410 The Plan to Fuel War with Warfare Part 2 (1/2)
Aini considered how calculative Saleen was and commented, ”You are not like a mage at all.”
”You don't look like one either.” Saleen said and the both of them laughed. Saleen thought in his mind, Aini's temperament was not as extreme after he recovered his status as a mage and he was easier to get along then. What Aini learnt from his family was something Saleen had never come across. What he learnt from Lex was imperialism and from Aini was the combination advantage of a businessman and a noble. He was a mage himself and that helped him a lot as well.
Aini sighed with emotion. When his capability advanced by leaps and bounds, he practiced no concept of winning or losing. At the end of the day, Aini was also a pure mage. His biggest joy of life was researching about magic. To practice magic without sufficient money would not work. Although a death mage saved more compared to an element mage, it was not that much of a difference. Aini thought if he were to invest some money, he did not need to spend too much time or strength to worry about that. Saleen would be in charge of training, and that would be relied on by his underlinings. The biggest trouble would be Rolande family needing to recruit large number of low level mercenaries from other countries.
The investment would not be too little, but twenty percent of profit would be sufficient.
Saleen told Aini, ”This is not like what you were thinking. I have a new plan. This city would only retain the staff for two barracks. If there is need to expand the army, we will build in a mercenary model and I would change most of the rules for mercenary work on the mainland and build my own mercenary system.”
”What? Saleen, are you crazy? The mercenary system now is very good. It requires little investment and it draws back big profits. If you were to change it, it would require a lot of time and it might not be suitable.” Aini objected immediately.
”Aini, have you seen a professional army? Compare mercenaries with them, mercenaries are bullies and loafers. The one who determines the win or loss of a true war is not the mercenary.”
”How is that possible, even the ones selected by the empire were not certain that they would win the war against Sikeqinya's grade-9 mercenary regiment.”
”There were more than a billion mercenaries that registered in Sikeqinya and a grade-9 mercenary regiment's staff limitation was ten thousand people. In actual fact, the Dragons and Roses Regiment that had garrisons at the north-east of Sikeqinya had twenty thousand people. The first ten-thousand were the main force and the second ten-thousand were like the auxiliary troops in a regular army. Even those auxiliary troops were elite among the mercenaries. Dragons and Roses Regiment did not form their unit according to the regiment rules. Not only do I want them to make money for me, I also want them to guard the city. It is impossible for me to manage them like Sikeqinya.”
”So you thought it through beforehand, Saleen.” Aini heard what Saleen said and realized that even if he did not bring it up, Saleen would have built a mercenary team anyway.
”Yes, I have written twenty four mercenary rules, brand new rules. So I only wanted the lowest level mercenaries and I want them new. Those older folks were smart and afraid of death, so they couldn't be trained, let alone be loyal.”
”That is a troublesome matter.”
”Don't worry. Wait until Lex comes back, we can form the first mercenary regiment as she has sufficient underlinings.”
”You sent someone to get her but there is still no news. I'm not sure…”
”She is a grade-6 mage, stronger than the two of us and by her side, there is…” Saleen stopped himself and did not mention that there was a strong assassin by Lex's side. He reckoned that the fighting power of the assassin was not any lower than a grade-7 sorcerer. Back then, when the Silver Grand Swordmaster could not escape being killed, was because of the vital attack by Bain.
”Tell me honestly, how much money do you need? I don't even have one million gold coins on hand.” Aini asked anxiously.
”About money, you could sell your items at a discounted price. I need food and if the Clyde family could transport me large amount of food, I could pay you according to market price.”
Aini forced a smile and said, ”There is food, but the north is chaotic. How can I transport them here for you?”
Saleen groaned and said, ”I don't need you for transport. I'll send Nailisi with the dimension stones. I want them all regardless of the amount.”
Saleen had twenty seven pieces of dimension stones and he could not even use them all by storing food.
”Nailisi… just her alone?”
”I'll send Jola and a few magic beast swordsmen with her. The city only needs the three Kings. I will also send two grade-4 mages. As long as they don't run into the mage group from the eastern sea, there won't be any problem.”
”From what I understand, you would need to pour in large sum of money. Are you not worried about losing your capital?”
”Aini, this trip to the Oceanic Ice Block, I've gotten my hands onto a big batch of magic material and I can put them into magic armor. Now with mine on hand, it is not a problem to make weapons too. Your family has professionals, I think they can help me to solve this, right?”
”Actually, you can look to Irene about this. The Williams family are experts in making weapons.”
”Oh? Aini, this is not like your usual style to pass up business.”
”At the moment, we can't get rid of her. Give her some benefits and there will be more people here to help you. If I help you with this, you would push my price really low and I'm not willing to use most of my capital here.”
”That is true. I don't have much gold on me.”
”Saleen, as I can't sleep anyway. Tell me, what are your plans?” Aini pushed the task aside because he really did not want to waste too much of an effort on making weapons. Although the profit was high, it would be a matter of time until Saleen had his own alchemy factory. It was not a long term benefit.