87 Bitter Water Army Part 2 (1/2)

Narnia’s face turned red as she said, ”I was nervous. Actually, I have already released the phoenix in under ten seconds before. Saleen knows.”

Seven pairs of eyes turned to look at Saleen, and that only made Narnia’s face redden even more.

Saleen shrugged. He said, ”Actually, with long term cooperation between mages, a person needs to consider the rate of growth of their partners. The Phoenix spell might be a bit too stressful for Narnia. Give her five months, and she will be able to decrease her casting time to eight seconds. By that time, even if she is nervous, such mistakes will not happen.”

Hu An remained silent for a while before nodding and saying, ”Saleen is right. In cooperation training with our partners, we need to consider each other’s rates of growth. I have been too rigid.”

Saleen was not surprised. The people that had caught the eyes of Faerun must have had a certain flair to them. Sadly, such flair was useless to him. For him, what mattered most was quickly improving his abilities, returning to Sikeqinya, and exacting revenge on those who had destroyed his family grave.

The Metatrin family grave had essentially been destroyed a long time ago. However, Saleen’s parents had been buried there and no matter what Saleen told himself – that his abilities were too far off and he needed to be patient if he wanted revenge – the fire within his heart was only ever temporarily suppressed and could not possibly be extinguished.

Killing Earl Sufonso would be easy. Even though Sufonso was a grand swordmaster, so long as he reached the level of his teacher, it would not be difficult for Saleen to beat him. A mage’s power was not something that a swordsman could compete against. The only problem was the magic tower in Yaoyang City. The gap between a Grade 5 and a Grade 6 mage was not very big. However, a mage with a magic tower would have their powers increased tenfold.

His teacher had managed to escape alive, but he had not killed nor injured the Grade 6 mage. If Saleen wanted revenge, besides becoming a Grade 6 mage, he would need some powerful magic prop such as a golden magic book. It was a pity that the three volumes of books that he had obtained were completely empty. If there had been magic stored within them, he would have had much more confidence.

Hu An could not have had any idea what Saleen was thinking, and while waiting for the others to replenish their magic chords, a few of them continued discussing questions on magic.

In the next four months, not only did Faerun not appear, but even Viscountess Lex had disappeared. The residence was much quieter than usual, and upon asking around, Saleen found out that Viscountess Lex had led a group of combat mages out to the camp.

Saleen knew that something was wrong. These mages might not have been suitable for combat alone, but together with a swordsman, they would have immense powers. Viscountess Lex did not seem like she was going to the capital to claim her reward. It seemed like she was preparing for battle. However, Saleen could not figure it out. If Lex was the emperor’s daughter, who would be audacious enough to attack her?

The Qin Empire had hundreds of millions of citizens, countless mages, and millions of elite soldiers. Even the Holy See could not do anything against them. Could there possibly have been an internal conflict within the royal family? The real question was, if the viscountess needed legitimate help, why had she found him? Could the sorcerer truly have taken notice of him?

The mages living together with him could not possibly have had any inside information either. Otherwise, Viscountess Lex could not possibly have kept it a secret either.

Whatever. The viscountess possessed many elites and there was Faerun as well. He would not be required to fight. Moreover, Viscountess Lex herself was a Grade 5 mage. She did not need the protection of a Grade 2 mage.

Just treat it as a free trip, Saleen reassured himself.

After a few more days, the viscountess returned to her residence and everyone grew busy. In the past, there had not been many tasks for the mages in Faerun’s court, and they had mostly done as they pleased. This time, however, all of them were instructed to create large amounts of restorative water and magic medicine. These two items had an expiry date. Once it passed, the items could not be used any longer.

Just one day before they were to set off, Faerun appeared. All eight mages in the court were going to the capital, and Saleen was no exception. A total of twelve of them journeyed overnight to the camp outside of the city. Upon seeing the camp, Saleen felt that he had been cheated.

It seemed that the road ahead would not be smooth sailing, or else the viscountess would not have been so thoroughly prepared. In addition to the few of them who followed Faerun, Viscountess Lex had gathered a hundred combat mages and a thousand swordsmen.

The numbers did not seem like a lot. For a viscountess, moving around with a ten thousand strong army was not a problem. However, this was for a trip to the capital. Was every swordsman getting two war horses for themselves?

All of the swordsmen were clad in armor, and were waiting at the camp gates to welcome Viscountess Lex. She was not wearing her magic robes, instead having donned some formal attire that was meant for the wealthy. She stood on a chariot, entering the camp.

No matter how dumb Saleen was, he knew what that meant. This ceremony was common throughout the Qin Empire. The wealthy would bring a chariot to stay the night in a camp if they were heading out on an expedition.

Although Viscountess Lex had not started a war with anyone, her attitude was telling everyone that this time, she needed them to fight for her.