686 Duke Barde Part 1 (1/2)
That night, Eleanor did not sleep. She was not doing anything, she simply laid on the bed, gazing at the magic patterns on the ceiling in a daze. She never expected to impart elvish magic to Saleen and make so many drawings for him. These were secrets which were not allowed to circulate outside the elvish plane.
”Of course I am not in love with Saleen, but Saleen's care for me has caused me not to miss home and I don't want to return to the elvish plane anymore. It's good staying with Saleen. Long ago the marquis had fallen for my beauty, while I was convinced by his novel ideas, that's why I got married to him.” With Saleen, Eleanor had never revealed her original looks. Saleen's concern for her was very meticulous, he never mentioned the topics which hurt her.
As an elf who had lived for a few hundred years, she was more mature than Saleen, so Saleen's actions could not deceive her.
On the surface, Saleen was very calculative with her and demanded that everything be conducted in a fair exchange. In reality, he just did not want Eleanor to feel pitiful.
”Even though I have made so many contributions, I still cannot return to the elvish plane. Even Father will not spare me. Not only did I marry a human, I have also spilled secrets to another human.The four ancient elvish trees have been planted. From now on, Metatrin City will be my home. If the marquis returns alive, what should I do? I have already been disappointed by that man and I have a reason not to follow him anymore. Those other women of his had killed their own children. This is sufficient already, I don't owe him anything.”
At this point in time, Eleanor seemed to have heaved a sigh of relief. All this while, she was thinking of one problem, ”If the marquis is not dead and he appeared before me suddenly, he will surely kill Saleen. The marquis will never allow another man to lead his woman, even if there were no romantic feelings between them. If such a day really comes, then I will be totally free. Even though the marquis is powerful, he cannot resist Saleen's badge. I will never be worried anymore and I don't have to leave…”
Metatrin City's construction continued. This time around, the construction was in the details, the foundation work had been completed. The main structures and roads were fully developed, even the underground drainage system and sewage treatment factory were flawless. What this city needed was humans forces which were alive.
Ships from the south occupied the harbor daily, they delivered large amounts of grain and seeds, then they would take away large quantities of magic nuclei, magic materials, and ores.
There were also additional small towns north of Metatrin City. Whenever ores from the north were transported over the teams delivering them would require resupply along the way. According to Eleanor's design, Saleen had constructed sturdy castles at the danger areas along the river. The white rocks which he extracted were also sent over continuously.
Saleen wanted to transform the area near Metatrin into one which could not be breached. This region was two-hundred miles wide and twelve-hundred miles in length. Beyond twelve-hundred miles there were colossal mines. Agriculture could not take place there.
Eleanor's equipment was crafted in batches. Saleen's ten main camps did not recruit people, but they chose victors from the arena to fill in the vacancies. During this period, Saleen had allowed the mages to create countless level-1 blank scrolls for signing contracts.
Saleen wanted the elites in his own army to sign a contract with Metatrin City. Of course, before signing a contract, a soldier's loyalty had to be tested.
Lex had sent a letter telling Saleen that all the swordsmen in the imperial swordsman's camp would have to sign a contract. There were no exceptions even if their families had been working in the palace for generations.
Lex had even delivered a sample contract to Saleen. In this contract, other than demanding that a soldier maintain their loyalty, there were also many other reciprocal obligations that targeted the writer of the contract.
During wartime a soldier might have to sacrifice their lives. It was necessary to take care of their families. There were also some humanized clauses inside. If it was necessary to assemble a death squad the members of the death squad would have to have descendants.
Lex had told Saleen the experience gathered by the Grukos family while managing the imperial swordsmen. At that point in time, Saleen then realized that taking care of a powerful and loyal army really required an astronomical sum of money. If Saleen did not possess so many magic beast materials he could never afford the scrolls.
A one-hundred-thousand man army meant that there would be one-hundred-thousand level-1 scrolls. Fortunately, the writing of this scroll would not fail and the materials required were not that superior either. There was a horrifying number of sea magic beasts and most of them did not possess a magic nucleus. The skins of these magic beasts could be used for scrolls, it was also very easy to refine them.
With the ocean acting as his reserves Saleen did not need to worry about these low level materials.
In the blink of an eye it was already August and the winged skeleton had returned with the pan's turtle alchemical boat. This time around less loot was brought back. Without any experts tagging along he could only target magic beasts of a lower grade.
Luckily, there was a large number of red krill caught, Saleen could collect another three hundred over thousand level-4 magic nuclei. He had promised to give one-hundred and sixty-thousand magic nuclei to the nobles. These magic nuclei would be distributed at a maximum price of one-hundred gold coins. Another forty-thousand magic nuclei would remain in Saleen's possession for price regulation.
As for the extra over one-hundred-thousand magic nuclei, Saleen decided to store them in the warehouse.