334 Jola’s Request Part 2 (2/2)

Daniel put away his death creature and summoned another skeletal warhorse from his death flames. The reason why he had extra warhorses was because Saleen had killed off the dozen pirates that had slacked off earlier on. The warhorses that belonged to them had not been sent back to the death dimension. It was not like Daniel needed to do so anyway. He had the three kings to back him up. Thus, Daniel did not even need to lift a finger to ensure that the skeletal warhorses would also stay inside of his death flames.

As Jola tugged on the skeletal warhorse's reins, he said, ”Master, I have another request.”

”Speak,” Saleen replied, slightly irritated. If Jola had not signed the contract, Saleen was not sure whether he would have been able to hold himself back from resealing the grand swordmaster into the ice crystals.

”Master, we haven't eaten in days. If we don't eat, we won't recover as fast,” Jola explained.

Saleen heaved a sigh of relief. He had forgotten that Jola had no steed to transport him to places where there was food. In addition, Jola was not a mage, and Saleen figured that he had not brought too much food with him. Grand swordmasters could last a week without eating or drinking. However, Saleen knew that Jola had gone way past the one-week mark. There was nothing edible in the Chaotic Swamp during the winter.

”Let's set up camp!” Saleen ordered. Instantly, the pirates dismounted their skeletal warhorses and started to set up their temporary shelters. They were happy to finally get some rest, as covering such a huge distance in this weather was just too draining. Yet, they had not dared to ask their master to set up camp, for fear that Saleen would get angry at them.

After Saleen was done ordering the pirates to prepare some food, he called for Jola and the four magic beast swordsmen and had them enter his tent. He decided to give each of them a flask of restorative water instead of magic liquid. The weakest one of them was a junior grand swordsmaster, which meant that all of their rejuvenative abilities were very strong. Saleen did not want to waste magic liquid on them.

After they were all comfortably seated, Saleen said, ”Jola, tell me more about the Cloudflow Empire.”

”Cloudflow Empire? Oh, it's great. The girls are so gentle and ladylike, and so beautiful too. Their skin… I guess you could call it fair…” Jola said dreamily as he reminisced the good times he had with those young noblewomen.

Aini let out a cold laugh in response. He wondered how Jola could be so talented in his craft while chasing after women all the time. Aini was certain that Jola was just wasting his gift. If he had been more focused on honing his swordcraft, he would have been far more successful than he was now. Both Aini and Saleen were the hardworking type. Unless there were more important things to do, they pretty much spent all their time practicing their magic.

While it was true that the world had many talented people, talent without hard work was nothing. Jola pretended that he had never even heard Aini laugh. He did not care what people thought of him. Since he was young, he had already understood how fragile life was. He did not see the point in pursuing something relentlessly and tiring himself out in the process. He figured that it would be better to just take things easy. All mages had to do was hone their magic until they were promoted to grade-7 mages. Once they reached that level of power, they would have double the lifespan that they had now. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for people who practiced swordcraft.

No matter how strong a swordsman was, as long as he was not a true golden grand swordmaster, his lifespan would not differ much from ordinary people. Since Jola knew that he was going to die in just a few decades, he did not see why he had to be so hard on himself.

”I'm asking about the royal affairs,” Saleen said exasperatedly. He did not want to try and change Jola's view on life. He did not want to interfere with his lifestyle either. Jola was not a mage. Thus, he did not feel obligated to tell him what the real world was actually like.

”I actually don't know much. I'm just the mentor of the royal swordsmen. I only mentor people?” Jola said with a candid tone in his voice before pointing his finger at the four magic beast swordsmen and continuing, ”But maybe they know something. People usually blab about royal stuff even when they're around.”

”Vinz, speak for us,” the three magic beast swordsmen (who were obviously not named Vinz) volunteered their well-groomed, decent-looking comrade.

Vinz looked to Saleen for permission to speak. After Saleen nodded, he asked, ”Master, which part of the royal affairs do you want to hear about?”

”I heard through the grapevine that a team of Qin swordsmen were defeated in battle. I also heard that they fled to the Cloudflow affliated duchies. How did Cloudflow view and treat them?” Saleen asked.

”Chanake's swordsmen's camp? They left. His Majesty actually flared up because of this,” Vinz said, unaware that what he said might have been inappropriate. It was not polite to call the deceased Qin Emperor by his name, especially in front of a Qin. Plus, he had already pledged his loyalty to Saleen, which meant that he should not have been addressing Jupiter as ”His Majesty”.

”They left? When did that happen?” Saleen asked, puzzled.

”About two years ago?” Vinz replied, surprising Saleen. He had never expected the Qin royal swordsmen to leave the Titan Duchy so early. After all, Lex had never received any news like that. What went wrong? Saleen thought, extremely flabbergasted. Lex had even sent people to communicate with the Titan Duchy. In fact, she had even been expecting the arrival of the swordsmen that her father had left behind.

Saleen's keen senses and gut instincts told him that there was a major problem at hand.

Before encountering the Holy See's black deacon, Saleen might not have been so sensitive. Now that he knew that the Holy See was busy assembling a group of blood knights, Saleen had a bad feeling about everything. If those Qin royal swordsmen had been captured by the Holy See and turned into blood nights, the entire mainland would be in insurmountable trouble.

Any strong neanderthal, upon being turned into a blood knight, would have the capabilities of a swordmaster. Most of the royal swordsmen were already swordmasters anyway. Once they were converted into blood knights, their strength would only be boosted.

Saleen knew that he had to contact Lex as soon as possible and tell her this news. If Lex was doomed, then his efforts over in the hell of god's punishment would come to naught. There would not only be less meaning behind building the city, but it would also be even harder to complete its construction.

Oh Holy See! Why must you give me so many problems?! Saleen thought exasperatedly.