Badge in Azure

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

The funds that Saleen was actually able to take for himself without fear of criticism from the nobles, were the royal allowance allocated to him as the king. As Sika put it, without any other actual royalty in the Metatrin Kingdom, and only nobles around, these was no one who actually cared about the treasury.

"I'm the only one? Says who?", Saleen said as he caressed Sika's belly gently. There were two children moving about within, who, within a few months, would come to the world.

Sika leaned into Saleen, "It's all thanks to them that you can't actually play with me even if I wanted to. That is fine. I can feel them both inside, and that makes me happy…"

Sika laid down again and snuggled up to Saleen, refusing to let him catch any more beasts. She merely wanted to stay by his side and quietly listen to his heartbeat.

Daniel sat behind his desk alone in the city council building of Metatrin City, after Saleen's fleet had left, he was in no mood to read all those documents lying about. He was initially very keen in his role as a municipal official and found the work to be rather fun. He had no intentions of leaving the place, however, doing so had him slacking in his practice of magic.

Despite only having half as much time as he used to have to practice, he nonetheless felt that he was nearing his time for advancement. This was something near-impossible, as the advancement of death mages to the rank of sorcerers was far more difficult than that of elemental mages. He had slacked in his practice, yet he neared the next stage quickly.

Saleen had the winged skeleton wash Daniel's Dead Soul Flame right before he left. Daniel had, at the time, felt that if he were to just put his work aside and train for a week, he would have been able to almost fulfill the requisites for advancing into the rank of sorcerer. That would have been a process of accumulation and he was not allowed to simply break off.

His desire for advancement had returned despite having almost given up on the idea.

Despite being born a lesser noble, and liking being an official himself, his greater identity was that of a mage. He was a mage who was different from other Tanggulasian mages. The possibility of advancing into the ranks of sorcerer proved very, very tempting to him.

Then again, he was a follower of Saleen, and putting off the task given by his master would have been doing Saleen a disservice. Metatrin City was in a very busy stage at that moment, and he had great teamwork with the other officials in the city council as they were very familiar with each other. If anyone were to replace him as the one in charge, there would be problems waiting to happen. The situation was compounded by the fact that the city council had always been short in hands, with all menial labor delegated to the spirits. If he were to leave, there would be a need for recruiting new personnel. That would be bad for keeping secrets.

Bang bang bang…

Sounds of hurried knockings on the door pulled him from his deep thoughts. "Come in," said Daniel in a lazy tone, and stamped the document in front of him without looking at it much. "The nobles are sure as greedy bunch. Asking for a tax reduction, and then wanting to buy land. They're even thinking of increasing the number of farmers working on their land.

These matters were originally handled by Saleen, but with both Saleen and Sika gone, Nicholas was in charge of things. Daniel denied that application laid in front of him without giving so much as a second thought.

Denied documents would not be returned to the applicants immediately. Instead, such documents were returned alongside other applications. Such documents were then put under lock-down in the city council, which would have the applicants waiting.

The one entering the office was a soldier sweating all over. After giving Daniel a rushed salute, he spoke, "My liege, there are problems at the west side."

"Huh? What happened?"

"A lot of people were poisoned. Some said that it was due to Metatrin City having too many spirits of the dead running about."

Daniel tensed in reflex, and snickered, "Noted. Go get Master Nicholas. Don't do anything drastic just yet. Get more people scouting for more news."

The reason Daniel snickered was a simple one: he knew what happened. Daniel had not been one entertain malpractices of any kind in his work and did things by the book. That resulted in some people being dissatisfied with him and wanting him out of the picture.

While spirits of the dead indeed carried venom on them, the spirits had to release it intentionally. Spirits of the dead under control would not have poisoned anyone, even if they were literally stuck to someone.

What was most foolish about the people was that they had intended to kick him out with rumors. He was a follower of Saleen; it was a given that Saleen would not have even considered stripping him of his job because of some stupid rumors like that.

While Daniel himself had, by then, had little intention to continue becoming an official, he would not allow others lying about him.

Rumors were ridiculous child's play to mages. It required little more than a sorcerer's declaration to break them. Everyone would know such rumors were baseless at a mages word.

Daniel had not wanted to pursue that route. Someone died, and that meant it had become a criminal case. There was not even a need to guess if the poisons originated from a spirit. "These people were willing to go that far, just to set me up!"

Daniel had not detected anything when Saleen was around, but someone would have made a move as soon as Saleen left the city. "Sika really had her way of getting things done. Just rounding up anyone who dared try anything funny and having them dealt with. Things would be easier if I did the same."

Nicholas was brought to the city council and listened to Daniel's descriptions. Nicholas laughed, "That is a good thing!"

"A good thing, why and how?"

"The establishment of the Kingdom of Metatrin happened too quickly, and laws were lacking. With this, Saleen will be able to amend the laws and further strengthen his power as king. Have you not noticed? The power of humans on this plane is growing at a frightening speed. It is only a matter of time before everyone eventually finds out about that. Some farmers might find themselves having more strength than a bull while plowing their fields. A blacksmith might just accidentally have broken the gear he was working on thanks to that newfound strength."

"Things are that serious?"

"I would say so. The armies of the fourth dynasty were powerful. Even common foot soldiers were all swordmasters. Low ranked officers were at least of the rank of grand swordmasters or bronze grand swordmasters. Any personal guard was something like that. The knight caste was still around at that time. Many of them would have had the strength of taking on an entire regiment from our generation."

Daniel believed every word Nicholas said. If Nicholas was right, then the power of most people would increase very quickly, that would then present a glaring problem. The laws of all states currently were established in relations to the level of personal strength as a whole. If the powers of humanity as a whole were to return, there would be a need to reset a lot of laws established thus far.

The fall of the fourth dynasty had been attributed, for the most part, to the weakening of humanity's power. The rulers were no longer able to maintain their authority. Armies formed by common people were no longer cannon fodder. Many had decisive roles in a lot of ways. The number of true knights dwindled, and it was not long before the caste was wiped out entirely. The abolishment of this caste brought about the fracturing of the fourth dynasty's rule.

The laws of Metatrin City were no longer appropriate for the new rules spanning the entire plane. If humanity was to return to the power level of the fourth dynasty, a caste similar to the knights would reappear. The people would have make rulers like nobles.

"It would seem that there is a need for my original plans to change. Master Nicholas, what do you have in mind?"

"Round up the ones creating and spreading the rumors. No trials and no convictions for the moment. Look up whatever you can on the laws of the fourth dynasty. If they are to be tried, they are to be judged in accordance to the norms of the fourth dynasty. All this will then be made part of our new laws."

"Understood. Our lord has always claimed himself to be the descendant of the fourth dynasty's rulers. Nothing wrong with doing as you said," Daniel was impressed at the extent of Nicholas' sheer cunning, and how sensitive he was in matters related to power struggles, so much so that he was able to turn such happenings to his favor and create a more conducive state to rule.

"I wouldn't be much of a match if I were to go against Master Nicholas, even if that meant going against him without resorting to violence."

Daniel grew more respectful to Nicholas after the exchange of thoughts. Nicholas had not paid any attention to Daniel's current status. The latter was very sensitive to the awakening of humanity's powers. He had hoped deep within that he would have been able to benefit from it. That meant breaking through the limits of grade-9 and becoming a grade-10 fallen holy master.

With new powers of life, holy masters would be rendered more potent in battle.

"So, master, did you mean that we will do this within the confines of Metatrin City, or that we will spread the change throughout the entire Kingdom of Metatrin?", Daniel was merely a high-ranking official from the city council. His jurisdiction did not extend beyond the Metatrin Plains.

"Daniel, have you lost your mind with all that magic practice of yours? Why bother with anything outside the city? If the powers of humanity are to rise, then just having Metatrin City will suffice for our lord. The city was an impregnable fortress even back in the fourth dynasty. Just do your job and don't cause him any trouble."

"Yes, master."

"Daniel, are you going to advance soon?", Nicholas asked in a nonchalant manner.

"I will indeed."

"You will need time to practice then." Nicholas let out a long sigh, which in itself served adequately as an answer. "How about I take care of things for you for the moment. You go focus on your advancement and come back when you are done. How does that sound?"

"But Master Nicholas, how…how will I ever to repay your generosity!?", Daniel asked, feeling flattered and blessed. Nicholas was once a high-ranking officer within the Holy See. He was more than able to oversee such management work without a glitch. Having a grade-9 fallen priest take care of such mundane work for him, had Daniel frightened nonetheless. Was Nicholas plotting something like treason, or was he trying to bribe Daniel?

"Repay me? I was just simply thinking that you were the loneliest among our lord's followers, so maybe you would like to work with me. Only by doing so, will your place get any higher than this," Nicholas elaborated temptingly.

"Nicholas, you are plotting against our lord?!", Daniel's face went pale. Nicholas had no fear of anything, as he himself was grade-9. The possible traitor might have ways to go against the contract, but not him. Saleen was good to Daniel, and anyone would have probably needed to resort to torturing his soul to have him turn against Saleen. Daniel would not have even entertained such thoughts even if doing so would have cost him his life.

Nicholas laughed boomingly and pointed at Daniel, "Why do I need to betray our lord? Gosh, your thought patterns are just disappointing. I was only thinking that our lord would be able to achieve much grander feats, feats so grand that it would exceeded my imagination and yours. If we are to keep following him, don't you think we will need to think about our place beside him?"

"Our place beside him?"

"Who do you think our lord favors? You, or the others?", Nicholas put on a deadpan expression as he asked that in a solemn voice.