Badge in Azure

Chapter 248: Mage Group (Part 1)

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

Ships did not always sail in a straight line, and in addition to a compass, determining the direction of a ship also required the rich experience of a captain. Pirates sailed on the sea all year round, and a calculating pirate like Jupiter was constantly learning from the shadows. Thus, under the control of the pirates, no incidents occurred to the ship.

Saleen and Sika were sitting on the watchtower, both of them feeling calm watching the rising waves. In two days, the pirates had managed to sail for more than six hundred miles. If they had been on land, they could not have achieved such a speed of advance.

This pirate ship was forty meters long, and even though it was nothing compared to a warship, few magic beasts impeded their voyage.

With green seas, blue skies, and the freezing wind against his face, Saleen was feeling bored one day when he suddenly heard the sound of the metal whistle coming from the ship’s bow.

“Well, Sika, we are in trouble.”

Sika rose at once and asked, “What should we do?”

“Climb down. It’s too dangerous up here. If I tell you to jump, jump into the water immediately. Go to the back!” Saleen jumped from the watchtower as he spoke. Sika put on her gloves, grabbed the rope, and slipped down swiftly. She knew no magic so she did not dare to jump as Saleen did. Even if she would not be injured by jumping, the deck would not be able to withstand her heavy landing with her weighted weapon.

Daniel appeared on the deck in no time, and Jupiter also approached Saleen.

“What did you see?” Saleen did not recognize any enemy even with his icy sight, and Jupiter could see much further through his alchemical telescope. Saleen’s icy sight could perform normally even through fog or bad weather, but the alchemical telescope could not.

“There are warships from Qin, three of them.”

“Warships? Don’t try to hide. Our ship will not be able to outrun them. Communicate with them using flag signals and tell them that we are going to Alchemy City and wait for their response. Remove the bolt from the heavy crossbow, and get the stone artillery ready.

“Yes sir.”

Jupiter turned his body, but before he could leave, Saleen stopped him and said, “Jupiter, come to me if you are in danger.”

Jupiter’s paused, then strode to the ship’s bow.

The Qin warships appeared in front of them. They must have been equipped with a magic compass, which meant that they had noticed this pirate ship before Saleen had noticed their presence. Although the pirate flag had already been taken down, the appearance of the ship’s body had not changed. A normal merchant ship would not use this model that was mainly for speed and gave up loading space in exchange.

The pirate ship sailed towards those three warships. Pirates in the bilge had gathered in the paddle cabin. If a battle was necessary, the ship would need to rely on paddling to speed up.

The pan’s turtle alchemical boat that had been dragged behind began to sink until it reached a depth of twenty meters.

“Daniel, if there is a fight, you will have to step onto a warship before calling out the pikoosi,” Saleen told Daniel. The body of Daniel’s death creature was so massive that if he were to summon it onto the pirate ship, everything on deck would be destroyed even without an attack by the enemy.

The aging process of anything not protected by an Enchantment spell would accelerate near a death creature. Cables and canvas were some of the most ordinary things found on a ship, and they would turn to ash under the breath of the pikoosi.

The three Qin warships could be seen with the naked eye now, and with the even clearer vision of his icy sight, Saleen could see that all three ships possessed the sign of Alchemy City. The ship’s rails were covered by black armor and would not be damaged if struck by stone artillery. The length of every ship exceeded one hundred meters, and magic stone artillery stood at the bows of those ships. Someone standing up high was signing flag signals, communicating with the people of the pirate ship.

The pirate ship had slowed down and its sail began to furl. When the distance between the two parties was close to a half mile, the pirate ship stopped completely. One of the Qin warships launched a small boat which began to approach.

The boat, which was about ten meters long, was quite fast, and was powered by ten sailors who were paddling. A tall man in black leather armor stood on the boat’s bow, carrying a heavy sword on his back. When the small boat was about a hundred meters away from the pirate ship, the man in black leather armor jumped and sped towards the pirate ship over the sea using a white line he had laid out.

His control of the sword aura was great and well-utilized, and even Jupiter had noticed that this man wearing magic armor was superior in swordcraft to him. Although it is not actually flight, he must be a black metal grand swordmaster to do that, right?

“Who is the captain?” The grand swordmaster in black armor jumped to the bow, pulled out his sword, and looked around.

Jupiter thought of Saleen’s words. He walked up to the man, saluted, and said, “General, the captain is in the back.”

“Tell him to come see me!” This grand swordmaster had a loud voice and a fine appearance. The red skin of his face was touched with black, and he had a clean chin, not having a beard. Seeing Jupiter’s hesitation, the grand swordmaster raised his sword slightly in dissatisfaction.

“General, the captain is a grand mage. I dare not disturb him,” Jupiter explained quickly.

“Really?” The black-armored grand swordmaster was surprised because he had never heard of a mage being a captain of a ship. He supposed that the man with a yellow beard would not dare lie to him, so he softened his tone and said, “This is definitely a pirate ship. Are you lying to me?”

His words and tone showed the majesty of the man. Jupiter felt the sword aura being emitted from him. It was the temperament of a person who had spent a great deal of time on the battlefield.

“General, we were captured by the mage. Why would I dare lie to you? He is on the rear deck. I can show you the way.”

Captured? The black-armored grand swordmaster looked around and saw that the people were clean and in armored uniforms. They did not look like people who were constantly drifting at sea and committing robberies.

A grand mage… although I am not afraid of him, a grand swordmaster like me does not have high status in Alchemy City and these is no need to offend him. Thinking this, he nodded and said, “Then, lead the way to the mage.”

Standing on the rear deck, Saleen and Sika felt a strong aura approaching them when the man was still at a distance. Without hesitation, Saleen cast an ice plate armor and enchanted himself with a water shield that exuded a fog. He also cast an ice plate armor for Sika before turning to face the front.

Jupiter led the black-armored grand swordmaster to the rear deck. The grand swordmaster began to believe Jupiter’s words upon seeing Saleen. Although he was young, Saleen had the temperament of an orthodox mage. When his eyes met Saleen’s, the black-armored grand swordmaster stopped before he became too close to him.

He had seen the magic shield on the young mage and knew that if he stepped any closer, a misunderstanding could occur.

“How should I address you?” Saleen asked calmly.

“Morpheus. And you are?”

“Saleen Metatrin. Are you from Alchemy City, Morpheus?”

“Yes, Mr. Saleen. How did you get here?” Although Morpheus had dropped his dominating attitude while facing Saleen, he refused to give him any clues. His warships had been patrolling this area for seven days without finding any sign of the Cloudflow warships mentioned in the intelligence they had received.

Alchemy City had sent out a large number of warships on the search, and they had covered such a great distance that it would be too dangerous to sail any further. Now that they had finally met with living people, he would surely ask his questions carefully.

“I sailed together with hunting ships from Alchemy City and we were attacked by a mysterious fleet. I escaped, ran into this pirate ship, and captured these pirates. I’m heading to Alchemy City with the hope of figuring all of these things out.”

“Really? So you are a mage living in Alchemy City?”

“Exactly!”

“Follow me to the warship then. I have many questions to ask you. After the accident regarding those hunting ships, you are the first survivor we have found.”

“If I go with you, what will happen to these captives?” Saleen asked reluctantly.

“Order them to follow us. If they should show any disobedience, just sink the boat,” Morpheus said in indifference.

“This ship belongs to me!” Saleen was afraid that Alchemy City would attack straightaway without figuring out whether the other party was friend or foe. The ship was not valuable, but he had noplace else to recruit new sailors.

Morpheus sheathed his sword, smiled at Saleen, and said, “It’s no big deal, Mr. Mage. Alchemy City can pay for your losses. Besides, it’s not safe for you to be surrounded by pirates. Just come with me to the warship.”

Saleen could not convince Morpheus otherwise. He and Sika could defeat this black metal grand swordmaster, but there were three warships behind him that were ready to sink this ship. Saleen was not interested in getting into a meaningless conflict, not to mention the sneaking alchemical boat being dragged behind them. If the others found out about the boat, they would probably become suspicious of where it had come from.

Saleen thought for a moment, then said to Daniel, “Watch the people on this ship. Jupiter, you come with me.”

Out of all of these pirates, Jupiter was the most talented. He was familiar with navigation, had good fighting abilities, and had once been a mage apprentice. Saleen did not want anything to happen to him.

Together with Sika, the three of them followed Morpheus to the small boat sent out by the warship from Alchemy City.

The three huge warships were about half mile apart from one another and formed a triangle. Saleen was led to the one in the middle.

“Follow me, Mr. Mage.” Morpheus stepped onto the warship and replaced the dominating attitude he had previously had with a tone of gentlesness. Saleen hesitated for a moment and then understood. There were grand mages from Alchemy City onboard this warship.

The warship had four floors above its deck, and Saleen followed Morpheus to a spacious cabin on the highest floor. Morpheus turned around and said, “Mage Saleen, the people you are going to see are not from the elemental hand. Thus, you need to tell them everything starting from the beginning. We have spent quite a long time on the sea and have no connection to Alchemy City.”

“Okay.” Saleen nodded, opened the door, and walked in.

The fragrance inside the cabin smelled familiar to Saleen. The smell of this kind of magic spice, which could be considered a high-grade magic potion, could blend in any atmosphere under the control of a mage. Lex usually used it, but her variety was even rarer than this.

There were three people in the cabin, and Saleen felt dizzy just facing them. Of the two men, there was one who was quite handsome, and one woman was wearing a black magic robe, on which there was an eye-catching magic mark indicating that she was a grade-7 sorcerer.

The other two middle-aged mages, a man and a woman, were wearing grey magic robes with the magic marks of grade-5 grand mages. Alchemy City was certainly rich. With such powerful magic supporting the warship, it was no wonder that they dared to come out and look for trouble with the Cloudflow warships.