687 Duke Barde Part 2 (1/2)

A young female mage behind Tiffany coughed, then burst out in laughter. This female mage was clad in a white robe and was on horseback, she seemed to be Tiffany's student. Tiffany did not react to her impolite laughter or admonish her.

”Saleen didn't do anything wrong,” Tiffany replied frostily, causing Irene to feel smug.

If Irene was not following Saleen she could not have possibly behaved so frivolously in front of Barde. The statuses of both people were too far apart. A duke from Holy Rock City's House of Commons was thousands of times mightier than a woman from an earl's family who had no inheritance rights. At the moment she was also a duke, although she was one who did not own any lands and had less than one-thousand soldiers.

Hearing Tiffany's words, Barde was abruptly startled, ”Saleen is a grand mage, if he comes out to receive me, the sorcerer behind me would be offended!”

Irene's attitude made him outraged. His stomach burned with anger. This emotion caused Barde's face to turn scarlet, but he cooled down immediately.

”Please follow me,” Irene said gently, then took the reins and turned her horse around, leaving the people behind her. Barde had to keep up; if he turned around and returned to Holy Rock City Safilos would have a reason to punish him.

Fortunately, he was not an imbecile. Barde suppressed his rage in an instant, then gestured and led the envoy group to follow Irene's receiving party.

The receiving party felt awkward too. Originally, Saleen had prepared a ceremony where a band would accompany the guests. Now that both parties had experienced a minor conflict the ceremony was canceled.

Barde's team consisted of three-thousand soldiers. The escort army from Guderian City had left. Including the envoy group, Barde's team consisted of four-thousand people.

This was a very rare instance. During peacetime, an envoy group with five-hundred people was considered huge. Since Phoenix was not stable Holy Rock City had to act cautiously. Along the way, quite a number of bandits had staged ambushes. If there were only five-hundred men the sorcerer would be extremely busy.

The team led by Irene was an entire emblem group, there were one-thousand people. Six-hundred of them were from the ceremonial team, they were there to fill in the numbers only. These people were not very powerful, but every ceremonial soldier was muscular and imposing. The cultivation of swordsmanship was not even considered. As long as one was handsome and fierce-looking, they would be recruited.

The remaining four-hundred people were from the palace's swordsmen camp. This team was newly created by Saleen, they were basically Caucasus people. Each of them was ferocious and valiant. Barde was paying attention to the soldiers from the palace's swordsmen camp as he was an intermediate grade swordmaster. At one look, his impression of Metatrin's soldiers had changed slightly.

These four-hundred people were the cream of the crop, they wielded lances and rode on magic wolves. The lances used by the Caucasus people were not their main weapon, the lances would be tossed at the enemy. No matter the distance, a javelin's lethality could not rival that of an alchemical crossbow. For group assaults, this weapon which was somewhere between a javelin and a lance was the most ideal tool.

A spear-type weapon would always break armor more easily than a blade. A farmer soldier could even use a lance to pierce a warrior's heavy armor. If a blade was used it might not even create a fatal wound in leather armor.

Saleen had specially fitted these Caucasus people with an assortment of weapons for them to receive the guests. They were not dressed according to the specifications of an army which engaged in field battles. Each one of them was clad in extravagant armor.

Barde was not fooled. After calming down, he realized that this four-hundred man team was not so simple. Barde was puzzled, ”If Saleen wants to conceal his capabilities, he wouldn't need to deploy such ferocious troops. If he wants to show off, he should have given them better armor.”

His thoughts ran wild, which was exactly what Saleen wanted him to do. Barde had concentrated all his thoughts on Saleen's army, he could not think of other matters.

Saleen's best asset was actually his navy. A dragon skeleton warship already prevented Alchemy City's warships from circumventing the marine defenses along the demonic city. The skeletal warships and the pan's turtle alchemical boat were Saleen's strongest naval forces. Saleen had invested substantial resources in the sea. The winged skeleton was managing it by himself, so the cost was not reflected in the financial expenditure of Metatrin City.

Each time the winged skeleton sailed he would have to set aside a portion of resources. These resources would be given to the navy. Currently, Saleen had more than twenty warships. They were all controlled by the spirits and the winged skeleton was the only one supporting the operations. The daily consumption of magic nuclei was a large figure, so Saleen did not bother asking the winged skeleton about the specific amount of resources which was set aside.

In the future, if Saleen wanted to wage war with the Qin Empire, he would have to start from Lianyun City. He could not pass through Phoenix and attack Guderian City. Even though Guderian City was inferior to Metatrin City, it was a barely surmountable barrier. Saleen could clearly remember the majestic metal city gate tower in Guderian City that caused him to dismiss the notion of attacking via land means.

If Lex could not control Qin in the future, then Saleen and Qin would surely have a war.

Paralyzing the enemy would have to start from this moment onwards.

To Saleen, the best outcome was for Lex to control the Qin Empire and allow the goddess' religion to be circulated. Saleen then would use Qin as a foundation to invade the entire mainland. If Lex could not control Qin, then Saleen would have to conduct a two-pronged assault with Lex.