Badge in Azure

The Caucasus people had glorious times in the past. One of them was even made king in the first dynasty. The Priests of Caucasus had also participated in the crusade against the Gods. It was said that the first King of Caucasus was of the same grade as the Emperor of the first dynasty, which was grade-18.

Of course, these were the legends passed down by the Caucasus people. Other dynasties had never mentioned them before.

Sika caressed her stomach with a grin on her face as she felt the life moving in it. The Caucasus warriors were extremely patient and amongst them were two female warriors, who were specially tasked to serve Sika.

A powerful Priestess had finally appeared amongst the Caucasus people and she was even carrying two children. Saleen would surely agree for one of the children to become Caucasus and become a pure Priest.

“Priestess, please try this porridge that we have made using tapioca.” A female Caucasus warrior brought over a bowl. The bowl was extremely light and thin. Its entire body was perfect and was similar to jade in color. It was a piece of luxurious porcelain from Cloudflow.

Caucasus people detested such items. They would rather use a big bowl made from the skull of magic beasts.

Sika’s power has increased though. She needed to learn how to control her power or she would have a problem taking care of her children in the future.

Sika stretched out a hand to take the bowl and frowned, “It’s a bit hot.”

“Priestess, you cannot consume cold items. It is not good for the children.”

“The offsprings of Caucasus people are not supposed to be so pampered. When we used to live in the villages, we would even consume food on the ground covered in snow during the cold winter. By the time a child was slightly more than ten years old, they could already hunt magic beasts.”

“But there are two little Priests in there.” The female Caucasus warrior smiled and replied.

“Alright.” Although Sika preferred to consume cold porridge, she still followed what the female warrior said. Pregnant women should not consume raw food. This piece of knowledge was concluded from the studies conducted by mages.

“Priestess.” ten male Caucasus warriors stepped up and placed the items that they had prepared on the table. They had resorted to cooking in the temple and not the kitchen. Sika was the Regent; no one could say ‘no’ to her.

“What’s the matter?” Usually, the warriors were only slightly nervous. That day, they were particularly attentive, so Sika knew that they must have something to say.

“His Highness, Saleen, has gotten married. Would you like to return to South Court, I mean… to await the return of His Highness?”

Sika threw the bowl in her hand onto the floor, which promptly broke into pieces. She shouted, “Whose idea is it? Yours, or the elders?”

The Caucasus warriors were so scared that all of them stood up. The two female Caucasus warriors spoke, “Priestess, please don’t be angry. It is not good for the children.”

“Children, humph, answer my question! I am upset now, what can any of you do to make me feel better?” Sika had a good temper, but after she became pregnant, there were some changes and she was still constantly nervous. Now that she had suddenly heard that there were important people amongst the Caucasus people that wanted her to leave Saleen, she could not control her rage.

“Priest, we are on your side. Although His Excellency, Saleen, has married Princess Lex, he has also given the entire kingdom to you to manage. It is just some foreign elders that were wondering about this matter. We, as warriors, do not think about such things.” The Caucasus warriors quickly clarified.

Sika knew that the warriors admired her, but this was not a matter that occurred after one or two days. The fact that she only knew about it now meant that those elders had been scheming very secretively.

It was inevitable. The number of Caucasus people was growing. Apart from two separate groups that left for Phoenix and Sikeqinya separately, the remaining had all escaped to Metatrin Kingdom. Very few of them surrendered to the Holy See. Those that did not manage to escape were either captured by the Holy See, or killed.

At that moment there were only about forty-thousand Caucasus people in Metatrin City. Most of them were in the military and some that came from Sika’s village had become her most trusted companions. Outside of the city, there were already more than three-hundred-thousand Caucasus people. That number only included adults.

It was almost as if there was a small kingdom of Caucasus made up of more than three-hundred-thousand Caucasus warriors just beside Metatrin City. With power, there would be conflicts to strive for more. The southern Caucasus area that Sika was in was still alright, but the northern Caucasus area was no longer populated by villages. Instead, huge Caucasus colonies had started to appear.

The Caucasus people were no longer the same as in the ancient times. They had begun to emulate the four Empires and were trying to set up their own kingdom.

The more she heard, the angrier Sika became. She asked the Caucasus warriors, “Are all of you willing to pledge your eternal loyalty to me?”

In the past, Sika would never speak like that. She never wanted to becomea leader. All she wanted was to fulfil her responsibilities and duties to the people in the village.

“Priestess, of course we will only be loyal to you,” the warriors replied and sounded confused at the same time. Their duty was to protect Sika. No matter how powerful the enemy, they would sacrifice their bodies to shield Sika from any attacks.

“What I’m saying is that all of you will only listen to me, even if all the Caucasus elders go against me.” Sika leaned against the chair and put her legs on the table while caressing her stomach.

The warriors hesitated for a while before speaking, “Priestess, are you thinking of not being a Caucasus person anymore?”

“If so, are all of you going to abandon me?”

“Of course not. Priestess, if you are willing, you can build your own kingdom too.” The warriors were not foreign Caucasus people. The feelings they had towards Sika were different. It was Sika who gave them hope.

“Build my own kingdom?” Something struck in Sika’s mind. She rarely had such clarity.

Before Saleen left, not only did he make her the Regent, he also made her the Caucasus King. Saleen must have foreseen that some amongst the Caucasus would try to stir up trouble.

The Caucasus areas had never tried to build kingdoms. She was already the first Caucasus King though. Hahaha, the elders were too greedy. Perhaps they had learned from the shamelessness of the Sikeqinyans.

“You all need not stay in the temple tonight. Go and find out how many people in the army support the foreign elders.” Although she believed that the Caucasus people in the city should be quite dependable, she has also learned from Saleen not to leave any stones unturned.

“Priestess, the elders…

“I will not allow the foreign elders to enter the city. I am now the Regent. Until Saleen returns, I will oversee Metatrin City.” Sika thought about it and said, “I will give you a warrant. The sixth battalion will guard the southern gate. If anyone tries to stir up trouble, activate the magic heavy-armored foot soldiers.”

“Priestess, what about the elders of South Court?” A female warrior heard how determined Sika sounded and was worried.

“I will convince them personally. If they are the same as the elders on the outside… I will not kill them either.” Sika’s tone was non-committal.

She had thought the souls of Caucasus people were the purest. She never imagined that amongst the Caucasus there were those that harbored ill-intentions.

The elders’ plan to separate her and Saleen was because they wanted both children and not just one. If both of Saleen’s children were in their hands, they would be in a better position to make demands.

Greed alone could not have resulted in such a situation. Most likely it was also because there were Priests and powerful people amongst these Caucasus people. It was always easier to fall when in possession of power.

If Saleen had not taken them in, the Caucasus people staying near Metatrin City would not have been able to live with so much freedom. Even if they became extremely poor, they could always count on supplies from Metatrin City. No one would ever starve to death. War had become a faint memory to them. Those that did join the military were the ones that Sika had spent a lot of effort trying to recruit.

No wonder Saleen did not want the trusted Caucasus people to go into battle. There were too few of them.

At that thought, Saleen felt so helpless that she laughed. Saleen was really smart to foresee that there would be trouble amongst the Caucasus people. She only understood that herself that day. Saleen must have kept quiet because he did not wish to upset her.

Oh well, she should just become a Caucasus King. She would set up legislations and reduce the powers of the elders. If anyone else tried to use Caucasus rules to constrain her in future, she would use her own laws to retaliate and destroy those people.

The Caucasus warriors knelt down. According to Caucasus etiquette, kneeling in front of someone signified proximity while standing with one’s head bowed signified submission.

“Priestess, we swear with our souls that we will pledge our loyalties only to you from here on.”

“We swear with our souls!”

Sika could sense a ripple in the depth of her soul. Somewhere deep down, she had formed a mysterious connection with those warriors.

Such professions of loyalty had been passed down tens of thousands of years amongst Caucasus people and no one had ever tried to go back on their words.

Although it was not as perfect as a mage’s bond, it was being strictly enforced all the time. This was the Caucasus’ Shackles of Oath, a method of ensuring loyalty to the Priest.

Sika took out a pen and paper and silently wrote down a warrant for the warriors to deploy the sixth battalion to guard the southern gate. Even if the Caucasus people in the city did not betray her, they might be unwilling to battle against those outside of the city either. By deploying the sixth battalion, Sika could send in even more armies at a later stage to completely eliminate the elders if they still persisted in their ways.

People trying to split her and Saleen up? At that thought, Sika’s heart was in tremendous pain.

The Caucasus warriors left Sika’s room and descended to the first story of the temple. There, they summoned another twelve Caucasus warriors to go up and continue serving Sika.

After leaving the temple, the twelve Caucasus warriors were full of joy as they congratulated each other in celebration.

“As expected, the Priestess was unwilling. Those old fellows are all ungrateful, but that is good as well. There is hope for the southern Caucasus people.”

“Precisely. They are trying to control all of us just because they outnumber us. What idiots. How could the Priestess possibly be willing to give in?”

“Let’s go quickly. The two of you will go to the sixth battalion and deploy the army using the Priestess’ warrant in order to boost the southern gate’s defense. We will quickly gather our own people to dig out the spies in the temple corp. Caucasus people from other places must have found a way to sneak in.”

“Yes.”

The one who gave the orders led the rest to hurry over to the southern part of the city.