Badge in Azure

Chapter 334: Jola’s Request (Part 2)

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

Seeing that the four of them were still hesitating, Jola turned his body to face Saleen and asked, “Master, does your friend need four magic beasts to be converted into summoned creatures?”

“Sure, why not,” Saleen said, playing along. His encounter with Jola had been purely by accident. If those four junior grand swordsmen could swallow their pride and follow his orders, Saleen did not mind drafting contracts for them.

If he did draft a contract for each of them, he would also be responsible for these four magic beast knights. Mages needed to provide their followers with weapons, money, and armor, as well as any other living expenses. When necessary, mages could even need to protect their own followers. The relationship between both parties was very complex. The reason why so many people willingly became followers was because it was not just giving without receiving.

A powerful mage could even have over a hundred loyal followers by his side. They would treat each other like family and do anything to ensure the well-being and safety of the other. Take Lex’s personal assassin, Bain, for example. Technically, Bain fell under the category of a “follower”. He had his own family – a wife and a daughter – both whom were also under Lex’s protection. Anyone who hurt even a single hair on their heads would have to suffer Lex’s wrath.

In addition, mages had to provide quite a staggering sum of money in order to take care of their followers’ expenses, be it on necessities or luxuries. If Saleen had possessed good materials, he would definitely have created a suit of magic armor for Jola as well as a wide variety of powerful magic weapons suited for a variety of situations.

To use Bain as an example again, when he had wanted his daughter to learn magic, Lex had wasted no time in gifting him a green dragon’s magic nucleus. Even though it was too inferior to be considered a dragonshard, this artifact was valuable enough to fetch tens of thousands of gold coins in any auction.

“Master Saleen,” the four magic beast swordsmen said as they lowered their heads and proceeded with their Cloudflow greeting. They were still reeling from the recent events. Now that they did not have any backing from the royal family, even though they had just been promoted to the rank of grand swordmasters, there were no prospects for them.

Right now, they were panicking over whether the mage standing in front of them was worth serving. If they chose to follow Jola, there would be no turning back for them. Even the emperor would be unable to pardon them.

As Saleen eyed the four magic beast swordsmen who were still hesitating, he suddenly understood their inner turmoil and spoke out, “If you follow Jola, you’ll technically be my followers too. If you want, I can sign a contract with all of you.”

Saleen was not going to care about what Emperor Jupiter thought. He already had a follower named Jupiter, and he did not care about what that Jupiter thought either. If he were to care about Emperor Jupiter’s feelings, he might just need to change that pirate’s name.

“Master!” the four magic beast swordsmen chorused in relief upon hearing Saleen’s words. They had absolutely no faith in Jola and his words. Back in the Cloudflow Empire, he had been known as a womanizer, always making young female noblewomen swoon over him with his glib tongue. They would much rather be sentenced to death by Emperor Jupiter than allow Jola to control their fates.

The four magic beast swordsmen knelt down on one knee simultaneously as they snapped their sabers over them. This gesture had a very symbolic meaning over in the Cloudflow Empire. Their swords belonged to Emperor Jupiter. Once they broke their swords, it meant that they would no longer be using those swords to fight their battles. Instead, they would dedicate the rest of their lives to fighting for Saleen.

Saleen knew what the gesture meant, and was elated to see how dedicated the four magic beast knights were. Yet, at the same time, he felt that it was a waste to destroy four perfectly good, high-quality swords like that. The good thing was that magic beast knights had their own unique sets of weapons for war. Sabers were not the only equipment which the four of them could operate. The only problem now was that if the four of them were to become Saleen’s followers, Saleen would have to pay for the manufacture of four new sabers.

Gurney, who was right beside Daniel, watched the magic beast swordsmen with envy. His biggest dream was to become Saleen’s follower. Unfortunately for him, he was not capable enough. Saleen would never accept a swordsman of his rank. However, he knew that if he put in the effort, he would be able to pick up advanced swordcraft. Once that happened in around two to three years from now, he would become a swordmaster. Only then would he be eligible to fight for Saleen.

Saleen took out an extra set of his clothing and handed it to Jola. His gown had been created using magic, which meant that even if Saleen did not use magic to shield himself from the cold, wearing this gown would protect him. Thus, even when it became cold over in the city base, Saleen did not wear thick cotton outfits.

Saleen recalled how pathetic he had looked when he was younger, always shivering during the winter because he could not afford winter clothes. At that point in time, he had decided that one day, if he became some legendary figure, he would buy the best fur coats money could buy. In fact, he would buy a new fur coat every day just for the thrill of it. However, once he actually had reached this level of success, he had realized that he did not need all those materialistic items.

Seemingly unashamed of his body, Jola took off his robe and top in front of everybody present and changed into the gown that Saleen had given him. The new robe instantly shielded him from the cold weather. Even though the robe looked thin and a bit small, Jola found that it did not feel tight at all. In fact, he did a few stretches with his arms and legs just to confirm it.

Is this what mages wear? Amazing! What a luxury! Jola thought in awe.

“Master, can you give me a sword?” Jola requested yet again. His Qin eight-sided sword had been broken cleanly in half by Saleen. Since he was not a mage, it was obvious that he could not restore the sword to its original state.

“Don’t you still have this?” Saleen asked as he took Jola’s sheath from the pirate’s hand and returned it to its rightful owner. Now that the contract had been signed, Saleen was not worried that Jola would go back on his word.

“Master… it would not be best to use this weapon unless the user is in a dangerous situation,” Jola replied.

“Okay, but you might not be interested in whatever weapons the people here have on hand right now. Once we return, I’ll refine a weapon specially for you,” Saleen said as he ordered one of the pirates to find a sword suitable for the sheath. Once a sword was found, Saleen handed it over to Jola.

“Return? Master, we have a nest?” Jola exclaimed.

“What nest? I’m not a pirate!” Saleen scolded.

Jola ignored Saleen and continued, “I bet these swordsmen aren’t really swordsmen. They look like they’ve robbed people before. Even if they were not professionals in the past, they definitely look like criminals to me.” As he finished his little speech, he stared at the pirates with a venomous gaze. As people said, a leopard could never change its spots. This held true for the pirates that Saleen had brought along with him. Even after undergoing vigorous training, these pirates were still unable to get their pirate-like auras away from their bodies.

“Daniel, get Jola a warhorse please,” Saleen commanded, not bothering himself with Jola’s words. He had already guessed that Jola’s personality would be fairly unpredictable, and might not click with his. Thus, he could not be bothered to waste his breath over people like him.

Daniel put away his death creature and summoned another skeletal warhorse from his death flames. The reason why he had extra warhorses was because Saleen had killed off the dozen pirates that had slacked off earlier on. The warhorses that belonged to them had not been sent back to the death dimension. It was not like Daniel needed to do so anyway. He had the three kings to back him up. Thus, Daniel did not even need to lift a finger to ensure that the skeletal warhorses would also stay inside of his death flames.

As Jola tugged on the skeletal warhorse’s reins, he said, “Master, I have another request.”

“Speak,” Saleen replied, slightly irritated. If Jola had not signed the contract, Saleen was not sure whether he would have been able to hold himself back from resealing the grand swordmaster into the ice crystals.

“Master, we haven’t eaten in days. If we don’t eat, we won’t recover as fast,” Jola explained.

Saleen heaved a sigh of relief. He had forgotten that Jola had no steed to transport him to places where there was food. In addition, Jola was not a mage, and Saleen figured that he had not brought too much food with him. Grand swordmasters could last a week without eating or drinking. However, Saleen knew that Jola had gone way past the one-week mark. There was nothing edible in the Chaotic Swamp during the winter.

“Let’s set up camp!” Saleen ordered. Instantly, the pirates dismounted their skeletal warhorses and started to set up their temporary shelters. They were happy to finally get some rest, as covering such a huge distance in this weather was just too draining. Yet, they had not dared to ask their master to set up camp, for fear that Saleen would get angry at them.

After Saleen was done ordering the pirates to prepare some food, he called for Jola and the four magic beast swordsmen and had them enter his tent. He decided to give each of them a flask of restorative water instead of magic liquid. The weakest one of them was a junior grand swordsmaster, which meant that all of their rejuvenative abilities were very strong. Saleen did not want to waste magic liquid on them.

After they were all comfortably seated, Saleen said, “Jola, tell me more about the Cloudflow Empire.”

“Cloudflow Empire? Oh, it’s great. The girls are so gentle and ladylike, and so beautiful too. Their skin… I guess you could call it fair…” Jola said dreamily as he reminisced the good times he had with those young noblewomen.

Aini let out a cold laugh in response. He wondered how Jola could be so talented in his craft while chasing after women all the time. Aini was certain that Jola was just wasting his gift. If he had been more focused on honing his swordcraft, he would have been far more successful than he was now. Both Aini and Saleen were the hardworking type. Unless there were more important things to do, they pretty much spent all their time practicing their magic.

While it was true that the world had many talented people, talent without hard work was nothing. Jola pretended that he had never even heard Aini laugh. He did not care what people thought of him. Since he was young, he had already understood how fragile life was. He did not see the point in pursuing something relentlessly and tiring himself out in the process. He figured that it would be better to just take things easy. All mages had to do was hone their magic until they were promoted to grade-7 mages. Once they reached that level of power, they would have double the lifespan that they had now. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for people who practiced swordcraft.

No matter how strong a swordsman was, as long as he was not a true golden grand swordmaster, his lifespan would not differ much from ordinary people. Since Jola knew that he was going to die in just a few decades, he did not see why he had to be so hard on himself.

“I’m asking about the royal affairs,” Saleen said exasperatedly. He did not want to try and change Jola’s view on life. He did not want to interfere with his lifestyle either. Jola was not a mage. Thus, he did not feel obligated to tell him what the real world was actually like.

“I actually don’t know much. I’m just the mentor of the royal swordsmen. I only mentor people?” Jola said with a candid tone in his voice before pointing his finger at the four magic beast swordsmen and continuing, “But maybe they know something. People usually blab about royal stuff even when they’re around.”

“Vinz, speak for us,” the three magic beast swordsmen (who were obviously not named Vinz) volunteered their well-groomed, decent-looking comrade.

Vinz looked to Saleen for permission to speak. After Saleen nodded, he asked, “Master, which part of the royal affairs do you want to hear about?”

“I heard through the grapevine that a team of Qin swordsmen were defeated in battle. I also heard that they fled to the Cloudflow affliated duchies. How did Cloudflow view and treat them?” Saleen asked.

“Chanake’s swordsmen’s camp? They left. His Majesty actually flared up because of this,” Vinz said, unaware that what he said might have been inappropriate. It was not polite to call the deceased Qin Emperor by his name, especially in front of a Qin. Plus, he had already pledged his loyalty to Saleen, which meant that he should not have been addressing Jupiter as “His Majesty”.

“They left? When did that happen?” Saleen asked, puzzled.

“About two years ago?” Vinz replied, surprising Saleen. He had never expected the Qin royal swordsmen to leave the Titan Duchy so early. After all, Lex had never received any news like that. What went wrong? Saleen thought, extremely flabbergasted. Lex had even sent people to communicate with the Titan Duchy. In fact, she had even been expecting the arrival of the swordsmen that her father had left behind.

Saleen’s keen senses and gut instincts told him that there was a major problem at hand.

Before encountering the Holy See’s black deacon, Saleen might not have been so sensitive. Now that he knew that the Holy See was busy assembling a group of blood knights, Saleen had a bad feeling about everything. If those Qin royal swordsmen had been captured by the Holy See and turned into blood nights, the entire mainland would be in insurmountable trouble.

Any strong neanderthal, upon being turned into a blood knight, would have the capabilities of a swordmaster. Most of the royal swordsmen were already swordmasters anyway. Once they were converted into blood knights, their strength would only be boosted.

Saleen knew that he had to contact Lex as soon as possible and tell her this news. If Lex was doomed, then his efforts over in the hell of god’s punishment would come to naught. There would not only be less meaning behind building the city, but it would also be even harder to complete its construction.

Oh Holy See! Why must you give me so many problems?! Saleen thought exasperatedly.