Chapter 1423: Fighting One’s Own Battles (Part 2)
“Then keep being the empress. Are these people a threat to you?” Saleen saw through his territory and kept an eye on the people near Lex.
“Not at the moment. The Golden Plains are figuring out ways to gobble up Cloudflow. Tough bone to chew on, I’d say. They need my charisma to get the job done. If they were working on their own, the n.o.bles wouldn’t have paid any attention to them.”
“I’ll do what I have to when the time comes. Right now, I’m heading to the Tanggulasi Empire.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Saleen. We still have over 900 years to go on the contract,” Lex looked dejected and seemed weary.
“No pain, no gain. Truth be told, I’m attacking Holy City this time to lure the head warden out. If he keeps hiding on Black Dungeon Island, people can say whatever they want, but I’m not looking to make for trouble on his turf.”
“When Ojarvis was about to die…he said that in two years, at most, Myers Mainland would see another burst of power. The entire plane would be advancing. Be careful, Saleen. If Myers Mainland can’t keep beings above level-12 from showing up, the head warden…”
“Relax. I’ll run if I can’t fight him,” Saleen said laughing.
That had been his plan back then; now he was only saying it now to console her.
He was making significant progress with advancement and had acquired a steely determination, courtesy of Jason. If the head warden stayed cooped up in Black Dungeon and the level difference was too wide, Saleen wouldn’t go out and dig his own grave. He wasn’t a fool. On the other hand, if the head warden wanted to duke it out on the Floating City, Saleen had four level-13 beings at his side and over 100,000 enchanters at his command. If put to the test, he might rise to the occasion.
Lex did not blow Saleen’s cover right there and then. Having got this far, she knew that Saleen’s option was to move ahead; there was no going back. Life was intriguing. When they were still weak back in the day, they had options. Once someone became powerful, choices were limited.
“How many around you would prove useful at the moment?” Saleen changed the subject and talked about something more substantial.
“Most of my forces are at Daliang City. You’re actually the one running Bitterwater now and they’re all low-level mages, so you’d only be talking about potentials at the moment. As for the royal mages, there are little more than 100 of them around—one-tenth of what’s in Golden Plains. That’s why I have to be careful about how I do business. If I end up doing something others could use against me, it might cost me the throne.”
“How long would it take for your secret arts to advance?”
“By the time Myers Mainland advances again, I’d be able to jump to level-12 directly from level-10. Advancement’s not the problem. The power I have stocked up is for getting to level-13. I couldn’t afford to lose the throne until then.”
Saleen pondered this and said, “Safilos is now my ally. You could use and trust him. I’ve given him 20,000 Bug Angel Warriors and they’re all hidden at the southern town. A lot of the soldiers there were swapped out with my guys. If you need protection, mobilize the forces there. As for the western and north ones, they’re practically useless.”
“I’d send them to the frontlines in that case,” Lex said coldly.
“Those people are your subjects, or how about…”
“Saleen, do you know what’s the job of an emperor? To have others die for your sake,” Lex blurted out a fact. If she achieved her ideals, she needed to gain complete control of the empire. At present, only the southwestern n.o.bles sided with her.
“Okay, if you like…” Saleen didn’t finish the sentence. Lex didn’t like her current way of living. She was forced by fate to get as far as she could.
“Saleen, you wouldn’t have cared about any of that in the past, as long as you could survive?” Lex’s eyes were devoid of gentleness. All that was left were a reminiscence of the past.
Saleen’s heart was aching as if something had been taken away from him. He felt empty. Is Lex blaming me here? That I never came to help her out at Holy Rock City? That my eyes were only focused on the future and rising to ever-greater heights?
There was no end to a mage’s journey. He wondered if they would have eventually ended up as strangers, or if things would stay as they were now.
No! We’ve faced down life and death together. We could never be strangers. But what we have now feels worse than being strangers. How did things get this way?
He advised her to leave the position of empress behind, but Lex had never once persuaded him to take up the dreaded position of a prince of the empire.
“Don’t be sad, Saleen. We chose this path. I’d never blame you for anything,” Lex smiled plainly and continued, “If you want to help, there are some things you can do, actually.”
“What? How could I help?” Saleen couldn’t think of anything he could do that would be of use to Lex. The Golden Plains would have to pay the price of gaining more power, such as supplies. Golden Plains had been providing several times more supplies than during the reign of Emperor Chanake.
“The attribute-less granules….the ones you mentioned before? I need some. Quality matters more than quant.i.ty in this case, as I’ll also need a special armor made.
“Armor? I have alchemy factories. If that’s not enough, we could go to a teacher for help!”
“Nah. I’d need to craft this using secret arts. It’s something made specifically for my own use. The only way you could help me out with this is to use your Water Flame to get the armor shaped. I’ll get you the schematics. This needs to be done slowly. You could get it done with me within two years,” Lex elaborated in a very low volume. Jalin looked at Saleen and Lex talk from outside the lightning territory and was smoldering.
Just how important does this Saleen think he is? If he wasn’t Lex’s husband, Golden Plains would have gotten rid of him a long time ago.
Saleen seemed to have intentionally made things difficult for the ones from the Golden Plains. He spoke to Lex for over ten hours since he put up his territory, seemingly without any intention of ending the conversation soon.
Other than mages, there were also warriors from Golden Plains there. Mages were capable of going without eating, drinking or using the bathroom, but not the warriors. One of the golden grand swordmasters blurted out furiously, “That Saleen p.r.i.c.k…”
Saleen’s voice was heard inside the territory before he could finish. “I don’t remember giving you permission to address me by name.”
A lightning icicle was shot at the golden grand swordmaster’s heart before Saleen finished his sentence. Jalin did not budge an inch. She wanted to see if Saleen would have dared to kill someone for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. She got her answer.
If he did that, he was worthy of her notice after all.
The lightning icicle was traveling too fast for the mages to retaliate. The only thing they could do was rely on defense. Over a dozen magical barriers were erected before that golden grand swordmaster, but the lightning icicle penetrated like an alchemy bolt shooting through layers of paper, remaining targeted at the golden grand swordmaster’s heart.
He reacted with a flash of his sword, slas.h.i.+ng at the lightning icicle. Over a dozen powerful mages had to erect magic s.h.i.+elds just so he might survive for that brief moment.
The golden sword aura on his sword crumbled, and his sword disintegrated like sand as well.
The golden grand swordmaster felt as if his hand had been shocked by electricity; his entire body became paralyzed. He only learned of Saleen’s ferocity at that moment; the mage was absolutely out to kill him.
Saleen only dispelled his territory and walked up to the golden grand swordmaster.
The surrounding mages didn’t know if they should make a move. If they acted, then whatever it was the Golden Plains wanted might never fall into their hands in a steady manner anymore. If they kept their hands to themselves, Saleen would have only needed to fire yet another lightning icicle to kill that golden grand swordmaster.
Are we going just going to sit back and watch Saleen kill one of our own?
Saleen looked at that golden grand swordmaster, who couldn’t have been more than 30 years old, an age considered young as far as grand swordmasters went. Generally speaking, grand swordmasters had no habit of maintaining their appearance and simply allowed themselves age. That golden grand swordmaster was no exception, making him quite a powerful warrior.
If it was in the past, there was no way he would have dared to get so close and behave so condescendingly toward someone wielding golden sword aura.
“I’m not in a good mood today, so I’ll just let this slide. Do that again when I’m truly in a good mood and no one will be able to save you. And all of you, I don’t care what Arbola said. Lex is my woman. Give her a hard time and I’ll make sure Golden Plains suffers. What I mean is, I’ll take the Floating City and rain poisonous rocks every day on you people. And don’t tempt me.”
Saleen spoke his words, turned on his heel and left without batting an eye.
Jalin was dumbfounded. Saleen meant business. When he said he wasn’t in a good mood and therefore did not bother killing, that was because it was too much of a ha.s.sle to s.h.i.+ft the blame and take action. If Saleen had really been in a good mood, he would have wrecked anyone who messed with him.
Interesting way of putting it: Kill when you’re in a good mood?
He didn’t attack a second time after the first attempt failed to hit its target, giving the golden grand swordmaster a chance to live. It looked very das.h.i.+ng, and in truth, that golden grand swordmaster was shocked to the core, so much that it would be a problem if he tried to advance in the future.
Over a dozen magic s.h.i.+elds were thrown up to block that lightning icicle’s power and they crumbled instantly. The resilient faith of a warrior within the golden grand swordmaster’s mind had been thoroughly shaken.
Despite the icicle’s power being reduced over a dozen obstacles, his most powerful one hit right there and then didn’t allow him to do more than keep himself alive.
His weapon was destroyed and his body was paralyzed by the electrical shock.
Saleen made his stance clear: he was in a foul mood. That was due to the stunt the Golden Plains had pulled. He learned about what was happening on the mainland after talking with Lex earlier.
Even though he had taken control of northern Qin, he was didn’t have total control over everything. The internal parts of the Cloudflow Empire were s.h.i.+fting and none of the n.o.bles attacked the imperial city. The four major dukes began expanding. The lands the Holy See had taken at the Red River region had to be relinquished, recovered by the Cloudflow people and reconstructed into the t.i.tan Duchy again.
Saleen had been too steeped in magic-related affairs to send anyone to Cloudflow. Lex had sent all the news to Metatrin City, yet they didn’t grab the mages’ attention.
The mages did not even bother a.n.a.lyzing the situation to Grand Duke Renee, which meant that none of that information would have reached Saleen.
Saleen knew about the splintering of Sikeqinya Empire, where many n.o.bles went their own way. From Saleen’s point of view, that was the craziness happening before the empire crumbled.
The mages didn’t think any of it mattered; that was fine with him. Saleen had no intention of turning the mages into politicians. By the same token, it was rather peculiar that Grand Duke Iron Blood did not specifically mention any of that to Saleen. Did the alliance between us get reduced to being in name only now?
Saleen found what he was feeling at the moment to be funny. He’s only an ally, what do you expect?
After regaining his composure, he stomped out of Lex’s palace where he found his followers waiting outside. The Royal Swordsman Camp’s warriors kept a close eye on Jola and the others nearby.
According to established conventions, followers of princes were not allowed to enter the royal palace without good reasons. But Saleen barged in anyway. No one could stop him; for that, he used Quickcloud.
“Let’s go. We’re on our own now!” Saleen said something that sounded peculiar as mist burst from his body and he took to the air. The royal swordsmen watched helplessly as he threw his weight around. None of them dared to go up and berate him.