440 The Price to Stay Alive Part 2 (2/2)
The captive should have some secrets. If it was a secret, the less people that found out the better.
Nailisi dared not rush Sika aways. Not only was Sika a better fighter than she was, Sika's position in Saleen's heart was not lower than hers either. ”This person would give birth to master's child, it would be unnecessary to get into trouble with her.”
Nailisi passed a chair to Saleen and grabbed another one for Sika while she stood next to Saleen. The grade-4 mage saw that the young mage that held him captive kept two women next to him and thought to himself, what if he surprise attacked him?
”Forget it, there were a hundred swordsmen out there and a grade-5 mage too. Even if I hurt the mage, I wouldn't be able to escape. He looked at Saleen's facial expression that looked like he was smiling but not, he was suddenly awakened.
So what if there was no one outside? Could he drive such a big ship alone? If he couldn't, did he want to swim back?”
”Mister mage, my name is Aesop Faustin.”
”Saleen.”
”Mister Saleen, I can sign a contract with you first to guarantee what I said was the truth.”
”There's no need to. There are loopholes in the contract. What if you said that you would follow the contract, but you hide something from me? I wouldn't be able to kill you. Say it straight, the people in this room will be able to tell if you lie to me.”
Ever since he brought the Three Kings under his control, Saleen knew that the magic contract had flaws too.
The power of a magic contract was an inability to breach the rules. The sentences of the contract could create an illusion to make you feel the contract was just or extremely lopsided though.
Aesop smiled bitterly and gave up on playing a fool of Saleen.
”Mister Saleen, let me tell you the important points. The sea map and constellation map from the eastern sea to the Myers Mainland can only be retrieved from the sorcerer. Although you are strong, to capture a sorcerer among an army would be impossible.”
”Sorcerer! Last month, I've killed one.” Saleen recalled the sorcerer that the three Kings killed and told him casually.
Aesop left his mouth hanging. He knew that Saleen was just saying that, but not to refuting him. Even if Saleen could frame a sorcerer, it would be under special circumstances. It would be impossible if he were to really capture the person from the allied army.
”But, mister, if you want to go to the eastern see, it's not necessary for you to get the sea map and constellation map.”
”Are you talking about a magic compass? I've tried. The mage had erased this piece of information from all the magic compasses on the ships.” Saleen knew what Aesop was going to say and cut it. The twelves ships that were sunk by the Pan's Turtle alchemical boat, besides the fully armed merchant ship, had magic compasses. Every compass was taken care off. The eastern sea allied army obviously did not want anyone to find out the secret of the sea route and did a thorough job.
Saleen only managed to analyze one thing. It was that every five hundred miles that the fleet went, they would purposely erase the trace of the sea route so that the magic compass was unable to recover the information. If the enemy held the warship captive, there would not be too big of a danger that way.
To get to the eastern sea, was impossible without the constellation map and sea map. Especially the constellation map, they could tell the season and accurately determine the safest time to travel the sea route. Between the eastern sea and the Myers Mainland, there were tens of thousands of miles of coastal areas and territorial seas called the Stormy Sea. Gale-force wind battered there all year long. Not only the dragon skeleton warship, but not even a giant dragon would not want to move around there.
The wind had its pattern, especially related to season. The people from eastern sea spent years and sacrificed lives to be able to figure out a sea route.
If it was only wind, Saleen could go through with the Pan's Turtle alchemical boat under the sea. A few hundred meters below the water, the effect of wind would have disappeared. The deep sea magic beast may not be any weaker compared to the Oceanic Ice Block though. There were grade-9 magic beasts everywhere. Saleen could remember clearly that he fled with the Pan's Turtle alchemical boat. In the deep sea, the human power was so small.
”Mister Saleen, only I know the secret...” Aesop hesitated. He did not intend to negotiate conditions with Saleen but said, ”On the warships of eastern sea, the alchemy telescope is extremely huge. The usage of it is different from the ones in the Qin Empire. Actually, such large alchemy equipment has memory.”
”Oh?” Saleen was interested then. He found the alchemy telescope on the sunken ship. Although Nailisi brought it back, Saleen threw it into the storehouse. Compared to the alchemy telescope of Qin Empire, the eastern sea's was too heavy and the effect seemed to be one third of the Qin Empire's.
”My grandfather was a pirate once....” Aesop brought up about his family and he looked proud as though being a pirate was something to be boastful about, an even higher ranking compared to a mage.
Saleen was not surprised, the people in the eastern sea had something wrong in their heads. There were many mages that did not research about magic, but ran to the Myers Mainland to help the Kings from the smaller nation to invade. He listened to Aesop quietly as he was not concerned about Aesop's origin and he was not concerned if his moral standards were similar to his.