Badge in Azure

Chapter 351: Building an Army, Building a City (Part 1)

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

The youth looked at his teacher doubtfully. Indeed, Guise was one of Fycro’s most important subordinates, but this matter was not so serious that it required the oracle himself, was it?

Even though the nucleus of the Holy See was set in the Glorious City, there were hundreds of thousands of believers in the Oracle City a few hundred miles away who would chant Fycro’s name during their prayers. According to the code, this was an honor which was bestowed by the god upon the first oracle. However, none of the oracles before Fycro had been able to accept such an honor with peace of mind.

No one was sure whether the believers left out the Lord of Glory’s title during their prayers or not. However, everyone knew that Fycro was the one who had changed the situation within the Holy See.

For the first time, the number of churches and believers under the oracles’ command had come close to that of the pivotal council. And it was during this period that the inquisition had managed to break free from the pivotal council’s oppression.

To the believers, a word from the oracle was equivalent to a holy decree.

The pivotal council could no longer control all the believers. At the same time, the inquisition began to believe that darkness was also god’s will as long as all evil could be exterminated from this world.

Fycro, a person second only to Pope Theisio, was actually going to be personally involved in Guise’s affairs! A look of scornfulness appeared on the youth’s face because he felt that Guise was merely a white bishop.

“Aidan, you must be modest in order to stand a chance at becoming the seventh oracle. Genesis died a long time ago, yet no holy decrees were disseminated. This will be a good opportunity for you,” Fycro said in an indifferent tone.

The eyebrows of this youth named Aidan arched up, then he lowered his head and did not rebut his teacher. He knew that his teacher was a very prideful person, even though the Lord of Glory had descended personally and bestowed the virtue of modesty upon his teacher.

Fycro’s words made Aidan excited. Aidan had lowered his head in order to conceal his own emotions. Genesis had infiltrated the Qin Empire and died at the hands of an unknown mage. As a result, the seat belonging to the fifth oracle was empty. If this had happened in the past, holy masters from the pivotal council would have been eyeing that position. However, with Fycro around, everyone else would need to listen to him.

Without a holy decree being issued by the Lord of Glory, the pivotal council did not dare to make a move. Consequently, the position of the fifth oracle was filled by the sixth, while the position of the sixth oracle was filled by the seventh. Hence, at this moment, the seat of the seventh oracle was empty.

The seventh oracle possessed the virtue of generosity. Aidan did not feel that he was very generous. But, even his teacher had been able to become the first oracle and receive protection from god, so what else was impossible? With his teacher’s support, the white bishops could only watch him ascend to the position of the seventh oracle.

God was in charge of heaven, but the Myers Mainland belonged to the saints.

Back at the Chaotic Swamp, the three kings had cleaned the place up after their outburst of rage. They used their brute strength to destroy the last mineral vein. Among the remnants of the mineral vein, Saleen obtained several pieces of green spirit by accident.

After discovering the green spirit, Saleen could not contain his jubilance and began laughing out loud. He and Aini felt that it was heaven’s will. These pieces of green spirit were of unmatched value and could be used to seal a large number of summoned creatures. Originally, Saleen had only one piece of green spirit left, so he was still fretting over how to store the three kings. He could not possibly have Diyabannersa and Banchajanna stay in Daniel’s death flames, could he?

If that really happened, Saleen would never feel at ease.

The three kings could not vent all their anger, so when they returned to the surface, they went to kill all the black puppets. The black mages had escaped long ago. They had not even engaged in battle with Saleen’s army. Now that Guise was dead, Fycro would never let the black mages off. At this moment, the black mages just wanted to rush to the heart of the Myers Mainland – the Purgatory Desert.

They wanted to beg for forgiveness from the dark sky devil. It would be much easier than begging to Fycro.

In the heat of all that rage, the three kings did not discover the special characteristics of the poly spirit beasts. After countless black puppets, armored puppets, headless riders, and other creatures produced from black magic were massacred, more than thirty poly spirit beasts had been formed. These poly spirit beasts did not continue the offensive. Instead, they retreated silently, as though they had received some sort of command.

“Let’s go!” Saleen walked out of the teleportation portal in high spirits. Even though he had not obtained anything left from the Second Dynasty, he had managed to reap quite a large number of gems from that ruined mineral vein. Furthermore, he now had the three kings under his thumb. Saleen was already feeling quite satisfied.

Now that three kings had been subdued, small trouble would not pose a threat to his city anymore, as long as the Holy See did not deploy a large number of troops. Unfortunately, the power of the three kings had been reduced. His and Aini’s grades were still too low, thus limiting the kings’ abilities.

Thousands of spirits were herded back the death dimension by the three kings. This time around, the pirates did not lose many men, and at the end of the battle, sixty-two pirates remained. Since the size of the team had shrunk by half, Saleen decided to be cautious on the journey back. There were many hardly detectable crevices in the Chaotic Swamp. Furthermore, it was winter, and the thick layer of snow caused the ground to become a natural trap. The route which Saleen selected was very safe. It had been paved by Nailisi when she was escaping in the past.

Riding on the backs of their bone horses, the team did not really take any breaks. In less than three days, the team passed through the forests at the edge of the Chaotic Swamp and made their away out of Deep Forest Town. Saleen did not waste much time at this town which he already owned, while the pirates only enjoyed a restful sleep. The second day, the team immediately continued on their journey and rushed back to the city base.

The team made their journey on horseback. In winter, the Phoenix Duchy appeared bleak and lifeless. Along the way, all the doors were tightly shut and there were no business convoys around. Saleen did not want to startle the nobles, so he decided to spend the night in the wilderness. Traveling at such a speed, his team entered the northern wilderness very quickly.

“Sir, do you want to take a break?” Jola was also riding on horseback. Currently, he was always to the left of Saleen and rarely left Saleen’s side. Seeing that Saleen was desperately rushing back to the city base, he suggested that Saleen look for a city and get some rest.

Saleen simply reduced the speed of the bone horse, then said to Jola, “It’d be better to return as soon as possible. You don’t know the people whom I have offended. I keep feeling unsafe.”

Jola replied, “The Holy See is tens of thousands of miles away, there won’t be any trouble. Furthermore, there are…”

“It’s because we have them that I don’t feel safe. Let’s talk when we return.” Saleen did not try to argue with Jola and simply increased the bone horse’s speed again.

At a certain point in time, the magic beasts which the magic beast swordsmen rode collapsed due to exhaustion. Saleen ruthlessly commanded them to abandon those magic beasts, then provided them with four bone horses before continuing on the journey. On these boring and monotonous snowy grounds, Saleen’s team was astonishingly swift. The magic beast swordsmen did not resist. Their magic beasts were of lower grades and had not been reared from birth, so they had no qualms abandoning them.

At a speed which was twice that used in the journey out, Saleen led his team back to the city base. When he began to see the unfinished city walls which surrounded the city base, he immediately felt more at ease. With his years of experience, Saleen trusted his instincts and decided to rush back. Seeing that the city base was unharmed, Saleen finally heaved a sigh of relief.

It’s time to build a teleportation portal, Saleen secretly thought to himself.

Teleportation portals were not only used to transport people. Most portals were used to deliver mail, because the levels of depletion when delivering mail and delivering a person were poles apart. Even if a letter had a bespoke outer shell, delivering it would still be one hundred times cheaper than delivering a living human.

By constructing a teleportation portal, Saleen would be able to receive information quickly. Saleen would no longer have to fret over intercepted information, at least between the Bitter Water Prefecture and the city base

Constructing a long-distance teleportation portal would consume special materials. These materials were easily attainable, it was just that their prices were exorbitant.

The western wall of the city base had not been built yet. From afar, only the foundation of the wall could be seen. Jola grew disappointed when he saw that. This place seemed like a village pillaged by bandits. How was it a city?

Saleen laughed and patted Jola’s shoulder, then said, “We still have a few miles to go, why are you in such a rush?”

In Saleen’s city plan, the wall at the western side would be pushed away until it was six miles from the temple. That way, the city would have a enough of a surface area to contain thirty-six magic towers.

Jola did not comment. But as he continued traveling east and followed Saleen to the administrative center, his mouth fell open. Jola could not believe that this city, which was nearly wrecked, would have such a mystical building.

The administrative center was built entirely out of white rocks, and there were more than one hundred steps leading to the main entrance with huge columns all around. Even though the administrative center occupied a large space, it did not seem inflated. Instead, it was like a magic tower, beautifully slender. All this beauty came from the magic patterns on the building. When Saleen had been designing the administrative center, he had planned for it to double as a fort for battles as well.

Even though Jola was knowledgeable, he could not help but be amazed by such a colossal structure. And when Saleen brought Jola to the temple, Jola became utterly speechless.

Jola had already thought of himself as fairly arrogant beneath his loose appearance, but he had not expected this…

He had not expected that his lord would dare to live in such a house. No wonder the lord did not even hesitate to give the order to kill when he discovered the high ranking officials from the Holy See. It seems like the lord has a deep feud with the Holy See. Before meeting me, the lord and the Holy See must have been at odds already. Was it too rash of me to join a mage like this?

As the sword named Tears fluttered within the sheath on his back, Jola was awe-inspired. What was he thinking? Even though he did not believe in loyalty, he should not have been afraid after knowing that his lord’s enemies were powerful. What was so scary about those quacks? The Holy See could not possibly traverse thousands of miles and send their holy riders here, could they?

The lord has very powerful death creatures. With us, the five magic beast swordsmen, and a city with an established foundation, there is no need to be afraid even if there is an intermediate-sized army.

Saleen dispatched the pirates back to their camp before leading the five grand swordmasters into the temple.

“Right now, I will give all of you a chance to leave,” Saleen said peacefully to the five grand swordmasters. Only Aini was beside him. Daniel was not around.

“My lord?” Jola addressed Saleen differently from how he normally would. He could not understand why Saleen had said that.