Chapter 686: Duke Barde (Part 1)

That night, Eleanor did not sleep. She was not doing anything, she simply laid on the bed, gazing at the magic patterns on the ceiling in a daze. She never expected to impart elvish magic to Saleen and make so many drawings for him. These were secrets which were not allowed to circulate outside the elvish plane.

“Of course I am not in love with Saleen, but Saleen’s care for me has caused me not to miss home and I don’t want to return to the elvish plane anymore. It’s good staying with Saleen. Long ago the marquis had fallen for my beauty, while I was convinced by his novel ideas, that’s why I got married to him.” With Saleen, Eleanor had never revealed her original looks. Saleen’s concern for her was very meticulous, he never mentioned the topics which hurt her.

As an elf who had lived for a few hundred years, she was more mature than Saleen, so Saleen’s actions could not deceive her.

On the surface, Saleen was very calculative with her and demanded that everything be conducted in a fair exchange. In reality, he just did not want Eleanor to feel pitiful.

“Even though I have made so many contributions, I still cannot return to the elvish plane. Even Father will not spare me. Not only did I marry a human, I have also spilled secrets to another human.The four ancient elvish trees have been planted. From now on, Metatrin City will be my home. If the marquis returns alive, what should I do? I have already been disappointed by that man and I have a reason not to follow him anymore. Those other women of his had killed their own children. This is sufficient already, I don’t owe him anything.”

At this point in time, Eleanor seemed to have heaved a sigh of relief. All this while, she was thinking of one problem, “If the marquis is not dead and he appeared before me suddenly, he will surely kill Saleen. The marquis will never allow another man to lead his woman, even if there were no romantic feelings between them. If such a day really comes, then I will be totally free. Even though the marquis is powerful, he cannot resist Saleen’s badge. I will never be worried anymore and I don’t have to leave…”

Metatrin City’s construction continued. This time around, the construction was in the details, the foundation work had been completed. The main structures and roads were fully developed, even the underground drainage system and sewage treatment factory were flawless. What this city needed was humans forces which were alive.

Ships from the south occupied the harbor daily, they delivered large amounts of grain and seeds, then they would take away large quantities of magic nuclei, magic materials, and ores.

There were also additional small towns north of Metatrin City. Whenever ores from the north were transported over the teams delivering them would require resupply along the way. According to Eleanor’s design, Saleen had constructed sturdy castles at the danger areas along the river. The white rocks which he extracted were also sent over continuously.

Saleen wanted to transform the area near Metatrin into one which could not be breached. This region was two-hundred miles wide and twelve-hundred miles in length. Beyond twelve-hundred miles there were colossal mines. Agriculture could not take place there.

Eleanor’s equipment was crafted in batches. Saleen’s ten main camps did not recruit people, but they chose victors from the arena to fill in the vacancies. During this period, Saleen had allowed the mages to create countless level-1 blank scrolls for signing contracts.

Saleen wanted the elites in his own army to sign a contract with Metatrin City. Of course, before signing a contract, a soldier’s loyalty had to be tested.

Lex had sent a letter telling Saleen that all the swordsmen in the imperial swordsman’s camp would have to sign a contract. There were no exceptions even if their families had been working in the palace for generations.

Lex had even delivered a sample contract to Saleen. In this contract, other than demanding that a soldier maintain their loyalty, there were also many other reciprocal obligations that targeted the writer of the contract.

During wartime a soldier might have to sacrifice their lives. It was necessary to take care of their families. There were also some humanized clauses inside. If it was necessary to assemble a death squad the members of the death squad would have to have descendants.

Lex had told Saleen the experience gathered by the Grukos family while managing the imperial swordsmen. At that point in time, Saleen then realized that taking care of a powerful and loyal army really required an astronomical sum of money. If Saleen did not possess so many magic beast materials he could never afford the scrolls.

A one-hundred-thousand man army meant that there would be one-hundred-thousand level-1 scrolls. Fortunately, the writing of this scroll would not fail and the materials required were not that superior either. There was a horrifying number of sea magic beasts and most of them did not possess a magic nucleus. The skins of these magic beasts could be used for scrolls, it was also very easy to refine them.

With the ocean acting as his reserves Saleen did not need to worry about these low level materials.

In the blink of an eye it was already August and the winged skeleton had returned with the pan’s turtle alchemical boat. This time around less loot was brought back. Without any experts tagging along he could only target magic beasts of a lower grade.

Luckily, there was a large number of red krill caught, Saleen could collect another three hundred over thousand level-4 magic nuclei. He had promised to give one-hundred and sixty-thousand magic nuclei to the nobles. These magic nuclei would be distributed at a maximum price of one-hundred gold coins. Another forty-thousand magic nuclei would remain in Saleen’s possession for price regulation.

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As for the extra over one-hundred-thousand magic nuclei, Saleen decided to store them in the warehouse.

Saleen gave the spirit pool he had obtained to the winged skeleton. He asked the winged skeleton not to sail, but to refine the pan’s turtle alchemical boat first. At this moment, Nailisi had also woken up. She could not help but sleep for around half a month before she finally absorbed the ability of the spirit kings. The fifth ability, belonging to a Luoluokaluo, was thus born; King of Spirits.

This skill enabled Nailisi to learn any death spell below grade-9 and she could transform into a spirit and cause a suppressive pressure against all spirits below grade-9. Nailisi could also summon spirits.

There was good news from the borders too. A second army from Holy Rock City had arrived at Loulan, executing a two-pronged attack from the north and south with another main army. Both armies attacked at the same time. The army at the northern face had used war puppets to destroy dozens of cities in one go, causing the Holy See’s army to retreat one-thousand miles.

The main army at the southern face had advanced eight-hundred miles, causing the entire situation to change.

A letter was sent saying that the strong offensive by these two armies caused the Holy See’s army surrounding her to retreat, and go to reinforce the army at Loulan.

Saleen was a little surprised that the Red Tiger Mercenary Group was not willing to defect to him, but he immediately understood why. Even though the Red Tiger Mercenary Group had lost two grade-9 sorcerers, the two Silver Grand Swordmasters were too egoistic. They could not stomach that incident. It was rumored that there were still some grade-8 mages in the mercenary group. The leader of the Red Tiger Mercenary Group had suffered a huge loss in power, he thus bore hatred towards Saleen.

Saleen was not anxious either as he still needed some time to seize Laiyin Duchy. “The Holy See had been defeated in Loulan. It will surely try to reverse the outcome. Laiyin Duchy will be a good target for the Holy See. If this Red Tiger Mercenary Groups defects to the Holy See, then I will have a reason to deploy my troops already.”

In mid-August, the envoy group from the Holy Rock City arrived. The leader of this envoy group was one of the twelve great dukes from Holy Rock City; Duke Barde. News of this circulated within Metatrin City, rousing the civilians.

Even though Saleen had established his dominance in their hearts, everyone still needed Holy Rock City’s acknowledgement. No one wanted to wage war with a colossal empire right after establishing a kingdom.

The nobles had the same sentiments too, they could only expand their territory after strengthening their abilities.

The fact that Holy Rock City sent Barde meant that even Prince Safilos had acknowledged the presence of Metatrin City. Barde was from the House of Commons, the nobles still understood such political connotations.

In order to host the envoy group from Holy Rock City, Saleen had built a miniature castle north of the city, using it as the place for governance. He would not allow the people from Holy Rock City to enter the temple because there were powerful mages in the envoy group. Saleen did not want others to know anything. Not only was there a colossal warehouse beneath the temple, Saleen had also developed a space for making a planar teleportation portal. This portal was the most important thing to Saleen, no mistakes were allowed.

Saleen sent two people out of the city to receive the envoy group, one was Jola while the other was Irene. These two people brought along people from the palace’s swordsmen camp and lead the envoy group all the way to western town.

Even though Barde had accepted the orders from the emperor, he still looked down on Metatrin City. When they passed by the broken-edged barrier, the ruins were still being cleaned up, while the city walls were being rebuilt. Along the way the destroyed small towns had not been fully reconstructed and Barde had noticed a large amount of debris. He had also brought along a grade-8 sorcerer this time around. In his heart he felt very proud.

The nobles in the House of Commons kept saying that those in the House of Lords were hypocritical. The nobles in the House of Lords also felt that the nobles in the House of Commons were shallow. This was not without rhyme nor reason. Had a duke from the House of Lords come he would not behave so arrogantly. He would have treated Irene with utmost respect.

When Irene noticed Barde’s expression, she finally understood why Saleen had told her not to get angry before she set off. Barde turned his nose up at Irene revealing an ungroomed strand of nose hair.

What Barde did not expect was that sorcerer Tiffany, who was behind him, was looking at him disdainfully.

“Why didn’t Saleen come out to receive me?!” Barde hollered at Irene in displeasure.

Irene fumed secretly, then Jola tugged at her sleeves and whispered into her ear. Irene immediately smiled, then urged her horse to trot forward. Unexpectedly, she talked to someone behind Barde, “Master, my king didn’t know that an expert like yourself would come, so he didn’t come out to welcome you. Please accept my apology.”

After finishing her sentence Irene then bowed slightly at Barde and she did not even disembark from her horse. This formality was too simple.

Tiffany shook her head, but did not say anything. She knew that Saleen was a grand mage. Even though she did not give a hoot about Saleen, it was also unacceptable for a grand mage to receive a noble. This grand mage had established a country. Barde had been living in the Holy Rock City for too long causing his brain to malfunction.