can contact Lex, but if the earl flees, it will be another setback for Bitter Water County. The Bitter Water County is still vying with Qin for Loulan's land. If it softens, the Loulan people might simply defect to Qin's army." Saleen thought of the assassin beside Lex, "That old man called Bain, if he can go and kill Antos, I will be able to save on a lot of trouble."

While Saleen was contemplating the plan after his imminent departure, the battle at the northern gates of the town had surprisingly become pretty intense. The winged skeleton killed the dispersed cavalrymen. That angered the Qin's camp commander and the Qin army immediately advanced. The large sieging appliances were also pushed to a position four miles from the city, flinging rocks into the town.

According to the intelligence, the trebuchets in the town had a range of less than three miles.

The city immediately staged a retaliation, more than a hundred trebuchets flung rocks into the Qin formation. Without any corrections and field survey, plus a lack of guidance from low grade mages, these trebuchets used the standard calibration to attack the enemy blindly. The troops at the city entrance had already calculated the distance to the enemy's location.

Both the interior and exterior of the city had sustained massive losses!