Chapter 167
Chapter 167: The Admonition (Part 2)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Father, I did not expect her to be so perceptive,” the youth replied in an upset tone. The youth looked coy in front of his father, so his father did not know that he had been planning to use force on Lex.
“She might only be a grade-6 mage, but you did not bring any underlings with you?”
“She had a mage master with her as well, and I was not confident that I would be able to keep this matter under wraps.”
“You have underestimated Lex. Chanake did not favor Lex just because he pampered her. I will only allow you to commit this kind of mistake once, and if you repeat it…” Dominic stared at his son savagely, causing that youth to break out into a sweat. According to the rules of the Qin Empire, the eldest son would not necessarily inherit the title of the duke, and the youth still had two more brothers.
Seeing that his son was distressed, Duke Dominic softened his expression and said, “You are right. If Lex could make a place like the Bitter Water Prefecture flourish, then she might possibly possess more wealth than Pompeii. If we manage to manipulate Lex, our power will only increase. Without Chanake at the helm of the empire, the empire might not be as strong as it used to be. We need to start thinking for ourselves.”
“Then should we send the Black Emblem Army after them?”
“We shouldn’t be too conspicuous about it. Since they are going to Alchemy City, I have already deployed some men to go ahead.”
“The people from Dragon’s Tooth Town might not be very reliable.”
“I know. They are not serious in siding with us, so when something goes wrong, I will also shirk all responsibility. Imposa, if you were well versed in our family’s swordsmanship, Lex would not have been able to escape. Don’t interfere in this matter for now. When you become a black metal grand swordmaster, I will then hand over control of the Black Emblem Army to you.”
The youth clad in robes was overjoyed. He had thought that he would be severely punished, but not only had his father forgiven him, he had even agreed to give him control over the Black Emblem Army. The Black Emblem Army was the duke’s private army, and it could have more than ten thousand soldiers. But all this while, Dominic had wanted to avoid any taboos, so he had restricted the army’s manpower to only three thousand soldiers.
However, after Emperor Chanake’s death, many nobles had begun expanding their private armies. Naturally, Pompeii was no exception. In the past six months or so, the Black Emblem Army had ballooned to five thousand soldiers, and it was now able to establish five emblem groups.
Lex and her team kept travelling nonstop for two hundred miles. Then, the war horses grew exhausted and they had to take a break. Lex dismounted from her horse and took out her map, and she asked Saleen and the others to come over.
“We will not make it in time to cross the river. There is only one way to get to Alchemy City from the west side of the river.” Lex pointed to a town at the top of the map and said, “Dragon’s Tooth Town. But, we will definitely run into trouble there.”
“Run into trouble? This is almost four hundred miles from Pompeii!” Saleen looked at the map. There was a large city two hundred miles west of Dragon’s Tooth Town. It would not be easy for Pompeii to extend its sphere of influence all the way there.
“That’s why we are in trouble. If we meet with a mishap there, Dominic can shirk all responsibility easily.”
“We can abandon the war horses and go through this mountainous region,” Saleen replied, pointing to a spot east of the road.
“Saleen, it was my mistake to reveal my identity. However, I really cannot tolerate such an insult. Don’t you want to teach them a lesson?” Lex had already been forced to abandon the ship, and if she also needed to go around Dragon’s Tooth Town now, it would be an undeniable insult to her.
Dragon’s Tooth Town only had a population of approximately twenty to thirty thousand people, and it did not have a magic tower. Lex was not willing to run away anymore. She wanted to teach Dominic a lesson. Since Dominic had offended her, she would make sure that his days would be hellish.
Saleen pondered for a moment and felt that what Lex had said made sense. If they did not even dare to go to Dragon’s Tooth Town, then other nobles would definitely climb over Lex in the future. If the Bitter Water County wanted to make progress, they could not suffer in silence. Pompeii might have had a magic tower and at least ten thousand soldiers, but Dragon’s Tooth Town would at most have a few clans and just thousands of soldiers.
“So what should we do?”
“Dragon’s Tooth Town is a distribution center for armor and weapons, so there aren’t many mages around. Since we want to go through it, we have to go past the town. Without a magic tower, there will not be any threat of danger from other mages. After entering the town, there will be no more plains, and there will only be one road ahead of us. They will have us enter the town before taking any action.”
“How many people can Dragon’s Tooth Town deploy?” Lex magnified the map of Dragon’s Tooth Town, exposing the streets all over the city. The terrain was narrow, so it was not suitable for cavalry or mages.
“Everyone can be deployed, and there will be at least fourteen thousand people.”
“That’s a lot!” Saleen’s confidence was beginning to waver. He stood a chance against one thousand men, but if there were more than ten thousand soldiers, then the four of them would have to fight a serious battle.
“Saleen, we still have twenty fully constructed puppets with us. We can take this opportunity to test the capabilities of these puppets.” Lex was not worried at all. Without a magic tower, her fully constructed puppets could not be easily destroyed anymore. Even if there were many enemies, she only needed to look for their elites and use the puppets to carry out a massacre. This would cause the enemies to lose their will to carry on fighting.
Saleen did not know this, but in a large scale war, once a side had lost more than ten percent of their troops, their morale would hit rock bottom. If the number was over twenty percent, the army would collapse. If an army lost fifty percent of its men and was still fighting, then it would be best to stop the battle. But soldiers of such mettle would definitely not exist in Dragon’s Tooth Town.
Saleen then recalled that those fully constructed puppets that he and Lex had acquired in the hell of god’s punishment could participate in battle as well.
“Will the losses outweigh the gains?” In the end, Saleen asked a very strategic question. High-grade magic nuclei were required to launch the fully constructed puppets. In addition, he would use a huge quantity of scrolls during the battle. All of these expenditures could not be compensated with gold coins.
“Relax, I won’t leave Dragon’s Tooth Town so quickly. I will empty their treasury first. My only worry is that those people will not dare to fight us.”
Saleen was disheartened. It seemed like Lex did not want to just teach Dominic a lesson, but she also wanted to get her hands on the town’s armor and weapons. Since the Bitter Water County was expanding its military, it would be much faster for Lex to steal all of this equipment instead of purchasing it.
“Lex, during the battle, do you want me to kill the enemies or cripple them?” Sika asked solemnly. After all, Dragon’s Tooth Town was a city on the empire’s soil, and it belonged to a certain family so it was under the protection of the laws of the Qin Empire.
“Don’t show any mercy. This kind of battle will only stop when the other party is dead. As long as someone on the other side refuses to lay down their weapons, we will keep fighting.” Lex’s response was ruthless. It was completely unlike the usual kindness she displayed when she spoke.
“Wouldn’t that be too cruel?” Nailisi asked delicately. Saleen only glared at her. It was perfectly normal for someone to ask such a question, but it was quite amusing to see that the person to ask had been Nailisi.
“Yes, it would be.” Lex paid no mind to Nailisi’s instigation. Lex simply brought out the puppets and began swapping out their magic nuclei. The original magic nuclei had been grade-7, but since there were going to be more enemies present, the grade-7 magic nuclei might not be able to last the entire battle.
Saleen also began emptying his demonic ring as there were many unnecessary items inside. He transferred all the items into the Ring of Gifts, except for the bronze magic book and the written scrolls. In addition, Saleen put the witcher spider into his bag.
Nailisi took out the two fully constructed puppets which belonged to Saleen, and Lex changed their magic nuclei into grade-8 ones as well.
Once all the preparations had been completed, Lex instructed everyone to memorize the terrain of Dragon’s Tooth Town and gave special instructions to Nailisi. “You will stay behind Saleen, as the enemy might possess alchemy crossbows. Once you spot those crossbows, send out the fully constructed puppets. Never let Saleen take the damage as his level-4 magic might be destroyed by the alchemy crossbows.”
“Sika, you are skilled in equestrianism and you have heavy weapons, so you shall focus on the ballistae. Ignore the swordsmen and mages.”
“Saleen, at the start, use the bronze magic book. Don’t use the level-4 or level-5 scrolls. Let the enemies become hopeful.” Lex instructed the three of them one by one.
Lex was very clear. Once the battle started, she would not show any mercy. However, there was one condition. She could not be the one who started the fight, or else their enemies would have a hold over her. If Lex’s attacks were too savage at the start and the soldiers from Dragon’s Tooth Town surrendered, then things would be very troublesome.
Lex could not conquer this town as it was too far from the Bitter Water County. Hence, she would not be able to control it.
After completing her instructions, Lex patiently brought out her map again and showed the other three the types of vocations, weapons, and tactics which were commonly seen in armies. Lex had never regarded Saleen as a combat mage, so she had never taught him such things in the past.
Seeing that the war horses were fully rested, the four of them continued their journey. Lex caressed her horse, displaying a hint of pity in her eyes. In the battle later on, these horses would most likely be killed. Since there would be too many enemies, she would only be able to protect her team, and she would not have time to care for the horses.
The roads in the Qin Empire were more than twelve meters wide. During wars, larger carriages would be able to pass and they would not damage the surface of the roads. Riding a horse that was blessed with magic on these roads would enable a person to cover one hundred miles in just a little more than two hours.
By the time Lex and her team approached Dragon’s Tooth Town, it was already late into the night. Lex and Sika were riding in front with Saleen and Nailisi at the rear. The north and east sides of the town were not surrounded by walls, and there was only one fortress on each side of the road. This fortress was very tiny. It looked like it could only fit up to one hundred soldiers.
Saleen disseminated his perception and discovered that the loaded crossbows in those two fortresses had locked their aims onto his back. However, he did not feel threatened as there were no alchemy crossbows in the fortresses. After all, this was a small town, and according to the laws of the empire, such weapons were not allowed to be employed during peacetime.
Lex and her team did not slow down at all. They did not signal any intentions of stopping at Dragon’s Tooth Town. Up ahead, a drunk man suddenly appeared on the road, and he was walking while swaying back and forth. Lex snorted and immediately cast a frost array at the man’s feet.
Actually, the drunk man would have coincidentally blocked Lex’s path given his pace. However, the frost array stopped the man in his tracks and Lex simply rode past him, causing the drunk man to be stunned.
All of a sudden, hundreds of arrows shot out from both sides of the road. If Lex and her team had stopped advancing, that barrage of arrows would have engulfed them. That drunk man could not dodge and he was pierced by dozens of arrows. He screamed in pain before gradually becoming unable to breathe.
Then, a black fog suddenly appeared and enveloped Lex and her team. The commander who was hiding in the shadows realized that his enemies were prepared, so he hesitated. Because of that hesitation, dark red rain droplets started to fall out of the sky in a one thousand meter radius. The soldiers who were hiding in shadows came into contact with the rain, and they ran out of the shadows wailing in pain.
The black fog flitted about and encompassed Lex and her team. Then, the black fog rushed towards a road junction straight ahead.