750 Support from Everywhere Part 2 (1/2)

Gusion took a look at the contents of the bond and heaved a sigh of relief. It was the first time he was looking at a mage's bond and he had feared that his soul might have to be controlled or there might be demands of him becoming a servant.

The terms and conditions that Saleen was setting for him were instead excellent. Saleen would be responsible for his high-level armor in future. He would not need to be involved in ordinary battles. They would be tasked to those of lower grades. His responsibilities would be to protect Saleen or lead armies into battles. He only needed to focus on training and would not need to worry about socializing.

Gusion's strength was best demonstrated in battles. Taking on the role of captain had occupied most of his time as he needed to entertain the noble families and find ways for his men to make a living though. As he dripped his blood onto the bond, he felt a lot more relieved.

Over with Lex, she had also signed bonds with the two sorcerers. They finally arranged for the twenty-thousand mercenaries to enter the city.

Gusion's men were given to Saleen while the remaining mercenaries would join Lex's armies. The mercenaries were not suspicious at all, as those who had joined Dragon-slaughtering mercenary group at a later stage knew that the families of the mercenaries had already gone to Metatrin City.

The Emperor of Sikeqinya, Danny, did not send any fanciful gifts, but the twenty-thousand men were exactly what Lex needed. The mercenaries were not held in high regards in Sikeqinya. When they left, they had to use their own savings to buy equipment from Danny.

These mercenaries, who were allocated into Lex's armies, were not favored in Sikeqinya. Even though they were now split up into battalions for new recruits, they had no complaints. They were aware that it was much easier to make money there than compared to Sikeqinya. At least food there was much better.

Saleen and Lex had their disagreements regarding this matter. Two grade-8 sorcerers and one silver grand swordmaster were considered a group of very powerful people. Lex was afraid that it might be a trap.

In the past, Saleen had wanted to deal with Earl Sufonso, so he had studied the aristocratic structure of Sikeqinya as well as the relationships between the noble families and mercenaries. He was not worried about this issue due to that. He knew Gusion too well. Money was the only thing that mattered in Sikeqinya, even amongst noble families.

For someone like Gusion, who was not good at socializing and gaining favors with noble families, was bound to face difficulties in establishing himself. He would not be given good missions, the place he stationed his men was always changing, and the moment there was a hint of trouble in his mercenary group, other mercenary groups would take over.

Gusion advanced into a silver grand swordmaster only in the last two years. Before that, he was only a black metal grand swordmaster. It was always going to be tough leading a mercenary group all on his own.

In Sikeqinya, only those with power and wealth had a say. For someone like Gusion, it was already a miracle that he had managed to survive. Qin noble families placed great emphasis on their behavior, compassion, and pride. This was not the case in Sikeqinya though. Even Tanggulasis people looked down on the Sikeqinyans' lack of values.

As for the two sorcerers, they were bound by the bonds so there was no need to worry about them.

Generally, most mages did not possess good social skills and the two sorcerers were not exceptions. The teacher of the two sorcerers must have accumulated a significant amount of wealth before his death since the two of them were able to reach grade-8 before finally using up all the money.

What worried them the most was the mercenaries. There was no one that was too powerful amongst them, only a grade-4 mage and a few zun grand swordmasters. Such abilities were equivalent to that of a regiment in Lex's army and considered to be above average for a mercenary group that was grade-7 and above.

If there were any Sikeqinyan spies, they would most likely be amongst those mercenaries that had been split up. They came from different mercenary groups and the small group only consisted of seven men, so they would not know each other very well. It would be easy to plant a few spies.

Lex needed those men. She needed experienced soldiers urgently. If she rejected these mercenaries, a negative precedent would be set. Those that might have wanted to pledge their allegiances to her would become more hesitant to do so. She and Saleen already had a population of more than twenty-million so recruiting soldiers would not be an issue. The only problem was that Cloudflow would be launching an attack during their wedding in April.

Cloudflow had already built a small city beside the Separation Sea and were prepared to station their troops there for the long-term. There was no point attacking them now. They could only wait for Saleen to find a way to defeat the fleets and block off Cloudflow's route for retreat.

At the moment, Cloudflow's logistics were constantly transporting resources over. Even if they were to attack this new city, they would have to pay a high price. Lex did not have as many soldiers as Cloudflow, so they could only afford to defend.

In the end, Saleen proposed an idea. As he was born a Sikeqinyan, he knew that power and wealth were the most important things to Sikeqinyans. He suggested that Lex construct a brand new corp, beginning from number one-hundred.

The more powerful the mercenary group, the higher their number. This one-hundredth corp might feel a little inferior if they were part of a conventional army, but would be very content if they were mercenaries.

After Princess Lex announced she was setting up a large scale corp, the mercenaries' hearts were won over. They would train alongside the new recruits. Those that performed well would be allocated to the one-hundredth corp.