Chapter 221: Devil’s Retaliation (Part 2)Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“What… what did Nailisi tell you?” Saleen asked.
Confused, Lex replied, “Isn’t she bonded to you via soul bond? What else could she say? She said that you were interested in managing the northern side of Shengfeng and would like to open up a third port there. Now that I think about it, it’s not a bad idea. I can take a load off of my shoulders by entrusting you with the country of Shengfeng’s business affairs.”
Saleen was livid. The veins in his neck looked ready to burst at any moment now. He was a mage, for crying out loud. He was not a n.o.bleman and he definitely was not ready to be entrusted with such a huge responsibility. He wondered how Lex could be swayed so easily. He thought that Nailisi would turn into an obedient little imp under the restrictions of the soul bond. Looks like she loves control. We’ll need to fix that, Saleen thought grimly.
Saleen knew that Lex’s plan, if successful, would bring him tremendous benefits as well. The Grand Duke of Phoenix was incompetent, cowardly, and all other traits unbefitting of his rank. As of now, he was still residing in Holy Rock City, afraid to go back. If he were able to develop the northern area of Phoenix, he would never have to worry about safety or money again. However, Saleen was content with what he had now. Power and riches meant nothing to him.
Was Nailisi merely trying to help him plan his future? Or did she have something more sinister in mind? These were questions that Saleen wanted to find answers to.
“Saleen, do you not wish to help me?” Lex asked, disappointed. She had noticed Saleen’s awkward expression. In the past, when Saleen and Lex had communicated with each other, the former’s expressions had been fluid and natural. She had never seen Saleen too stunned for words before. Now that Saleen was unusually quiet and gritting his teeth, she wondered what he had to say.
Saleen was definitely not scared. If he had been scared, he would not have charged towards the giant dragon. He was a mage, not a swordsman, but had still been brave enough to take on the dragon.
“No, not at all. You take out the fully constructed puppets for now while I go retrieve the refined dragonshards,” Saleen said, trying to keep his tone as gentle as possible as he suppressed the urge to find Nailisi and beat her into a pulp. He knew that once Lex set her heart on something, there was no changing her mind. Plus, they would eventually have to deal with the country of Shengfeng anyway. Since I have to do it eventually, why not get it done and over with? Maybe I’ll be able to get something out of it, Saleen thought.
Lex must have realized that Saleen could not find any good reason to reject her. That would explain why she had proposed the idea to him so confidently. Providing for an imp was not easy. He had needed to deal with the likes of three grand swordmasters because of her, but what about next time?
Lex was beyond overjoyed as she quickly but carefully brought out a fully constructed puppet. The cabin was small and did not have much standing s.p.a.ce, so it had to lie flat on the floor. It turned its head over and looked at Lex curiously. A person might have thought that possessing human traits would have made a puppet weaker. But no, its combat skills were not affected, much to Lex’s relief. The only bad thing about these puppets coming to life was that they had also acquired bad habits which humans loved to practice. Sometimes, seeing a puppet come to life like this was scary to say the least.
A metallic life form… interesting… Lex thought as she gently caressed its metallic head, causing the fully constructed puppet to relax almost immediately. Lex carefully placed her hands on the ears of the puppet before transferring power from the magic array into it.
With a clicking sound, Lex had twisted the puppet’s head open to reveal the battery-like device located inside its neck. It was a place to put the magic nuclei. The magic nuclei had been depleted quite a bit, and the energy left inside the puppet was close to none. Lex immediately removed the magic nuclei. At the same time, Saleen had retrieved the dragonshard from the Ring of Gifts and was ready to pa.s.s it to Lex.
With the dragonshard, the fully constructed puppet’s endurance would be greatly extended. Another benefit was that it could also regenerate naturally, making it seem more lifelike than ever. Even if the energy within the dragonshard was expended, as long as the fully constructed puppet took a nice nap, it would be good to go.
Lex had originally possessed ten fully constructed puppets. Unfortunately, one of them had been smashed by a dragon; two of them had to be sold; another two were lost at sea. Now, Lex was left with only five puppets, of which four of them had been given the gift of life, allowing them to possess human characteristics. Lex carefully installed the dragonshards into the four puppets and replaced six grade-8 magic nuclei for the remaining one.
“What do you intend to do now?” Saleen said calmly, relaxing as his eyes followed Lex’s gentle movements. Lex was part of the reason why he had gotten to where he was now. Without Lex, he would not have been able to practice his magic and gain relevant experience properly. Without Lex, he would never have been able to leave the h.e.l.l of G.o.d’s punishment in one piece and have so many magic books to peruse. Without Lex, he would not have met Joey, and could have died long before now.
Was this risk too big to take? Did the risks he had taken before even compare to this one? He could not think of many mages that had the opportunities that he did. Becoming a mercenary in order to earn extra money was a risky job. However, without money, no mage could buy magic nuclei, nor could a penniless mage afford to hunt in the forests, hills, or swamps.
Alas, a lot of mages made the mistake of making earning money their top priority. What they failed to realize was that even if they managed to buy high-quality magic nuclei, without proper training, they would progress at a rate similar to other penniless mages.
Then again, without putting in the efforts to pull in some cash, how would they get their equipment? The mages under Lex’s command over at Bitter Water Prefecture had to work in order to receive the benefits that they enjoyed. It was not a transaction per se, but rather an obligation. Saleen, however, did not want to owe Lex anything. He was going to achieve his goals on his own.
Lex had said before that he was her only friend. That Saleen did not doubt. The problem was that even between friends, not everything was done unconditionally. Lex was not his parent, neither was he her debtor. Lex did not owe him anything, yet she had willingly helped him achieve what he had today.
“Nailisi will help us restrain the two mages. Once this s.h.i.+p casts its anchor, we’ll strike. All the sailors will either be on deck or in the engine room.
“There are over thirty swordsmen. I’m not sure about our odds,” Saleen explained.
“They’re only slaves. Without receiving any orders, they can’t do anything,” Lex replied.
“Slaves?” Saleen said in disbelief. Those thirty-plus people gave him dangerous vibes. Surely they could not be slaves?
“Their strength is powered by some special medicine. You can even find it in Alchemy City. Those people won’t live very long…” Lex said haughtily. In the Qin country, slavery was prohibited, and so was slave trading. The Grukos family also had strong opinions against slavery. They felt that if people did not have the will to live, then they would not work hard. If the whole country was comprised of mostly slaves, it would collapse sooner or later. It was already unreasonable to expect the majority to be ruled over by a small group of people. Who gave these leaders the right to bring despair to their people’s lives and expect them to remain loyal to them?
Seeing Saleen’s perplexed face, Lex continued, “These slaves are the ones to charge onto an enemy s.h.i.+p. They are also expected to sacrifice their lives when the need arises during monster hunting trips. They’re as good as dead now. Don’t worry about that.”
“Then why don’t they fight back?” Saleen asked. He knew that even when he had been poor, he had fought everything and anything that had threatened his life. Even when he had been a beggar, he had not been pa.s.sively waiting for death. These over thirty swordsmen were gifted in combat. Saleen had never expected them to be slaves, and willing ones at that. This was something that he would never be able to understand.
“If you were told since you were young that you’d never taste freedom, and that you were somebody’s property, you’d be like that too,” Lex said as she attempted to explain it from a mage’s point of view instead of that of a governor.
Saleen realized that these swordsmen were just like the magic wolves that the Caucasus people bred. If a magic wolf cub was s.n.a.t.c.hed away from its parents when it was young, it would view its parents’ killers as the alpha wolves and forever be subservient to them. These swordsmen were no different.
Although it was wrong, the practice of slavery was not only rampant in the Land of Wind, but also in other regions like Sikeqinya and Tanggulasi.
“Does Daniel know anything about this?” Saleen asked.
“Not yet. Just tell him what to do when the time comes. Tell him that no isn’t an option,” Lex said coldly. Lex treated Daniel differently from how she treated Saleen. That was understandable. Both of them had been through life-and-death situations together. Plus, Saleen had connections with the mentor that Lex really needed to speak to at the moment. Daniel, on the other hand, had nothing to offer. He was but a poor bloke.
Lex did not treat her mages horribly, but she did practice favoritism. Saleen figured that if he were in her shoes, he would not have told Daniel about the plan beforehand either. He did not want Daniel to become too afraid and unwittingly reveal their plan.
Saleen continued discussing the nitty-gritty details of their plan before exiting Lex’s room with ten level-5 scrolls.
Before Saleen could return to his cabin, he saw Nailisi loitering around suspiciously. Without hesitation, Saleen grabbed her by the neck and pulled her into the room next door. Coincidentally, the room belonged to Sika. Sika had been waving her new cudgel in the small cabin the entire time Saleen had been in Lex’s room, trying to get used to the sound of her new weapon as well as kill time. Upon hearing them enter, Sika continued studying her weapon, not even sparing them a glance.
Nailisi exclaimed softly, “What are you doing, Master? Sika is in here too!”
Saleen held onto Nailisi tightly with one arm. He was not able to cast a Mute Enchantment spell, but he had other ways of preventing Sika or anyone else from hearing them. Using his free hand, he conjured a water s.h.i.+eld that took the form of a giant water bubble. With a “bloop” sound, the bubble encased both Saleen and Nailisi. The magical patterns on the surface of the water s.h.i.+eld moved prettily. Saleen’s magic was getting stronger and stronger. It was already slightly comparable to the standards of Raphael.
Not only could the people inside the water bubble be protected from external attacks, but they could also prevent people outside the bubble from hearing them. This spell was Saleen’s version of the mute enchantment. He had been using this ever since he had discovered that the cabins had secret metallic pipes installed to facilitate eavesdropping.
“Nailisi, why did you do that?” Saleen asked sternly. Even though he had accepted Lex’s plan, Saleen did not want to be the one clearing up Nailisi’s messes every time. If Nailisi did not have a valid reason for what she had done, Saleen would have no choice but to punish the imp.
Instead of answering, Nailisi’s hands snaked around Saleen’s waist as she said sweetly, “Master, I did this for you! That Fellett had stomped on your pride, and I was not going to let that slide!”
“Tell that to someone who buys it. Lex had already said that you were nothing but a servant. What’s so insulting about Fellett wanting to buy a servant?” Saleen roared as he slapped away Nailisi’s wandering hands, which had found their way to his rear.
“Master, if Fellett was gay and had a habit of collecting males as pets, what would you do if he were to touch your b.u.t.t?” Nailisi asked.
“I’d drown him in a pool of his feces,” Saleen replied.
“But what if he did not do it on purpose?” Nailisi pressed on.
“That’s still unacceptable!” Saleen exclaimed, s.h.i.+vering in disgust as he thought about Nailisi’s a.n.a.logy.
“Master, you should know why Fellett wanted to buy me off of you. We are connected via the soul bond. If I were to feel sad, or, should I say, excited, you’d be able to feel it too,” Nailisi said, giggling as she trailed off at the end. Her hands started making her way to Saleen’s rear again.
This time, Saleen did not push her away. He was too stunned to do so anyway.
He knew very well that what Nailisi had said was completely hypothetical. However, Saleen could not help but visualize Fellett’s moustache wriggling in front of him. It was disgusting, to say the least. If Nailisi were to have s.e.x with someone, he would feel it too. What would that be like? Would it be like taking it up the…
“To h.e.l.l with that pig!” Saleen roared.