Badge in Azure

“Princess.” Stephanie was serious when she spoke to Lex, “I was not with Emperor Chanake when he was dying and I am sorry about that. I did not know if the Emperor’s abilities would be present in you. Therefore, I will be your personal mage if you are able to repel Cloudflow. Before that happens, I will guard this city.”

“Thank you, Grand Master.” Lex did not say more. She knew that Stephanie was willing to defend the city only because of her father. She could very well have become the best amongst all the mages serving the royal family based on her age and abilities. In Holy Rock City, the mages of the royal family would be entitled to more resources than if they followed her.

“Hmm, you can go ahead and accept the gifts. The person who came over is the son of Earl Kant. He requested to come over.” Stephanie was not the messenger so she sent Lex away and began to meditate in the magic tower.

After leaving the magic tower, Lex saw Saleen. Saleen said to Lex, “Lex, the skeleton magic stone artilleries that Cloudflow sent over are all spoilt. There is no way to repair them.”

“I knew it. Cloudflow people are not stupid after all. The gifts were meant to provoke us, of course they will make sure that they are spoilt first. It would be quite useful to use these two-hundred skeletal magic stone artilleries on top of the city wall otherwise.”

“Anyway, I kept the spatial boxes that they sent over. There are two-hundred of them. Not too bad as gifts.” Saleen laughed.

“What about the magic beasts? Surely you didn’t slaughter them for their meat?” After Lex and Saleen decided to get married, they no longer maintained a polite distance with each other as they did before. Now, they could even joke with each other. Lex was well aware of the fact that Saleen was someone who liked to take advantage of situations.

“Of course not. They are all low-level magic beasts, so there are no decent magic nuclei to be had even if I were to slaughter them.” At this point, Saleen changed topics very abruptly and said, “Lex, I want the two-hundred soldiers to be killed. I am afraid that a strong opponent might be hidden amongst them. Although I have personally checked it, we cannot afford to be careless. On the day of our wedding, Cloudflow will launch an attack. If one or two people with strange abilities have managed to sneak in prior to the attack and create chaos in the city, not only will we be flustered, we will also lose face in front of all the envoys.”

“All of them have been rounded up?”

“Yes. I have asked Cuisi to watch over them.”

“We cannot kill them since they are envoys. Do you have any other ideas?” Lex was also wary about this matter. It would not be right to kill these people or chase them out since they were merely delivering gifts. She was a member of a conventional royal family and born a mage, so she had no idea how to deal with this issue that was presented to her so unexpectedly.

“Send the commoners away. Leave only those two-hundred people behind. I will find a way.” Saleen did not wish to be troubled over this matter either. He had already observed them with his elemental eyes and did not find any problems with the two-hundred men.

“What way?”

“Since this is our country, we can set our own rules. Their attire is unacceptable so I have sent someone to bone castle to ask the winged skeleton to make new clothes for them. I will also be keeping all their belongings for the time-being.”

“We can do that too.” Lex shook her head helplessly and said, “Come with me to see my brother’s gift.”

Qin Emperor Ojarvis’ gifts were sent directly to the palace along with the group of envoys and two battalions of royal swordsmen. These elite soldiers would not be leaving Daliang City. Ojarvis was aware of what Lex was lacking, but since he could not mobilize the soldiers and horses of the four towns, he could only deploy the men from the royal swordsmen battalion and send them to Lex. The soldiers of the royal swordsmen battalion were all loyal to the old Emperor so Ojarvis felt assured they would respect Lex.

The person leading the group of envoys was a young member of a noble family. He was previously an officer in western town. It was from him that Lex managed to obtain Wild Bear.

“Scott Frio, how is your father doing?” Lex greeted the young man with a smile.

“Your Highness, father is doing well and is now serving in the House of Lords.” Scott did not expect Lex to remember his name. Even if mages were capable of Recollection spells, that meant that Lex had paid attention to him back then when they first met. He felt pleased with the decision that he had made.

“Now that you are here, I suppose you will not be going back?”

“Yes, Your Highness. I have even brought over two-hundred of my bodyguards. My father gave them to me.”

“Earl Kant must still miss me. Scott, have you been officially conferred with any ranks?”

“Your Highness, I am now a grade-3 Baron of the Empire. It is the lowest grade,” Scott replied with slight embarrassment.

Lex smiled and said, “No problem. Stay with me and become a grade-1 Baron. A war is coming soon. Keep your bodyguards with you. In a while, I will arrange a position for you.”

“Thank you, Your Highness. Father hopes that I can join the battle too.”

“I know. The Frio family was conferred with its rank of nobility because of meritorious deeds you performed in battles. Your father is very competitive. He hopes that you will make a name for yourself on the battlefield of course. Scott, come and meet His Highness, Saleen.”

Scott performed a formal ritual of noble families and said, “Your Highness. I, Scott Frio, pledge to protect you and the Princess forever and until the end of my days.”

All the things that Narnia had taught Saleen suddenly flew across his mind. He pressed his hand on Scott’s shoulder and said, “The Metatrin family accepts your allegiance.”

Scott was tactful by expressing his loyalty to Saleen and Lex could only smile at that. The relationship between the Frio family and her father went back a long way. She would value someone like Scott even if he did not pledge his allegiance. This was because the people that Scott had brought along with him were not bodyguards, but military instructors of the Empire. She even knew two of them. This was her brother’s tactic. Now that Saleen and herself had governed a population of more than twenty-million, they were already lacking in instructors who could train soldiers. In the battle with Luolan, Lex even had to resort to using actual battles to replace training.

Saleen followed Scott to the courtyard where the gifts were placed and saw that all three huge courtyards that were connected to each other were completely filled up. Other than the magic tower, Lex’s palace did not contain any other tall buildings. The courtyards were not small at all. The fact that all three were filled up just proved how much Ojarvis had spent on these gifts.

Piled together, the two yard standard space boxes were as high as ten stories. There were only narrow passages between the boxes. Even Lex felt dizzy seeing courtyards full of spatial boxes. It seemed that Ojarvis had opened at least one large warehouse and brought everything over.

“Scott, I think it is better if you give us the inventory list.” Lex knew that they could not possibly open up all the spatial boxes one by one since there were so many of them. She even had doubts whether the warehouse in the palace could possibly store everything.

“Your Highness, the inventory list is here.” Scott brought over a thick pile of inventory lists and said, “It will be better if Your Highness starts to build a few magic warehouses. I heard that Holy Rock City has sent over an unbelievable amount of grain. The Prince has ordered that half of them are to be sent to Bitter Water Prefecture. Even though it is only half…”

“I understand now.” Lex did not wish to bring up her uncle. He was willing to supply her with resources now that she was in the position to deal with Cloudflow. Previously, when she needed help, she was forced to seek help from Saleen by flying all the way to Metatrin City with another mage at the risk of being assassinated along the way.

At that time, where was her uncle?

After taking the inventory list, Lex called someone over to arrange for Scott and his bodyguards’ stay in the palace. She also arranged for her mages to supervise the construction of the magic warehouses. Qin usually built them underground. The geological conditions in Daliang City were excellent so it was easy to build the warehouses without the need for any large-scale spells.

Lex and Saleen returned to the sixth storey of the magic tower and saw a grade-7 sorcerer who was in the midst of his experiments, but seemed a bit helpless. Lex was apologetic and said, “Gelatini, I’m afraid you have to put up with this arrangement for the time-being since Grand Master Stephanie is here.”

The grade-7 mage laughed bitterly and said, “I have no complaints. Grand Master even gave me some advice before chasing me away. She has already shown me enough respect.”

“I will build a magic tower for Grand Master as soon as I can.”

“Why don’t I stay at the magic tower that is outside of the city for the time-being? Since the Grand Master is here, you should be safe.” The sorcerer sought for Lex’s opinion.

“No need, you will continue to stay on the sixth storey. The Grand Master may continue to give you more advice. I will not be staying in the magic tower for the time-being.”

“Your Highness, what about your safety?”

“Do you see that small building?” Lex pointed into the distance away at a small building that was six-storeys tall. That building was originally an observatory and was also a building of historical significance in Daliang City.

Gelatini nodded. Lex said, “The person who shot the assassin is staying in that building. With her around, the entire palace is within her attacking range.”

“I am relieved then,” Gelatini said with a nod. He was the last to arrive when Saleen encountered the assassination, but he still managed to witness the last arrow shot by Eleanor. Although he did not know that that was an elf life arrow, he could sense the terrifying aura. He even knew with certainty that he would have died if he had been shot by that arrow.

The people around Saleen were all quite formidable. He and Lex were both excellent grade-6 mages as well. Gelatini no longer worried about Lex’s safety. He closed his eyes and began to recall the advice that Stephanie had given to him regarding his spells.

Lex pulled Saleen along and they left quietly. After leaving the magic tower, she said to Saleen, “See, all mages are like this. They will begin their training the moment they feel like it.”

“Aren’t we the same? Lex, that assassin is still alive, you must be careful. You can stay with Eleanor for the time-being.”

“Hmm, let’s go over and see what my brother has given me.” Just as the two of them were talking, an apprentice came over and reported that some of the Qin noble families had sent over their gifts too. The wagons have already arrived at the north gate.

From noon until the sky turned dark, Lex accepted gifts from tens of noble families before returning to the small building where Eleanor stayed. The garden was full of trees blooming with flowers. It was already autumn and several large trees were full of fruit. There was a pleasant fragrance in the air.

Saleen’s two-hundred bodyguards were also staying in the small building. The highest storey was occupied by Eleanor.

Lex did not go up the building. After dismissing the guards and mages that had been following them, she pulled Saleen to a fragrant tree and sat down. Using the moonlight, she opened the inventory list of gifts from Emperor Ojarvis.

“Saleen, what do you think my brother has given us?” Lex tilted her head to lean against Saleen.