Badge in Azure

“I am a first-class earl who was personally conferred by His Majesty, Lex, you…”

Nicholas could not be bothered to listen to all the noise coming from this earl. Pointing one finger at the earl, the earl immediately lost his voice, he could no longer say another word. The Holy See used the Speech Prohibition spell most frequently. When a person was on trial, they would not be able to rebut once this spell was used, the accused could only wait for the Holy See’s verdict.

Su put his sword into its sheath and went beside Lex, then said, “Your Highness, you should kill this person straightaway, the mere sight of him is disgusting.”

“Kill him? Humph, Agares has insulted me, I will not simply kill him. Execute all the servants which he brought along and bring this fellow to the alchemy laboratory.”

Hearing Lex’s words, the earl finally grew fearful. Once a person entered a mage’s alchemy laboratory, their fate would be unknown. Clearly, Lex was unaffected by his threats. “This is impossible, the military strength of the Bitter Water County is less than four-hundred-thousand and the newly added lands are only around two-thousand miles in area. Once His Majesty’s army arrives, all this will be turned to ashes. Is Lex crazy? Killing an envoy is akin to declaring war!”

Just as he wanted to plead for mercy, the Speech Prohibition spell caused him to feel as if his throat had been fossilized. He could not produce any noise, he could only pant deeply.

Lex’s trusted soldiers carried the earl to the alchemy laboratory, tossing him onto the alchemy platform. Some magic disciples then went forward to remove the earl’s clothes, leaving only his underwear on.

The earl looked at Lex imploringly, but Lex’s blue eyes made him feel abnormally cold.

“I am too lazy to ask for your name. Now, I want to ask you some questions and you will answer me, you cannot lie nor say that you don’t know the answer. If you answer in this manner, do you see this?” Lex pointed to the low-grade mages afar who were working beside the alchemy platform, then said, “There are so many mages who need to practice and gain experience. I will allow you to become an experimental subject until everyone here gets a try. The experiment we are conducting today is fossilizing a skeleton. I will first use the earth-type Shock spell to shatter your bones, then let the mages heal you temporarily.”

Lex stopped and turned to look into the earl’s eyes. His eyes were filled with terror. Lex then continued, “The human body has over two-hundred bones, as long as your answer disappoints me, this experiment will carry on more than two-hundred times before stopping. I guarantee that you will remain sober while the process is going on. If you understand, nod your head.”

The earl nodded desperately, then Lex turned around to look at Nicholas. Nicholas gently tapped the air, and the earl could finally speak again.

“First question, how many troops will Agares send to attack my Daliang City?”

The earl’s heart twitched, as though electricity had just passed through it.

“One-million and two-hundred-thousand, Your Highness.”

Lex nodded in satisfaction, then said, “Second question, when will Agares’ troops arrive?”

“In mid-November, Your Highness.”

“Is it true that Agares will deploy his troops whether I agree to the marriage or not?”

The earl’s eyes became anxious in that instant, he really did not know the answer to this question. There was something wrong with the emperor’s brain, all the Cloudflow nobles knew that. Even god would not be able to tell if the situation would unfold like what Lex had described.

“His Majesty will not relay his secret decree to the receiving fleet, nobles at my rank don’t ever know the truth.” The earl tried his best to answer in a way which would avoid angering Lex.

Lex remained silent for a long while, then said, “Fourth question, tell me the composition of Cloudflow’s fleet and its equipment status.”

The earl did not hesitate this time around, he revealed the data on Cloudflow’s army, such as the ratio of commanders, offensive power, and allocation of equipment. A lot of this information was not secret. He did not dare fabricate anything, he only revealed what he knew.

Lex did not bother memorizing, she asked the low-grade mages to record this information using magic and organize all the intelligence provided by the earl. The earl went on for more than two hours. Even though the earl had a pathetic offensive power, he had access to quite a lot of information. From a certain angle, this fellow was not entirely useless.

There were very few useless nobles because the nobles were the foundation of a country. An emperor would never confer titles upon just anyone, even in a place like Cloudflow where nobles were in abundance.

Back in Metatrin City Saleen had summoned all his trusted nobles over, conducting a meeting in the palace. Since Aini was not around, the other three nobles sat on Saleen’s right side, while Saleen’s followers sat on the left. The only difference this time around was that Sika was sitting beside Saleen.

“I am making a trip to the Bitter Water County and bringing along the newest warships and weapons. After I leave, Sika will be the owner of Metatrin City. She is the mother to my child. Right now, I shall confer Sika the title of Caucasus Queen. When I am not around, Sika will be the regent, while Daniel will continue to manage the administration of the city.”

No one could raise objections, Sika was pregnant with Saleen’s child and she still had over one-hundred-thousand Caucasus warriors who were her fanatical worshippers. It was only right for her to become the regent.

“Nailisi, you will stay behind to assist Sika. Eleanor, Isabella, you will follow me. As for the military, Guya will be in charge for the time being. For commerce, Irene, you have to take care of it. Renee, you have to monitor the Phoenix nobles closely, don’t let them create any trouble.”

Saleen delegated the tasks one by one, the twelve earls had their respective roles.

After settling all those matters, the nobles then left. At that moment, Nailisi said worriedly, “Master, why don’t you let me follow you? This time around, you will fight with the Cloudflow Empire, I feel that there will be grade-9 experts present.”

“Nailisi, Sika is more important, she is pregnant. I will not rest assured if she participates in battle again, you must ensure her safety. I will bring the winged skeleton and the alchemical boat to sea, while the alchemy factories have successfully replicated the diving warship. Including those mini bone warships which were made by the winged skeleton, I won’t be afraid of Cloudflow’s fleet.”

“But Master!” Nailisi was distressed, she still could not have peace of mind despite what Saleen said.

“My water puppet has recovered, it can cast the Crystal Finger. Even a grade-9 expert can be killed by this attack.” Saleen knew that his badge’s ability had not been regained and the lightning dragons in the necklace had gone into deep slumber after consuming the magic nucleus of a grade-10 lightning dragon. They could not replenish the badge’s strength, so Nailisi was anxious.

“Let Cuisi and the others go with you!” Nailisi said.

“Okay, Cuisi’s ability is pretty good now.” Saleen did not reject Nailisi’s request.

“Let Jola go too, he is not very useful here either.”

“No, Jola has to stay behind to hold the fort. Metatrin City has sufficient mages, but he is the only Silver Grand Swordmaster left. I can only rest assured with him around. Nailisi, the Golden Magic Book which Uncle Fellett gave me contains eighteen level-7 spells and I have also prepared more than one-hundred magic staffs which were gifted by Joey. Each staff can contain three level-7 spells. This time around I can use high-level spells at will to attack the enemy, what else are you worried about?”

Nailisi only sighed bitterly, but Sika remained very composed.

“Saleen, even if you do not marry Lex on this trip, no one can woo her anymore. I will support you. If you run into undefeatable enemies…”

“I will escape.” Saleen nodded his head slightly as he finished Sika’s sentence, then said, “I still have to take care of our child, I will not put my life at stake.”

Sika smiled and told Nailisi, “See, your master is still very afraid of dying. Don’t worry, just stay here with me.”

Eleanor stood at one side and remained silent, she knew that Saleen was willing to make this trip because their coordination had reached a pinnacle state, mages below grade-6 could no longer pose a threat to Saleen. “My Space Arrow can suppress a grade-7 mage. Coupled with Saleen’s level-7 spell, we can team up against one mage. Saleen and I can make a grade-7 sorcerer die indignantly.”

Isabella’s powers had been regained, other than being a grade-6 mage, she was also a high-grade swordmaster who was about to progress to a grand swordmaster. She could only advance successfully after becoming a sorcerer though.

Only a mage like that would be unusually ruthless. The weapon Saleen had crafted for Isabella was a longsword which possessed the abilities of a magic staff. People who were clueless about Isabella’s profile would surely before her.

“Master, you must take care…” Nailisi’s eyes were brimming with tears, as she helplessly watched Saleen leave with Eleanor and Isabella.

Saleen’s team only contained two-hundred people. The leaders were Saleen, the winged skeleton, Eleanor, Isabella, and the four demons.

The soldiers who tagged along were all trained by Isabella, they were warriors who were swordmasters and low-grade magic disciples at the same time. The winged skeleton had mysteriously put away the pan’s turtle alchemical boat. Saleen’s twenty-four Dimension Stones were carrying the twelve diving warships and six dismantled bone warships.

The other warship materials formed a mountainous pile. Saleen was going to make use of the mages in Daliang City to form a fleet on the spot to attack Cloudflow’s army from the sea.

Cloudflow’s fleet was indomitable, it was time to destroy the myth of it.

Unfortunately, the dragon skeleton warship could not be disassembled, it could not be stored in any equipment. If this machine was steered to the open waters, Saleen would be more confident of destroying Cloudflow’s offensive otherwise.

Other than the warship materials, Saleen also brought along a number of magic stone cannons. It was convenient to bring them around, but its usage fees were high. This was no big deal though; if Cloudflow’s fleet could be defeated, any amount of spending would be worth it.

As long the Cloudflow people could not attack via sea, they would have to breach the siege by Tanggulasi first in order to attack Lex’s territory. They would have to conquer the land north of Chishui River and make a detour of a few thousand miles before being able to come into contact with Lex’s army.

After coming to Metatrin City, the winged skeleton was the first to go onshore. He had summoned more than two-hundred skeletal warhorses, taking the lead to charge ahead. These skeletal warhorses were different from the ones summoned by the three kings, they came fitted with riding equipment and their speed was horrifying. Without the winged skeleton’s control, Saleen’s soldiers would not have dared ride on them.

Metatrin City was over twenty-thousand miles from Daliang City. If they did not move quickly, Saleen could not possibly arrive by October.

He could not be not anxious. If Daliang City, which had no navy, could not seal off the sea, it would be invaded by Cloudflow’s army which had more than one-million troops.