Assassin’s Chronicle - Chapter 411

Chapter 411: Better To Be the Killer than on the Chopping Block

 

Seeing their general defeated, the knights of Shansa Empire were in chaos. They were scared by Anfey’s cruel way of killing, even though they did not see a lot of blood. They did not want to continue fighting. They all started to flee.

Anfey not only wanted to keep his own losses to a minimum, but also wipe out his opponents. Otherwise he would not have put so much effort into this battle. Suzanna and he did not chase the knights. They simply followed behind at a distance. Mages in Elizabeth’s unit were divided into two groups and channeled the knights from Shansa Empire. They herded the knights like shepherds.

The knights from Shansa Empire ran for a while and caught up to their cavalry. Because of the differences in stamina, the cavalry in armors walked in a long formation. The formation stretched about nine miles long. The stronger soldiers marched in the front of the group, but they were all out of breath. The knights from Shansa Empire were so terrified that they ran through the cavalry formation in panic. The cavalry were jostled around and yelled at the knights. Some of them were knocked into the air, while others were trampled under the horses.

The surviving members of the cavalry started to curse. When they saw Suzanna covered under the golden lights and the strong and incomparable combat power, they wondered if Suzanna was a master swordswoman. They looked around for their flag but could not find it. They immediately realized why their peers acted in such a way. They stopped cursing. Their almost-exhausted energy was rejuvenated and they started to run after the cavalry.

Thompson led more than a hundred mercenaries behind Anfey. Thompson’s job was to clean up the battlefield, which meant every opponent should be killed. They all dressed neatly when they walked out. Oddly, they all started to take their shirts off and showed their fair and tanned chest. In the aftermath of Anfey’s Fire Sword, it was so hot that they had to partially undress. Every being on the whole battlefield was down on the ground xcept for one horse. There was a person riding on that horse who struggled hard but could not rein in the horse.

A mercenary strode over and smiled. “This should be the only person alive, as Master requested.” He grabbed a sword that Suzanna had embedded in a rock, trying hard to pull it out. However, after trying for a while, the sword did not seem to move one bit. He said out of surprise, “Master Suzanna is so powerful!”

“Of course!” Thompson walked over. “Let me try.” Thompson performed combat power as he held the sword shaft in his right hand. He did not look like he could handle it either, and grunted many times as he pulled. However, it was undeniable that the sword in the stone started to jiggle a bit. With a huge noise, Thompson pulled the sword out and gave a yell.

“God-like strength, Master!” the mercenary said playfully.

“Go away!” Thompson scolded, also playfully. The mercenary seemed to be making fun of him rather than giving him a compliment. “God-like strength” should be left to Master Suzanna. No one else could be referred to in that way.

“Why are you trying so hard to pull it out? You could just cut off the rein,” another mercenary murmured.

“Why do you talk so much?” Thompson stared at the mercenary, but his face was red. “Hurry up! Do you work!” He pulled the sword out himself because he wanted to see the difference in strength between him and Suzanna. He got what he wanted, but he silently swore he would not do anything like that again.

The soldiers from Shansa Empire had no idea how long they had been running. Every knight had become a criminal recently. They were either sentenced to involuntary manslaughter or intentional homicide. The hooves of most of the horses on the battlefield were red. They seemed to have come to the end. Thousands of mercenaries stood in a neat formation and blocked their path.

Even though mercenaries barely kept their formation after the battle started, at that moment they were in perfect formation. What terrified the knights from Shansa Empire the most was the woman, quietly standing in front of the formation.

Sinbella was tall and slender. The sword in her hand was longer than others. She looked different than Suzanna. Suzanna always looked feminine, quiet, and sweet, while Shinbela looked more like a female leopard, ready to fight at any time. She looked especially sharp and wild when she was ready to fight.

The knights from Shansa Empire had been terrified by Anfey and Suzanna. Now when they saw Shinbella stand out in front of her unit and look like she could fight all the knights on her own, they unconsciously thought she was a top level power as well. She did not perform her combat power, but it was understood that she did not care and looked upon them with disdain.

The knights wondered what had they done to make three top level powers chase them down and try to kill them. They could not help sighing. They instinctively turned their horses around and tried to run in the opposite direction.

An orange fire appeared in the air and fell straight down. It was a Fire Sword. Half of the blade stuck into the ground. The other half above the ground had flames which seemed to be able to keep going for ever and kept going upwards. The soldiers from Shansa Empire suddenly remembered a rarely used term after seeing the sword: turn elements into real object. The next second, they saw Anfey and Suzanna walking shoulder to shoulder toward them.

The soldiers had two totally opposite reactions. Knights yelled and directed their horses toward Shinbella and the mercenaries. The top level powers had left an indelible horrifying impression on them, so they chose to ignore thousands of mercenaries. With two top level powers on one end and only one top level power on the other end, they definitely would choose the latter.

The cavalry from Shansa Empire chose to run towards Shinbella from the other side. They did not think they could beat a top level power. At the moment, it was all about luck. They thought they might have a chance to escape the top level powers since they could not kill everyone. If they ran together, the luckier ones definitely would have a chance to escape. Luck was indeed very important. Thousands of soldiers were running to get around the Fire Sword. Some did pass it. In fact, they had no other options. They were surrounded by people and forced to run forward. They had never seen Anfey killing anybody, so they had no idea how powerful the elements would be when turned into real objects.

Suddenly, the soldiers running in front screamed in pain. But they were not willing to give it up. They stumbled forward a little bit more and got closer to the Fire Sword. As a result, they were set on fire. If they could keep running forward, they would get killed by fire elements, which actually could reduce their pain before they died. Unfortunately, they fell to the ground one after another. They rolled on the ground as they screamed in pain. They were suffered in burning pain but could not die fast enough.

More soldiers ran around the Fire Sword, fire elements could not cause any burning damage to them. They yelled as they approached Anfey and Suzanna.

Anfey had locked his telepathy on the Fire Sword. He suddenly pointed his finger and the Fire Sword started to shake. The heat waves spread out from the Fire Sword. In the blink of an eye, they had spread about a hundred yards in radius. The people and horses caught in the waves of fire were burned in cloud of flames. Even the weapons and armor on the ground lost their shape immediately.

The color of the Fire Sword had changed from light orange into light red. The flames on the sword blade seemed to get even wilder and jumped dozens of yards into the air, like a gigantic torch.

“I see.” Anfey raised an eyebrow. “Practice is the only way test the truth.” The Fire Sword seemed to be more powerful now, but Anfey knew he had released almost all the elements he had accumulated for a long time.

The cavalry suddenly stopped and focused on Anfey with terrified looks. They now knew why those knights chose to go in the opposite direction. The spreading heat waves Anfey created was like a fire hell. Regular soldiers could tell Anfey must be an archmagi, since he could instantly perform senior-level magic.

The cavalry turned around and started to run the opposite direction. As a result, they crashed into the knights who were retreating again. The knights were not in a better situation than the cavalry, which was under attack of about a hundred of mages led by Blavi and Riska. A mage group actually could decide the fate of a battle on the battlefield. A Silver Knight was no match for a group of mages, but a magister could beat a group of knights. Mages had too many ways to play and kill knights, for example with wall magic, fire wall magic, marsh magic, and storm magic. Knights had to fight hand-to-hand. The power of a hundred mages simply was not equivalent to the power of all the knights added together.

The strategies the mage group used were getting better. Without Shinbella’s help, a few mages could use wall magic to block the knights’ advance. A few other mages together could divide knights into two groups with fire wall magic. After the fire walls were created, the main force of the mage group released big fire balls to start the blanket attacks. A couple of mages released marsh magic between the fire walls and walls, which swallowed about a hundred knights immediately. Many knights were killed by big fire balls as well. The mage group had shown those knights in fierce magic that there was no way they could pass.

Thousands of soldiers from Shansa Empire were in chaos. Some believed it was safer ahead of them and tried to push forward, while others believed the opposite direction was safer and tried to move backwards. Some soldiers were about to go crazy. They just simply swung their weapons at other knights when they were knocked by horses. The knights counterattacked the soldiers, but their moves threatened some cavalry, and they were attacked by other groups. Other knights joined the fight to help their peers. Soon, individual fights turned into group fights. They forgot their real enemies and became even more chaotic.

“Honey, no, my sweet wife, my love, please.” Anfey bowed with a smile to signal Suzanna to start her fight. His Fire Sword had almost lost all its fire elements. His fighting ability had been reduced and it was Suzanna’s show time.

Suzanna sighed and smiled at Anfey. Her sigh was because she did not want to kill so many people. She could face her opponents ruthlessly, but these soldiers from Shansa Empire were not her opponents anymore. They were just a herd of sheep, waiting to be slaughtered. By smiling at Anfey, she indicated she would follow Anfey’s order.

This was the difference between Anfey and Suzanna. Anfey was cold. The principles Anfey followed were simple: he would kill others if others wanted to attack him first. Anfey would not show any mercy after he saw them trying to surround and attack him. If Suzanna and Anfey had been caught by the soldiers from Shansa Empire, Anfey did not think they would show him any mercy.

Chapter 412: Mirrors

 

The fight finally ended. The mercenaries murdered all the soldiers guarding the supply carts, and the only one they left alive was the general. The mercenaries learned how powerful they could be when they banded together. A mercenary group on its own would not have been able to achieve this.

While the mercenaries were cleaning up the battlefield, Anfey was sitting by one of the carts and staring at the fire sword. Some new ideas had come to him during the fight. He did not know whether he was right, and was conflicted because of this. His control of the elements was amateur: he did not have time to make mistakes and start over.

“Sir, Joseph wants to meet you,” Ozzic walked over and said.

“Joseph?” Anfey asked, dismissing the sword.

“Those people,” Ozzic said, pointing at the mercenaries.

The mercenaries did not leave when Ozzic, Orsie, and Shinbella attacked the supply carts. On one side was the army that had helped them. On the other side were mercenaries like them. They did not know who to help and chose to observe the fight instead of taking part in it. After the fight was over, the mercenaries wanted to leave, but the leader chose to talk with Ozzic instead of fleeing.

According to the plan, Ozzic was supposed to go meet Anfey. The mercenaries insisted on coming with Ozzic after hearing where he was going. Ozzic left some of his men and some of Blavi’s mages to keep an eye on the mercenaries. Ozzic told the mages to keep the Eye of the Sky up throughout the battle because he wanted to show the mercenaries how strong Anfey and Suzanna were.

Clearly, Ozzic’s plan had worked out in his favor.

Ozzic waved his hand, and a few moments later, Ye walked over with a middle-aged man. The man looked very polite and slightly fearful. Seeing a top level power fight was very rare and terrifying for someone who had never witnessed a top level power’s strength.

“Sir!” the man knelt down on one knee and said. “Forgive my imprudence. After Lord Ozzic, Lady Shinbella, Lord Orsie, Lord Blavi, Lord Riska…”

“That’s fine,” Anfey said, waving his head. He understood Joseph’s concern. If he missed someone, it might make his life more difficult. “Stand up.”

Joseph hesitated and glanced at Ozzic. Ozzic licked his lips and said, “You need to follow his order, Joseph. Especially if that order may lead to conflicts with others, you need to follow the order. Understand?” Anfey wasn’t the only person who could give orders in the alliance. Alice and Christian had the same authority as him. However, Ozzic respected Anfey a lot and wanted to establish that Anfey was the highest authority in the alliance.

Joseph nodded and scrambled to his feet. He knew Ozzic was telling him that he should always side with Anfey when his order conflicted with other orders. “I see a great future for the alliance, sir,” Joseph said. “I respect your strength and your goals. If you will allow, I want to contribute to this nation as well. I swear…”

Suzanna, seeing Joseph and wanting to understand what was happening, walked over quietly. “You need to follow Lady Suzanna’s orders as well,” Ozzic interrupted when he saw Suzanna. Even though he seemed to be contradicting himself, Anfey and Suzanna were basically the same person and would usually give the same order.

Joseph blinked. He wanted to swear his loyalty to Anfey, but Suzanna’s appearance made him confused.

Suzanna nodded at Joseph but did not say anything to him. She turned to Anfey and said, “You look tired.”

“I’m fine,” Anfey said. “Joseph?”

“Yes, sir.”

“How many mercenaries do you have?”

“Three hundred and forty-one,” Joseph said with a sigh. He knew that his men would be divided up.

Anfey pursed his lips. He knew he should probably divide those mercenaries up, but it would be better to give Joseph his own legion. “You will become the eighth legion of the alliance,” Anfey said. “You are the commander of the legion. Go, talk to your men. We will take care of them.”

“Yes, sir!” Joseph said. This result was better than he could possibly have expected.

“Good for you,” Ozzic said with a laugh, clasping Joseph’s shoulder. “Just like me.”

“Thank you, Lord Ozzic,” Joseph said. “And Lord Ye, thank you.”

Ye’s eyes widened and he took a step back. He was just Ozzic’s assistant and felt that he should not be talked about in the breath as Ozzic.

“He doesn’t have a backbone,” Suzanna commented with a frown.

“Backbone isn’t always the best thing,” Anfey said. “It’s better to recognize and adapt.”

“But you have to have a backbone to be a commander,” Suzanna said, shaking her head. “He will join us today. Who knows who he will join tomorrow?”

“You think he’ll join someone else?”

“Maybe not now, but who knows?”

“Lady Suzanna’s right,” Ozzic said hurriedly. “We need to be careful, sir!”

“Oh stop it, Ozzic,” Anfey said with a laugh. “I know who you are.”

Ozzic rubbed his hands together awkwardly, but Ye smiled behind him. If Anfey ignored Ozzic, it meant that Ozzic had become an annoyance to him. But Anfey addressed it, meaning that Anfey knew Ozzic and was willing to trust him.

“I’m serious!” Suzanna said. The alliance was as important to her as it was to Anfey. She did not like people without backbones, and she wanted to warn Anfey. Thompson joined them voluntarily as well, but she liked Thompson way more than Joseph.

“We won’t give him the chance to betray us,” Anfey promised her. “Plus, who says we are going to meet difficulties?”

Suzanna sighed but did not say anything else.

Anfey was used to doing things alone. He was used to being responsible for himself only and did not have experience controlling large numbers of people. Anfey trusted and relied on Ozzic because he knew he could learn things from Ozzic and could ensure stability within the alliance. Punishing Ozzic would only make the other mercenaries less trusting.

Thompson hurried over. He saw them and sighed. “I’m too late!” he complained loudly.

“Late for what?”

“The fight!” Thompson said. “I cannot believe I missed Lady Suzanna and Lord Anfey’s display of power.” Thompson was better at sweet talk than Ozzic, and it felt very natural when it was coming from him.

Chapter 413: Pennies from Heaven and Unexpected Dangers

 

“Where is the guy I want?” Anfey asked as he looked up.

“In the back,” Thompson said with a wave of his hand. A few of his mercenaries walked over with a horse. Thompson grabbed the man on the horse and tossed him to the ground on his back.

“It is so cruel.” Anfey was shocked by how the general of Shansa Empire looked. He glanced at Suzanna out of the corners of his eye. The general only got one punch from Suzanna, and not a hard one. Yet the general’s face was misshapen and unrecognizable. His nose, eyes and lips were a bloody mess. He had been pulled and tossed upside down, so blood covered his face. He looked awful.

“What are you looking at me for?” Suzanna asked in surprise. “Didn’t you say you wanted him alive?”

“To knock someone off, you do not have to punch him in the nose.” Anfey showed his neck area. “I remember I told you to hit here. You can knock people off with too much strength.”

“Let me try it,” Suzanna said, playfully staring at Anfey’s neck.

Of course, everyone laughed at Suzanna’s joke, since she rarely made a joke. They knew Anfey loved Suzanna very much. On the day Anfey heard the news that Suzanna was missing, his unusual behavior proved his love. They felt they could not go wrong siding with Suzanna in a quarrel between the two.

“Never mind, never mind. You can try it next time you catch captives.” Anfey shook his head and acted scared. “Ye, take him down and interrogate him. You will be in charge.”

“Master, is there anything you want to know?” Ye asked.

“You’d better ask everything he knows,” Anfey said.

“It will take some time.” Ye lifted his chin to signal the other mercenaries to follow him. The mercenaries carried the unconscious general.

“We have plenty of time. You do not have to worry about it,” Anfey said with a smile.

“Master, can I go and watch?” Ozzic asked.

Anfey shook his head. “Ozzic, you stay here. I have something to ask you…Thompson, can you ask Armin to come see me?”

“Yes, master,” Thompson answered.

“Master, what is it going on?” Ozzic asked quietly. He thought Anfey asked Thompson to leave on purpose and had some secrets to tell him.

“Divide the spoils,” Anfey said.

“Divide the spoils?” Ozzic asked.

“We finally robbed something. As the leader, I would like to know what we got,” Anfey said. “What did we get in the wagons?”

“Master, that’s very funny.” Ozzic laughed with Anfey. “We not only got a lot, I had planned to kill those horses for meat when it is needed. It seems that we do not need to do that anymore.” The horses Ozzic mentioned were the ones they got from the conflict with the Knights and Priests of Light in Zagreen City. There were about 400 of them. All of them were handsome. The mercenaries would have felt bad if they really had to kill them for food.

Anfey shook his head. “You cannot kill those horses. We would not die if we miss a few meals.”

“Of course, we will not need to kill them anymore.” Ozzic thought for a moment. “There was food in most wagons. They have jerky, sausages and wine.”

“Most wagons? We did not just get food, did we?” Anfey asked.

“There is some armor and weapons. I do not know if we got anything else.” Ozzic shook his head. “Master, Orsie went over to check on their logistics. Do you want to ask him to come? Why is he back again?”

They saw Orsie with a group of mercenaries in the distance. They hastily passed the temporary camp and walked toward Anfey. The mercenaries were hauling two wagons. They looked nervous and kept checking their surroundings. They made it seem like a lot of enemies were hiding around them.

“Master, guess what we found?” Orsie said loudly as he jumped off the horse still some distance from Anfey. He could not help looking excited.

“What could make single Orsie so happy? Did you find beautiful girls?” Anfey smiled.

“It would have to be a group of beautiful girls.” Ozzic laughed with Anfey. “Orsie, spare a few for me. I am single too.”

“You! I am not kidding.” Orsie did not if he should laugh or cry.

“What is it then?” Anfey asked.

The weird way Orsie talked and the mercenaries acted attracted a lot of attention. Many people looked at them.

Orsie approached Anfey and said in a trembling voice, “They had magic crystals! Master! Two wagons of magic crystals! We are rich!”

“Why didn’t I feel any magic surges?” Ozzic asked in surprise.

“You will see in a little bit.” Orsie knew they did not want to guess what was in the wagons, so he wanted to say it directly.

“You!” Ozzic said in anger.

In a moment, two wagons were pulled over as Anfey and the others surrounded them. If there really were magic crystals in those two wagons, it would indeed be an invaluable treasure. Anfey was shocked by it, not to mention Ozzic and the others.

The wagon’s door was open. The inside was made of wood. They had to get inside to see the Magic-Concealing crystals on the wagon walls. Crystal boxes in different sizes were piled up in the wagon. The boxes were made with Magic-Concealing crystal as well. The double protection hid all the magic surges.

Anfey took a small box from the top. He carefully opened it and saw over a dozen burning-charcoal fire element crystals in the box. They felt the intense surges on their faces. The mercenaries around them felt the surges as well. Mercenaries worked with magic crystals year-round, so they were familiar with this feeling. They put down what they were working on and stood up. They stretched their necks to see what was happening. Everyone looked surprised and excited.

Anfey closed the box and put it back on top of the pile. He took another small box and slowly opened it. There were over 20 ocean-blue water element crystals.

“We are getting rich! Getting rich!” Ozzic could not help hugging Orsie as he yelled excitedly.

Orsie was as excited as Ozzic. “I finally understand what job has the best future.”

“Orsie, relay my order to them. Ask them to clean the battlefield as fast as possible. We will leave right after they finish.” Anfey acted so differently than the others, who were still excited. He sounded very cold.

“Huh? Master, it is already dark,” Orsie said.

“We can travel at night. Hurry up!” Anfey said in a strict tone.

“Yes, master!” Orsie was scared, but he responded to Anfey immediately.

Ozzic and the others were scared as well. They dared not talk and simply looked at Anfey. Only Suzanna said quietly. “Anfey, what happened?”

“We are in extreme dangers now.” Anfey was a little kinder when he talked to Suzanna. “Of course, I will not give these crystals back to them. The only choice we have now is to run away as fast and far as we can.” Anfey was not controlled by power and wealth. He did not show too much interest in wealth, power, or even beautiful women, no matter how much he had. He kept absolutely calm when everyone else was excited. The pennies from the heaven usually implied unexpected dangers in the future. The more the pennies, the more dangerous it would be.

“Anfey, something is not right!” Black Eleven said it as he squeezed himself in.

“What are you trying to say?” Anfey asked.

“There are too many things that are not reasonable,” Black Eleven said slowly. “We have found so many crystals in their wagons, which means there should be many mages in Scarlet’s military. Many! Well, if those mages carried magic crystals with them, they should be able to fight one or several battles. They are sending so many magic crystal now, Scarlet must want to fight a big, hard battle this time. The question is: Who is she going to fight against?”

Everybody was quiet. They could not answer that question.

“There are many possibilities,” Anfey said calmly. “For example, Scarlet had told them her plan, but for some reason, Shansa Empire did not give her as many magic crystals as she wanted. With the help of Chiellick, they finally got as many magic crystals as Scarlet wants and sent them to her.”

“What you said could be possible,” Black Eleven said, frowning.

“No matter what, Shansa Empire would not send magic crystals to us on purpose. This was just a mistake they made at some point,” Anfey said. “All we have to do is to consume these magic crystals. Ozzic, if you were the owner of these magic crystals, and they were robbed, what would you do?”

“I would fight those robbers at any cost,” Black Eleven said.

“Right. Scarlet will fight us as well,” Anfey said.

Chapter 414: Wealth

 

The mercenaries were still cleaning the battlefield when sudden noises in the corner of the battlefield drew Anfey and Suzanna’s attention. Anfey looked over and saw Ye hurrying over to them.

“What’s going on over there?” Anfey asked.

“Nothing much,” Ye said with a sigh. “Everyone’s angry over what happened to General Kumaraghosha’s family.”

“Why were they talking about Kumaraghosha?”

“He was a stubborn one,” Ye said. “After I asked everything I needed to ask, I asked him why he wanted to die. We could have let him go. He told us that the only way to save his family is for him to die.” Ye paused as if he was still trying to process the general’s words. “Then he told us what happened to General Kumaraghosha’s family.”

“What happened?” Suzanna asked.

“Edward VIII condemned all of them to death,” Ye said, shaking his head. “It is a cruel, cruel thing he did. He executed Kumaraghosha’s wife and daughters and fed their bodies to griffins. Kumaraghosha’s daughter was engaged to a viscount, and that viscount’s family is in jail now as well.”

“What else did he say?”

“That’s it about Kumaraghosha’s family. The other things mostly involve military information.”

“Tell me about it later,” Anfey said. “Don’t kill the man yet.”

“But he’s no use to us anymore.”

“Something is better coming from him,” Anfey said with a sigh. “He knows exactly what happened. I want him to talk to Kumaraghosha.”

“I see,” Ye said. “But…he wants to die and he’s injured. I needed get the information out of him, you know.” Ye pursed his lips and lowered his head. “I…might have cut his hand off.”

Anfey sighed. “Go find Warner. See if he can do anything. And tell him that no matter what happens to him, his family is still in danger. Tell him that Kumaraghosha is working for me now and eager to avenge his family. If the general dies now, Kumaraghosha would give up the opportunity to avenge his family.

“But should he come to us if he wants revenge?”

“He’s a soldier,” Anfey said. “He should know that he must be ready to be killed when he kills another. Plus, he attacked us first. Tell him everything I just said, and if he still wants to die, let him.”

“Yes, sir,” Ye said and left.

Blavi landed next to Anfey and said, “I just counted. There’s a huge amount of supplies. I don’t think we can take this much.”

“Take everything you can and burn the rest.”

Blavi sighed. “That’s such a waste.”

“I wish I could take these and send it back to Maho Empire,” Anfey said, “but we can’t. It’s better to burn it than to let Scarlet take it back.”

“What about the armor and the weapons?”

“Find a secluded location and bury them,” Anfey said. “Remember where you buried them. Who knows when we will need them? Orsie, you’ll take care of the weapons. Make it quick.”

Orsie nodded and hurried off with his men.

“What should we do with the magic crystals?” Ozzic finally asked hesitantly.

The mercenary commanders all paused. Even Orsie stopped and moved back to hear Anfey’s decision. They had sworn loyalty to Anfey, but they were still individuals. The mercenaries were working for Anfey because they trusted Anfey’s ability to lead them out of despair and give them more benefits in the future.

What banded them together was the promise of wealth and future benefits. They were all experienced mercenaries and knew how to judge a situation without being too emotional about it.

These mercenaries were different from Christian, Blavi, and Riska. The latter had been friends with Anfey before, and even though they had their conflicts, they still wanted to band together because of their common experiences. They were young still and believed in friendship, and were willing to give everything for their friends. After they began trusting Anfey, they no longer cared about benefits.

For the mercenaries, however, friendship was not enough.

“What do you think?” Anfey asked. He knew that this was a problem he had to deal with sooner or later. He knew what kind of man Ozzic was, but he still trusted him and did not doubt his loyalty.

If the magic crystals weren’t there, this situation would have been much easier. Now that they found crystals, how to distribute these crystals became an important question. To the mercenaries, the largest number of crystals should go to the person that had lost the most men.

“Sir, I think Lord Ozzic meant that it is going to be hard transporting these crystals,” Ye suddenly said. He had returned and, sensing the tension, inserted himself between Ozzic and Anfey. “It’s going to be a problem.”

“I have a dimensional ring,” Joseph suggested. “Can’t carry much, though.”

“That’s not going to work,” Ye said, shaking his head. “I’m not doubting your honesty, sir, but these crystals are worth too much. I trust you, but do you trust me? If I run with these crystals, what can you do? Even if you kill me, as long as the crystal is in my ring, you cannot retrieve it.”

“Why wouldn’t I trust you?” Joseph muttered but did not say anything else.

“Do you trust me?” Ye said, turning to Thompson. “Do you?” he asked Shinbella.

“I don’t,” Shinbella said. “I don’t trust anyone.”

“Ye’s right,” Orsie said. “We can’t divide up these crystals. It would lead to chaos!”

“He’s right, he’s right,” Ozzic hurriedly agreed. He wasn’t the only one who was eyeing the crystals, but he was the only one who was talking about it.

“Let’s just take the cart,” Anfey said. “Blavi, mark the cart. I trust you to protect these crystals. If anything happens, I’ll hold you accountable.”

Blavi nodded. “Trust me,” he said, “I’m keep my eyes on it.” Blavi was ambitious, but he was still very trusting. He had always thought the mercenaries were his friends, but clearly the mercenaries cared more about wealth.

“Alright, then,” Anfey said. “Let’s go.”

Ye left with the rest of the mercenaries, but Ozzic waited until most people were gone before hurrying off to follow Ye.

“Wait!” Ozzic called after Ye. “Wait!”

Ye stopped and turned to Ozzic. “I have a question for you, Ozzic,” Ye said with a sigh.

“What is it?”

“Out of all the commanders, who does Lord Anfey trust the most?”

“Me,” Ozzic said, his eyes on the ground.

“You’re the most trustworthy. You should know that no matter what, you will get a share of those crystals. Why did you just do that?”

“I know, I made a mistake,” Ozzic said. “You don’t think…you don’t think that Lord Anfey is angry with me, do you?”

“No,” Ye said, shaking his head, “or else he won’t have you guard the crystals with Blavi.”

“Good,” Ozzic said, relieved. “Come on, let’s go. I’m going to buy you a drink.”

Ye smiled. “Let’s wait,” he said. “We need to take care of everything else first.”

Chapter 415: Executive Council

 

At a mountain pass, Anfey quietly sat on a huge rock. Red air currents, like moving clouds, flew out from the magic crystal in his hand. The red air currents spread out dozens of yards around him. A Fire Sword floated in front of Anfey and slowly revolved on its own. Every time the Fire Sword revolved once around, it would absorb the surrounding fire elements. The sword radiance was stronger as the color of the Fire Sword turned from light red to dark red.

As the Fire Sword got brighter and became clear as crystal, the sword radiance suddenly became dark, and millions of small cracks appeared on the Fire Sword. It looked like a rock got corroded after years of weathering and then the red light completely disappeared. It was replaced by a warm orange light cloud.

Anfey gradually drew in his telepathy and looked at the Fire Sword in satisfaction. He put the Fire Sword back into the sheath and turned to look at the fire element magic crystal in his hand. Its volume had been reduced by a quarter. Anfey was happy with the result. It didn’t take nearly as much telepathy or time to make a Fire Sword as it had previously. The job was much easier.

“The magic crystal is very rich in fire elements, and very pure,” Anfey commented.

Suzanna did not know how to respond to Anfey’s comment. Wasn’t it obvious? If magic crystals were not rich in elements, or pure, then what value would they hold? Suzanna wondered.

“Anfey, do you know you defy common sense?” Blavi said bitterly. “No one would believe it even if they know about it. How could you trigger the elements in the magic crystals with just your telepathy, without any help of magic arrays. Is your telepathy stronger than our professor’s?”

“If others do not believe it, then don’t even bother telling them,” Anfey said with a smile. He stood up and walked to Suzanna and Blavi.

“I think I understand what you mean. If there were no others better than you, we would be safer. Anfey, is that what you mean?” Blavi asked.

“That’s right. Blavi, you’re getting smarter,” Anfey said.

“Anfey, are you complimenting me or making fun of me?” Blavi playfully gave Anfey a punch.

“I am definitely giving you compliments. You are a commander in charge of the most powerful mage group in our league,” Anfey said.

When Anfey talked about the mage group, Blavi went quiet for a while, then said, “Anfey, I do not know if I am in the position to tell you this.”

“We are brothers. Why don’t you just tell me?” Anfey smiled.

“Anfey, Ozzic and his people are not trustworthy! Anfey, I am not trying to create problems among us. I am telling you what I feel,” Blavi immediately explained. “Do you remember that day? They…for the magic crystals.”

“I know,” Anfey said quietly. “They are not like you. We have the same professor and have been through a lot together. We are not biological brothers, but even closer than brothers. No one could break us apart. They are different. That is the reason I did not want conflict with Fernando and Scarlet. In fact, I do not have to be worried, since most soldiers in Shield of Light legion are from Maho Empire. With their support, Fernando and Scarlet cannot push us too hard. That’s why I don’t worry about Christian’s safety very much.”

“What are you worrying about?” Blavi asked.

“I am worried about the mercenaries in the league.” Anfey sighed. “Fernando and Scarlet are not stupid. They know well that the biggest problem with the league is internal instability. If they did something behind our backs and tried to sabotage our unity, it would be hard to prevent,” Anfey said.

“If that is the case, why don’t we…” Blavi looked like he was determined to kill someone.

“No, no! They are still our people now,” Anfey said, shaking his head, “but there are different degrees of loyalty to ‘our people’. Fighting against Fernando or Scarlet is different than fighting death spirits. No one had another option than to unite and fight shoulder to shoulder. There would be too many unexpected factors if we fight with Fernando and Scarlet. We are just keeping things moving forward. They should have no loyalty problems, and that is why I am trying to avoid Fernando and Scarlet. If we could easily win the battle, we would fight. If not, we just run away. The key is to keep mercenaries optimistic.”

“Are we going to continue like this?” Blavi asked with a frown.

“We do not have enough people, so we can only keep going the way we are,” Anfey said slowly. “When we meet up with Sante and Zubin, I have an idea.”

“What’s that?” Blavi asked.

“I would like to send our people to each mercenary group. Let’s call them magic counselors.” Anfey thought of the position in his previous world called an executive council. Of course, the magic counselor would have more power than the executive council. “Counselors cannot give commands, but on certain occasions could veto commanders.”

“So it would be the supervisor of a commander?” Blavi asked.

“You can say that.” Anfey smiled. “Blavi, I have already thought about having you be the magic counselor for Unit One. You have to be careful with your language and behavior. No matter what you think of Ozzic, you have to keep a good relationship with him. Don’t fight with him. You have to pay special attention to Ye. If you accidentally show your dislike towards Ozzic, Ye would definitely sense it, even if Ozzic could not.”

Blavi was quiet and slowly nodded.

“Let’s put it this way. If we are in danger, I am not sure about others, but Shinbella and Ye would definitely work for us. Well, Ye is in an awkward position.” Anfey had a smile on his face. “On one hand, Ozzic helped him a lot and trusted him, so he treats Ozzic like a brother and thinks for him all the time. On the other hand, he is willing to work for us and thinks for us as well. For example…”

“For example, if Ye spoke up for you, it would be hard for you to make the decision,” Suzanna said.

“Yes.” Anfey nodded. “Ozzic may not be that important, but we need have Ye on our side. He is very good. For the sake of Ye, could you let small things go if Ozzic offends you? Blavi, do you follow?”

“Yes, got it.” Blavi smiled. “If you asked me some time ago to deal with a person I do not like, I might not be able to do it. I will try now though.”

“Anfey, do you think those commanders object if you send supervisors, I mean, magic counselors, to each mercenary group?” Blavi asked.

“There would definitely be challenges, but I have my bottom line. They have to have magic counselors; otherwise I could just do what Blavi suggested: kill anyone who does not obey,” Anfey said calmly. “The League of Mercenaries are not regular mercenary groups. The current policies and rules in the mercenary group are not what I want while those commanders have too much power. The commanders set too much constraints on their mercenaries. I cannot allow them keep their absolute power.”

“If they really…” Blavi was interrupted by Anfey.

“Then kill them.” Anfey looked cold. “If I could get support from Ye, it would mean I would get Ozzic’s support as well. We also have Shinbella, the mage group, and us. If we have to fight, we have the advantage. Orsie and Thompson are smart. They know what they should do. The only trouble would be Joseph. That is fine. I could kill him to set an example for others.”

“I am concerned that we could create problems if we suppress those commanders so hard,” Blavi said.

“Every magic counselor will have a position in the mage group. When units are on different assignments, they could apply for mages to join the battle though magic counselors, or even ask the whole mage group to help them. With this condition, mercenaries would not be too opposed to magic counselors.”

“Will it be enough if they are just not against it? What if they isolate magic counselors?” Blavi asked.

“They cannot.” Anfey smiled. “Magic counselors mainly deal with regular mercenaries. Regular mercenaries would not refuse to make friends with an honorable mage. Of course, it would depend on each individual mage to develop his own reputation.”

“To bond with regular mercenaries.” Suzanna thought for a while. “Blavi, what do you think?”

Blavi nodded confidently. “I think it would work.” Whenever he talked with mercenaries, they all looked honored and surprised. If he tried purposefully to bond with them, he felt he could get along with them quick.

“Suzanna, do you have any concerns?” Anfey asked.

“No, I think it is a good idea,” Suzanna said.

Suzanna was not the same palace maid who was willing to risk her life to complete missions anymore. Blavi was not the same naïve mage anymore. They had experienced so much in the past year. Anfey was autocratic at the beginning because of the situation he was in, and he knew those kids would not have any valuable suggestions. After things had settled, he tried to ask more and gave guidance to Christian and a few others. Whether he was guiding them or pushing them to learn, Christian, Suzanna and few others indeed matured every day. They would not have had so many suggestions a year ago.

Switching the topic, Suzanna said, “Anfey, why did you stop triggering magic crystals? I think you still have telepathy left.”

“We do not have time,” Anfey said calmly. “The knights from Shansa Empire are only a few miles away.”

“What? Why didn’t you tell us earlier?” Blavi was shocked and immediately looked up to check.

“Not griffin riders,” Anfey said. “They are cavalry. We killed a few griffin riders a few days ago. I think Scarlet feels bad about it and would not send more griffin riders out to get killed.” Anfey was not bragging. The Fire Sword could instantly release all kinds of elements and large-scale series of lightning. If they did not have too many griffin riders, and would fly in close formation, he could kill a bunch of them with one attack.

“How many soldiers do they have?” Blavi asked.

“More than 20,” Anfey said.

“Only about 20?” Blavi suddenly looked relaxed. “It is not fun. We could just stop them there and then go to meeting Riska.”

“No, kill these soldiers. We have to catch up with Riska soon,” Anfey said.

“Anfey, did you say we have to cover for the mercenaries?” Blavi asked.

“Not necessary anymore,” Anfey said slowly. “The day before yesterday, the griffin riders flying northeast were missing. Today, the scout knight in the northeast is missing again, which will give Scarlet enough information to locate us.”

Chapter 416: Illusion

 

A few days passed, but time did not ease Anfey and Suzanna’s worry. Despite their worrying, however, nothing had happened. Scarlet was young, but she had already made a name for herself and was known for being proud. She wasn’t the kind to lose two whole carts of magic crystals and do nothing in retaliation. She should be planning something or doing something.

The mercenaries arrived at a small village by sunset. The village was silent, without even the sound of farm animals. The villagers had either carefully fled or all had been killed already. However, the mercenaries became very excited by what they saw in the village. A broken plaque near the entrance of the village told them that they were close to Stormenburg, where Band of Brothers mercenary group had settled.

“We’re at Shiza Village,” Ozzic reported to Anfey with a wide smile. “We’re very close to Stormenburg now. A day and a half march at most.”

“Elizabeth, did the mages find anything?” Blavi turned and asked.

Elizabeth shook her head. The mages had been using Eye of the Sky to observe their surroundings nonstop. Anfey did not need Eye of the Sky to know what was happening around them, but he couldn’t be alert all the time and he wanted to train the mages.

“Let’s take a break,” Anfey said. “We’ll march through the night.”

Ozzic nodded. Marching through the night would be difficult, but no one wanted to live in constant danger and fear. Marching during the night was a sacrifice they were willing to make in order to reach Stormenburg faster.

Ozzic stopped the mercenaries and told the commanders about Anfey’s order. There was no need to set up tents or start fires, since they will not be staying for the night.

Anfey jumped off of his horse. He had been keeping an eye on his surroundings as well, but it was difficult work. Like the mercenaries, he needed some rest.

Blavi looked around and found Ye. He waved and asked, “How’s the guy from Shansa?”

“The general?” Ye smiled and said, “He’s living. I’m proud of him, to be honest. I didn’t expect him to make it.”

“Tell Warner to keep an eye on him,” Anfey reminded him.

“You don’t need to tell me twice,” Ye said with a laugh. “Warner won’t leave his side.”

Ye walked off to talk with other mercenaries. Anfey smiled and patted Blavi on the shoulder. “You did well today. Keep talking. It’s not something to be ashamed off.”

Blavi smiled. Before he could say anything, he was distracted by some commotion amongst the mages. Elizabeth hurried over, worried.

Anfey didn’t need anyone to report to him to know who they had discovered. What he had been worrying about was coming. He glanced at Suzanna and they began walking towards the mages.

Elizabeth joined them and said, “The mages found…”

“I know,” Anfey said, nodding. He glanced around and saw the mercenaries had drawn their weapons, ready for battle. The mercenaries knew what they took and knew that retaliation would be coming. The mercenaries didn’t need any order to know a fight was coming.

Anfey was satisfied with how the mercenaries reacted to this sudden situation. He hurried to the mages and saw that Black Eleven was already there, staring at an Eye of the Sky. He turned and saw Anfey and shook his head. “It’s Scarlet’s knights,” Black Eleven said.

“You sure?” Blavi asked, his eyes wide.

“So what?” Anfey asked with a frown.

Black Eleven sighed and shook his head. He did not know how to answer Anfey’s question concisely. Each of the three empires had its own specialty. Ellisen Empire had powerful mages, Maho Empire had strong swordsmen, and Shansa Empire had the griffins. Another thing Shansa Empire was especially good at was training knights and cavalry. Because of this, Shansa Empire did not have a lot of strong foot soldiers. This was a side effect of how powerful and important the griffin knights were within Shansa Empire.

“They have a lot of mages,” Riska said quietly.

This news did not come as a surprise. If Scarlet did not have mages, she would not waste so much time and manpower transporting magic crystals. The news was no surprise, but it still made everyone, including Blavi, nervous. The mages all concentrated on trying to find the enemy mages.

The alliance’s mages group had participated in several battles since its establishment, but in reality they were never a direct part of the battle because they had rarely fought against other mages. Mages from places like Ellisen Empire were very familiar with battle tactics. They knew when to use a spell, and they could change their battle strategy depending on the course of the battle. The alliance’s mages did not have these experiences. Blavi did not know how well the mages would hold up against mages who had experience fighting against groups.

Anfey did not look at the Eye of the Sky. He utilized the Heart of Nature and searched for the enemy’s movement.

The enemy was getting closer. Shansa knights suddenly increased their speed at the same time, hundreds of figures appeared behind the knights and rose into the air.

“God,” one of the mages whispered. “They have so many people.”

Everyone turned to Anfey, waiting for his order. The mercenary commanders had all arrived as well and were waiting.

“I’ll go with Suzanna and hold them off for a bit,” Anfey said. “Ozzic, you will follow us. Shinbella and Orsie, you two will follow Ozzic.” Anfey was the leader of the alliance and he did not have to go first, but he wanted to show the mercenaries that he was trustworthy and they could risk their lives with him.

“What is it?” one of the mages suddenly exclaimed, pointing at the Eye of the Sky.

A dozen Shansa mages raised their wands and heavy fog appeared, concealing them. Soon, the Eye of the Sky could only see white fog.

Blavi cursed under his breath. “Quickly, cover us!”

The mages scrambled to release fog spells, but before the fog could conceal the mercenaries, a gust of wind blew it all away.

Riska frowned and began chanting. He did not having experience in battle either, but he wanted to copy the Shansa mages and blow their fog away. Riska used the wind spell twice, but the spells seemed to have no effect on the fog.

Anfey frowned. It seemed like the time to divide the crystals had come.

“They have griffins!” a mage called. About twenty griffin knights appeared in the Eye of the Sky. Anfey wasn’t scared of the griffins, but he was confused. The knights had slowed down and stopped, then they turned and rode away. The mages landed among the knights and hurried away as well.

Finally, Riska’s wind spell worked and the wind blew away all the fog. By the time the fog dispersed, however, nothing was left. Even though griffins were flying away, as if they could not see the mercenaries in the village.

Everyone stood in silence, shocked. If it hadn’t been the griffins, they would have thought that what they had just witness was only an illusion.

Chapter 417: Old Memories

 

The history of Stormenburg was not as long as Blackwater City and White Mountain City, but Stormenburg was comparatively an ancient city in the Country of Mercenaries.

The very first city master of Stormenburg, Jacques, was not very lucky. He tried very hard to gather all kinds of construction materials. As they were ready for construction, the weather suddenly changed. The storms lasted for two whole months. This kind of weather was rare. They finally toughed through the storms, but Jacques’s biggest enemy, plus some gangsters, caused him trouble. Jacques led his mercenaries and fought them. They kicked the gangsters out of Stormenburg but paid a big price for it.

After that, Jacques changed the city name into Stormenburg, which meant the city would stay there after storms, and changed his Holy War mercenary group into Brothers Mercenary group to remember those mercenaries who died in the war. Jacques had a bad temper, but he set a good example for mercenaries and rewarded and punished them fairly. He never bullied anyone, so he enjoyed a good reputation among mercenaries. Knowing Jacques was building a city, some mercenary groups who were barely surviving came to Stormenburg to join Jacques. Jacques change the Brothers mercenary group into Band of Brother mercenary group to show their high tolerance towards other mercenaries.

After generations of hard work, Stormenburg had grown to a decent size. Its location was not great. It was far from business routes, which slowed down economic development. However, Stormenburg was still one of the best cities in the Country of Mercenaries.

Anfey and his people had met a few patrols just as they entered Stormenburg. After a short conversation, the mercenaries immediately went to report to their commander. Soon, a group of about 300 mercenaries came out to welcome them. The one in front was Entos, whom Anfey had not seen for a while.

Entos was shocked when they saw each other. He looked around and then burst into laughter.

Anfey was walking in the front. He felt strange, so he looked at himself first and then looked at Suzanna. He did not get what Entos was laughing about.

Entos did not stop laughing for a while. He sighed. “Anfey? What happened? You look like you were chased by a group of crazy dogs. None of you look good.”

Shansa Empire’s military had retreated for no apparent reason. Anfey still had to be extra careful. They travelled at night and had not taken a break. It was impossible to still look good. The mercenaries had been travelling about 17 hours nonstop and all looked greasy, sweaty, and covered with dust. Some of them had leaves in their hair and on their clothes. They had no time to clean up. They all looked tired and greasy. No wonder Entos laughed at them.

Anfey smiled bitterly. “You have no idea what we experienced.”

“The professor said you are a genius. You could develop well in any area. It looks like a genius’s ability is limited.” Entos continued to put Anfey down. “What the hell happened to make you look like this?”

The few commanders in Anfey’s league who did not know Entos looked irritated. Based on what Entos said, it was easy to misunderstand that he did not like Anfey. It was common sense that a friend should not take advantage of Anfey in difficult times to make fun of him.

“Bro Entos, stop your nonsense. You have no idea how tired we are. Can you ask your people to prepare rooms and food for us?” Anfey turned around to take a look. “We can be tough, but…”

Entos looked up to follow Anfey’s eyes. He saw highly-secured wagons. Entos’ face changed immediately. “Did Miss Niya come?”

Smart! No wonder he was the guy who could know everything with just a glance. Anfey could not help complimenting him in his mind. Anfey neither nodded nor shook his head to answer him. If Anfey lied to Entos, then he would deceive Entos. He would rather have Entos guess.

“How could Miss Niya be with you?” Entos asked in confusion.

Anfey still did not answer him. He only looked at Entos.

“I will have your rooms and food ready.” Entos turned around and wanted to leave.

Anfey grabbed Entos’ arm and asked with a confused voice, “Miss Niya? Where is Miss Niya?” His facial expression was controlled, but he was laughing hard inside.

He could tell there must have been something between Entos and Niya. Entos was never comfortable whenever Niya was there. Anfey tried to find out what had happened. He finally got the secret from Zubin.

Entos had a wild personal life. Others never understood why honest Saul, with his simple lifestyle, would take Entos as his student. In the Country of Mercenaries, the most developed and common job was a mercenary. Another job that developed from it was prostitution. Mercenaries returned to cities after dangerous assignments. Some of them would go home to their wives and children. The unmarried mercenaries would not mind spending money on hookers to loosen themselves up. Entos was a well-known playboy who went to see hookers very frequently. It would be an exaggeration to say Entos had seen all the hookers in the big cities, but many hookers had seen Entos. Even the ones who had not seen Entos must have known about him. Entos was over 40 years old. No one asked Entos directly why he had not married, since it was too personal.

Entos was cruel, so he did not have a very good reputation. He was not liked by many honest and upright people, but Entos never minded others’ criticism. He took the responsibility as vice commander of a mercenary group in the Country of Mercenaries. When he returned to Maho Empire, he needed to be a humble and polite student and nice brother. Besides those pieces of information, everything else was his personal affair. No one had the right to tell him what to do. Saul had reminded a few times to control his personal life. Entos listened to Saul in front of him, but forgot all of the advice when Saul was not around. He continued with the same personal life. He even bragged once when he was drunk that his life would be too boring and he would rather die if he always had to find reasons to do things and consider others’ feelings and opinions. Some people told Saul what Entos bragged about. Saul was quiet for a while, then laughed and had never bothered Entos again.

There was a saying that one day you would slip and get your feet soaked if you always walked along the river bank. Entos used to be a kind and nice brother to other students of Saul, but his true colors were starting to show. Entos went back to Saul’s house from the Country of Mercenaries on purpose for Niya’s seventeenth birthday. Niya had been out hunting with Granden when Entos returned. Entos was bored and found his girldfriend. Of course, that was how Entos referred to her. If he was just hanging out with her, it should be no big deal. The problem was, Entos did not like to just hang out. It was still not a big deal if he had sex with her, but he should not have brought her to Saul’s house.

To make Niya happy, Saul sent a magic letter to Niya to let her know Entos was back for her birthday. Niya missed Entos. Entos was not her biological brother, but he was like family to her. When she returned from hunting, she excitedly kicked open Entos’ room at night and saw Entos naked with his girlfriend, also naked. Niya ran away screaming, while Entos ran away in shame. Entos’ girlfriend was the only calm one. She put her clothes on and said goodbye to Saul, who came in to check on the screaming. She behaved very politely. Anfey heard she bought herself out from the contract with her pimp, bought a small house in Sacred City, and lived there alone. Zubin told Anfey that was the reason Entos was rarely at home. Whether Entos was too ashamed to stay home or just simply liked his wild life and stayed with his girlfriend who was living alone, Zubin did not say. It was a question that could be interpreted in different ways by different people.

“Are you playing with me?” Entos asked. He blushed since this issue had bothered him for a long time. If Anfey did not use Niya as a bluff, how could he know the secrets Entos had. Entos felt he had fulfilled his responsibilities as a student, brother, and vice commander. He had done well except for that incident. If Anfey knew his embarrassment, he would not know what to tell Anfey. No one wanted to be the butt of other’s jokes.

Seeing Entos’ face change colors, Anfey immediately realized his mistake. His joke made Entos mad. Nothing could sabotage a friendship, not even at life-threatening moments. Some people were willing to do anything for their friendship. However, friendship could be fragile as well. An inappropriate saying or facial expression could create a crack in their friendship.

“Bro Entos, what are you doing?” Anfey smiled bitterly. “I did not say anything.”

Entos’ eyes were moving fast, which showed he was thinking. Obviously, he did not completely trust Anfey’s explanation. After a while, Entos had a bitter smile on his face too. He thought to himself, Never mind. If he did it, he should not be afraid of others making fun of him. Entos changed his attitude and said quietly, “Anfey, did you see necromancers on the way?”

“It would have been better if we met necromancers. Don’t forget, we have Warner.” Anfey shook his head and smiled. “Scarlet sent knights to chase after us.”

“Scarlet? How could she spare people to chase after you?” Entos asked in confusion.

“Huh? Why couldn’t she spare people to chase after us?” Anfey asked, confused.

“Oh, you did not know General Baery has led his Roaring Dead legion into the Country of Mercenaries,” Entos said slowly. “I left you guys to build a small-scale magic array for Marino in Stormenburg. We can’t transport large items on the magic array, but at least we could pass messages to each other now.”

“Really? General Baery came too?” Blavi asked in excitement.

“Of course, why would I lie to you?” Entos had really changed his attitude now. He smiled. “Let’s go. I will take you guys to see Marino.”

Chapter 418: Satisfied

 

As soon as he had set foot in Stormenburg, Anfey immediately felt different. The streets were clean and wide, and there were people on the streets. Although there were lots of people out on the street, they remained to the side of the road and left the road to carts and carriages. Like Maho Empire’s Sacred City, there were small holes on the side of the road that acted as a drainage system. Stormenburg’s drainage system was perhaps even better than Sacred City’s. The drains ensured that the city would have cleans streets and made the city more sanitary.

Anfey had a very good first impression of the city. The buildings along the streets were very organized as well. Anfey heard that Stormenburg had expanded twice to accommodate the increasing population. This city was very flexible and could expand even more. After all, Jacob had been the one that designed the city. Unlike White Mountain City and Blackwater City, Stormenburg had been under the control of Band of Brothers mercenary group since its founding, which must be one of the reason why Stormenburg was much more organized than the other two.

Marino and two of his men were waiting outside the gate to the inner city. Anfey hurried off of his horse to greet him. “Lord Marino,” he said, bowing. “It’s good to see you again.”

“Good to see you as well, Count Anfey,” Marino said with a quick bow.

Suzanna walked over and smiled at Marino.

“Good to see you, Lady Suzanna,” Marino said. “You’re as beautiful as ever. Come, come. Let’s go inside.”

Anfey looked up and saw the mercenaries behind Marino looking at him weirdly. Seeing that he had noticed them, the mercenaries quickly looked away.

Marino led them into the inner city, where they were greeted by a wave of cheers. The windows of the buildings on the side of the road were all open, and young girls were standing by the windows, throwing flowers at the visitors. Anfey smiled as he picked up a flower. Who knows how these girls came by these flowers in the winter?

Suzanna glanced at Anfey and frowned. Anfey nodded at her. It did not take long for them to get to the inner city. They couldn’t have planned all this in that short amount of time, could they? Did Marino know that they were coming beforehand?

Marino smiled at the flowers and kept walking. This was less of a city and more of a kingdom within a kingdom, and Marino was its king.

The mercenaries in the alliance had been in constant danger before arriving. Now that they were in Stormenburg and were safe, they began thinking about things other than survival. With so many beautiful women around, some mercenaries were getting very distracted. They waved and hooted, trying to get the girls’ attention. The girls, however, dutifully ignored the mercenaries.

Marino led them to the conference room in the government building. Before anyone had the chance to sit, Entos appeared. “Hey,” he said to Ozzic. “Come with me. I’ll show you around.” Ozzic hesitated, but quickly realized that Marino must want to talk to Anfey in private. Ozzic nodded and followed Entos out. The other mercenary commanders followed as well, leaving Anfey and Suzanna alone with Marino.

“Did you run into trouble on the way here?” Marino asked, motioning them to sit.

Anfey nodded as he sat down next to Suzanna. “We ran into some trouble with Shansa Empire’s Scarlet,” Anfey said.

“How did that happen?” Marino asked, his eyes wide.

“We took some crystals from her.”

“How much?”

“Two carts.”

Marino laughed. “I would be angry with you also, if I was her.” He was surprised by the amount of crystals, but he did not discuss it further. Marino turned to the mercenaries behind him and said, “Let me introduce you. These are my men, Uri, Bernedo, and Shashibi. They’ve been with me for years.”

The three mercenaries hurried over and bowed to Anfey.

Anfey stood and helped them up, then turned to Marino and asked, “What is the meaning of this?”

“Go gather your men,” Marino ordered quietly. The three mercenaries nodded and left the room.

“Lord Marino, this…” Anfey did not sit back down. He stood there, watching Marino with a frown.

“I know this must be strange,” Marino said. He pushed a file on the table over to Anfey. “You’ll understand when you read this.”

Anfey opened the file and nodded. It was a direct order from Yolanthe that made Marino an inheritable duke. Stormenburg and five hundred miles around the city would be his land. It also gave Marino and his heirs pardon for any crimes. Next to Yolanthe’s signature was a red fingerprint. As long as Maho Empire existed, this order would be effective.

Yolanthe’s generosity surprised Anfey, but it still did not answer his question. “Congratulations, Duke!” he said with a genuine smile. Marino’s rise in status would be a great asset.

“Thank you,” Marino said quietly. “You see, I’m not a very ambitious person. Which is why I need to take care of everything after I received this.”

“You mean…”

“I know myself, but that doesn’t mean others know me. I need to prevent conflicts and make myself clear to anyone.” Marino chuckled. “Rulers are like beasts. You never know what will anger them.”

“You are given a pardon,” Anfey said.

“By His Majesty,” Marino said, “who can revoke it any time he wants. People with less power, on the other hand, are much safer. People like Marquis Djoser. He had done a lot of things, but His Majesty had never punished him, because Djoser did not have enough power to change the empire.”

Anfey sat down in his seat. He was beginning to understand Marino’s concerns. “But His Majesty isn’t like that.”

“I respect His Majesty, but what about his son? His son’s son?” Marino shook his head. “The pardon only works when we stay in our lanes. Entos trusts you, which is why I am telling you this. You’re too young, so you may not understand. I did not understand for a long time until recently. Do you know why His Majesty did this?”

“Because he trusts you.”

“No,” Marino said, shaking his head. “If you have a magic beast, and one day you give it a lot of food, what will you be thinking?”

“I hope that it never gets hungry and harasses me again,” Anfey said.

“Exactly. From now on, I’m on my own. I cannot ask His Majesty for anything anymore. This is the most he can give me,” Marino said. “After the war began, a lot of mercenaries took refuge here. I’m worried that I may not be able to support them, but I cannot turn them away, either. I’m a duke already: Why do I need so many mercenaries? I’m not ambitious, and I’m satisfied with everything as it is. I don’t need these mercenaries here, do you understand?”

Chapter 419: Courtesy

 

“Because of the situation we are in now, it is not the time to retreat immediately,” Anfey said with a slight shake of his head. Obviously, Marino was only interested in being a wealthy man, but he had to do what was needed since the situation had changed. From Anfey’s point of view, he definitely would need Marino’s help in the future. Even if Marino did not want to be involved, he had to wait until the situation got better or until Christian was in a much stronger position.

“Do you know why I am talking about these things even though we just met? I am really worried.” Marino had a bitter smile on his face. “Since the War against the Dead broke out, more than 12,000 mercenaries have come to Stormenburg. Including their families, the population of Stormenburg has grown by more than 50,000. It is a huge burden for me. With over 10,000 mercenaries coming to me, plus the mercenaries in Band of Brother mercenary group, I have enough people for a decent-sized military. I do not know if Glory mercenary group took the opportunity to expand. If they are the same size, I have the confidence to start a fight against them and destroy them.”

Anfey was shocked. “You have that many mercenaries?” This was the difference between Marino and Alice. Alice had claimed that she welcomed all the mercenaries to Moramatch. However, only a small number of mercenaries had come. Some mercenaries who came to Moramatch were friends with Ozzic. The number of mercenaries who went to Moramatch were just a trifle compared with the large number of mercenaries who went to Stormenburg. Of course, these movements were affected by the strategies necromancers used. The population of death spirits around Cross Valley was the largest. Stormenburg was a lot safer. The people who were able to cross the Cross Valley and reach Moramatch were almost all soldiers. If they had families with them, they usually did not want to take the risk and preferred the safer route.

Marino nodded. “It was hard to explain to others why there are more than tens of thousands of mercenaries. Some people might think I want to do something with so many mercenaries in Stormenburg. In fact, I have the ability to take some action if I want to. I do not want others to have that misconception about me. You know how many people would believe the gossip.”

“Do you want to give those mercenaries to me?” Anfey smiled. “Do you think I am not concerned about the same issue?”

“You are different than me. No matter what you do, others will think you are working for Christian and doing something for your future,” Marino said.

Entos walked into the room and frowned. “Marino, why are you talking about this with Anfey? We should not worry about this kind of thing.”

“Entos, I cannot believe you cannot see it more clearly, since you are involved. Have you asked Christian’s opinion? Do you know what Christian is really thinking?” Marino asked calmly.

Entos went quiet for a while before he slowly took a seat. The issue between Granden and Christian gave him a headache. Christian was like his little brother, while Granden showed a lot of respect and had a good relationship with him. Entos even helped Granden make Niya like him. If Entos took Granden’s or Christian’s side, it seemed not to be fair to the other one. Entos pretended he did not know when Niya ran away. Saul did not interfere either. It showed the attitudes of Entos and Saul toward the younger generation’s problems. They felt helpless and wanted to leave room to let the younger ones deal with it by themselves. They tried not to interfere.

If Granden and Christian were not in conflict, then all the problems could be solved easily. The problem was Granden and Christian shared a lot good qualities in common. They were both smart, kind, understood regular people’s struggles, dedicated to the country, had good relationships in their circles, and had good self-control. It made it really hard for Entos to take sides.

So many royal kids committed crimes, bullied others and raped women. The grandson of Philip was an example. As princes, Granden and Christian had the highest immunity from being punished, but they had never done anything like that. Instead, they hated these kinds of things. The only difference between them was that Granden was more direct. In war, Granden supervised the troops. He had always volunteered to be the vice sheriff and had punished many royal kids who committed crimes. He neither showed any prejudice toward anyone, nor was afraid of offending anyone for the right reasons. The oldest prince, Wester, was in charge of city administration for the time being. Many government officials and royalty in Sacred City had showed their favoritism towards Wester. There was a saying that three inches-thick ice could not freeze overnight. Many people must have had conflicts with Granden for a long time.

Christian held an aloof attitude towards government affairs, since he did not mean to take any position in Sacred City. He needed some experience managing the city and leading troops. If Christian were given opportunities, no one would say he was worse than Granden. Everyone knew the real reason Yolanthe asked Christian to supervise the troops this time.

In relationships with girls, Granden only hung out with Niya. There was never any gossip about him with other girls. Christian had dedicated himself to magic study. They were definitely unique among royal kids, in a good way. Saul and others thought Granden and Christian should appreciate each other more. Brothers could break a gold brick if they tried it together. If one of them became Yolanthe’s successor while the other one became a prince, they could work together to reform the country and give Maho Empire new life. That would be undoubtedly the best result, but reality wasn’t working out that way. Granden held a party on Christian’s birthday, while Christian only said goodbye to the oldest prince Wester and ignored Granden. All these had showed the conflict between them.

Marino laid his eyes on Anfey. “And I need to think for my mercenaries. There are two kinds of people. One type is ambitious, while the other is content, like me. I would like to refer a few people to you. They are the former kind. It would not benefit them too much if they follow me. No matter how hard they work, they would be my officials. The problem is, they could not replace me. I have thought about it for them through. Instead of having them stay with me and endure a boring and lonely life, I would rather have them follow you and do something amazing. If they could accomplish something, they would definitely appreciate me recommending them to you.”

What Marino said inspired Anfey. He needed to push Christian into the public more. Christian should not give others the impression that he was just a puppet of Anfey. It would not do any good for Christian, and also would put himself in danger.

“But I hope you will treat them well. Their loyalty is beyond doubt. I can promise you that.” Marino smiled. “I have been talking with them about you after I had this idea. I bragged about your wisdom and capability. I can tell they admire you.”

“You bragged about me to what degree?” Anfey asked. He remembered that a few mercenaries had checked him out, but also looked timid.

“I did not exaggerate too much. You were a student of a supreme power and will be the only supreme power in the future,” Marino said. “I talked a lot about you. For example, you drove out rascals and protected people, scolded Master Swordsman Philip, went into your enemies’ territories to fight and wiped the whole Griffin Aerial Unit, fought with necromancers and killed Annunciata and over a dozen other necromancers, founded League of Mercenaries in Moramatch, and killed hundreds of thousands of death spirits.”

“Are you sure you just bragged about me a little bit?” Anfey said.

“Just a little bit. To a bard, this is a necessary and artistic exaggeration. In fact, those heroic biographies had exaggeration in them as well.” Marino smiled. “I have been wanting to be a bard since I was little.”

“Did you just say you have over 12,000 mercenaries? How many mages are there?” Anfey asked.

“Yes, but I am not sure of the number of mages. You’ll have to find out yourself.” Marino suddenly grinned. “Don’t get too excited about the number. You know I have passed my burden to you. First of all, you should think about how you would feed them before the business route opens up again.”

“I have plenty of food, but I need to send people to get it for me,” Anfey said.

“You have food? Where is it?” Marino was shocked. Stormenburg was his city and had all kinds of supplies, but the city supplies were almost emptied by having an extra 50,000 people. He planned to have Entos to take over 10,000 mercenaries to meet Anfey. This way, he helped Anfey and made a huge contribution to the future success of Christian at the same time. He also could pass the burden to Anfey with a good reason. It was like killing two birds with one stone. He definitely wanted to use Anfey when he heard there were food.

“Scarlet has lead her troops into the Country of Mercenaries to start the battle. She had to feed more than a few hundred thousand people. It should be no problem to feed another 50,000 people,” Anfey said.

Marino was shocked. “You are not thinking of robbing Scarlet’s supplies, are you?”

“No, I am not just thinking about it. You know I have robbed her once. It should be fine to rob her a few more times,” Anfey said.

“Scarlet lost so much last time. She must have prepared a lot better this time. If you want to rob her again, it will be very, very hard!” Marino said.

“I am not going to rob her in the Country of Mercenaries. Here is the border between the Country of Mercenaries and Shansa Empire.” Anfey rubbed his finger across a deep cut in the table. “I have a captive from Shansa Empire. He said Scarlet was stopped by border patrols when she was ready to go out for battle. She took over the patrol by force to show her determination. The nobility in Shansa Empire was against Scarlet going out to fight at first, but they changed their minds when they knew they could not stop her.”

“What does this have to do with food?” Marino asked.

“In war, those border patrols were very brave and fought her hard, so she ordered her men to destroy the two mage towers at the border. After the battle, she forced all the mages at the border to go with her. Without the protection of mages and mage towers, Suzanna and I can go in and out freely. We could go in at any time to open the gate.” Anfey pointed on the table. “She stocked most her supplies here, on the other side of the border.”

Marino suddenly realized something. “Did you already plan to attack there even before you came here?”

“I planned to take a break in Stormenburg. Since Scarlet is here, I cannot do anything to her. That would be too rude,” Anfey said.

Chapter 420: Paladin’s Advantage

 

“Please!” Anfey said, holding his hands out.

Suzanna smiled and bowed to Anfey. Anfey took a few steps back and, before Suzanna could react, jumped towards her and kicked at her chest.

Suzanna had always thought Anfey was fair, so she did not expect him to attack before she was ready. She was still a grand swordswoman, though, and easily avoided the attack.

“That’s cheating,” Suzanna complained.

Anfey grinned but did not say anything. He drew his sword and jumped at Suzanna again without warning.

Suzanna blocked his attack with her sword. Their swords clashed, and both jumped back a few paces. Anfey attacked again, and this time he did not back down. Instead, he kept moving closer to her and his sword was held level at her throat.

Suzanna frowned, summoned her combat power, and burst into light. She did not move, but Anfey’s sword was thrown back. Then she flicked her wrist and sent an arc of sword radiance after Anfey.

Suzanna went on the offensive while Anfey changed to defense. He avoided exchanging blows with Suzanna head on and chose to attack her from the side or from the back. Anfey knew his own strength, and he knew that it would be unwise to try to fight with a grand swordswoman head on. There was too big of a difference between Suzanna’s combat power and his power.

The first time Ernest had practiced with Anfey, Ernest felt very uncomfortable, but that did not show in his fighting. Ernest was a top level power, and he had enough experience to adapt to anything that was unfamiliar to him. Suzanna knew Anfey’s style of fighting. His style might have been confusing to others, but not to her.

Suzanna spun around as Anfey snuck around her and tried to stab her in the back. She could tell that he was already moving to her left. She was holding her sword in her right hand and she would have to turn right in order to block his sword quickly. This was why he was moving to her left.

Suzanna knew his method of attack, and she had been pretending to fall for it in order to lower his defenses.

Suzanna blocked Anfey’s sword, then quickly turned to her left and slashed her sword at Anfey’s neck.

Anfey did not expect her to realize what he was doing and did not move out of the way in time. Suzanna’s attack threw him back and sent him crashing to the ground.

“You lost,” Suzanna said.

“Not yet!” Anfey said. Instead of jumping up and lunging at her again, he remained close to the ground. He kept trying to attack her legs and ankles, but did not stand up.

Suzanna frowned. She had a lot of ways to attack a person, but she did not know how to attack someone who was attacking her while staying close to the ground.

She couldn’t attack him, but Anfey could attack her. His attacks restricted his movement, but no matter what she did, she felt strange having someone stabbing at her feet.

Suzanna sighed and jumped forward, landing a few paces away. Anfey watched her and grinned. “Come,” he said, without getting off of the ground.

Suzanna snorted, and her sword burst into light. She waved her sword, sending sword radiance hurling towards Anfey.

Anfey flew up and moved out of the way of her attack. A moment later, he landed on the ground again.

“Come here!” Suzanna said angrily. She was not used to losing and was getting angry. She was trying hard to think of a way to defeat Anfey. She was like Ernest and was not used to his way of attack. Also like Ernest, she could quickly adapt and change her tactics.

Anfey grinned and dashed towards Suzanna, still staying low.

Suzanna grinned as well. Her sword glowed and she waved it, sending a large sword radiance flying towards Anfey. She needed to control the distance between her and Anfey.

Anfey jumped off of the ground, trying to duck. He knew that whatever he did, he could not touch the sword radiance. If he did, he would lose.

Before he could land on the ground again, Suzanna sent another sword radiance after him. Anfey retreated, staying away from Suzanna’s sword.

Suzanna had speed, patience, and strong combat power. Nothing could touch her unless she wanted it to. Anfey jumped up and down outside the net of combat power, but he could not approach Suzanna.

Although Anfey had a strange way of fighting and some strange ideas, he was still not as powerful as Suzanna. He was fast, but Suzanna was equally fast.

He knew that Suzanna could not keep this up for long, but this was not a fight to the death, and he did not need it to be too serious. Anfey took a deep breath and backed away, then he waved his hand and summoned a large wall of earth.

Suzanna grinned. She dashed towards the wall, but before she could reach the wall, she felt a familiar surge of magic. She frowned, and before she could react, someone grabbed her from behind.

“You lost!” Anfey said with a wide grin.

Suzanna stomped her foot angrily. “That was unnecessary,” she said, shaking her head.

Before Anfey could say anything, a voice distracted them. Ozzic was hurrying towards them, waving his arms. “Lord Anfey!” Ozzic called. “Something’s wrong!”