1165 Southwestern Strategies Part 1 (1/2)
Qin pricked his finger and wrote his name on the starline scroll with his blood. Starlight lit up on the scroll, and it was reduced to dust.
Saleen confirmed that nothing was wrong with Qin's contract before continuing, ”Qin, now that you're my follower, I will tell you things regarding the temples. You won't be excluded from what we talk about from here on out.”
”Yes, my liege.” Qin never worried about his treatment under Saleen, as his liege never spared expenses in the department. Even a professional who was close to him would not be treated very differently.
He was a rare find—a level nine archer—and so he did not need to worry about being mistreated.
”Alright, listen up. A part of the Sky City lay within this temple, which should be a piece of land. The land is just too big, over 30 miles in both length and width, and is over two miles thick. I'm unable to bring it out with me, and I will have it one way or another. If I can't have it, no one else can. We can't afford to lose the city. Things will be safe here for a short period of time, but I'm concerned about Agares.”
”Agares won't necessarily know the secret here, Master. You can just draw his attention elsewhere.”
”Indeed.” Saleen agreed to Nailisi's words. ”I don't plan on expanding here. We'll only need 10,000 to hold it, since I'll be using demonic spirits and demons. The Magical Element Tower can make it back here any time once we've got the teleportation portal set up.”
”My liege, who do you plan to leave behind?” Daniel asked, concerned. He was reluctant to go back to handling day-to-day affairs, and coming with Saleen had been the right choice.
Saleen had absolute trust on Daniel by now. During Saleen's most difficult time, he had stayed in Metatrin City and worked hard, passing the test.
Saleen smiled. ”No need to worry, Daniel. I'll have you around. I'm planning on building a second Demon City here, and I'll leave things to Cuisi. He will set up a mercenary group consisting of demons.”
Sika and the others followed Saleen's trail of thought and found the plan sound, as it was capable of concealing their true motives from everyone else. With the headquarters of the demon mercenaries there, the southwestern nobles would have access to reinforcements at any time.
They needed to resist the pressure from Alchemy City from the east. Building a demon force would not alarm any of the locals.
”Master, Vinz and the others got familiar with my place and they won't choose to leave.” Nailisi was reluctant to let them go. The four magic beast swordsmen that Saleen had taken in had all advanced to silver grand swordmasters.
Actual combat prowess notwithstanding, the four had developed a keen sense in training demons and become very familiar with them. They were able to pick all types of demonic tongue accents and were very knowledgeable on demonic bloodlines and breeds.
With the four handling things in Demon City, elite demon army units were able to be trained quickly, easing Nailisi's burden considerably.
”Heh, Nailisi, there are many who would kill for the position, you know,” Sika jabbed at Nailisi, seeing how she was reluctant to make sacrifices. Sika felt that she needed to remind the imp to keep her in check, as she was prone to frustrating antics if she got too full of herself.
Nailisi lowered her head, looking as if she knew what she did wrong.
Saleen pretended as if he did not see any of it. ”Daniel, I'd need you to advance to level nine, or you'll be too easily suppressed when fighting the Holy See. Make a list of what you need as soon as possible. We can pretend that the temple doesn't exist for the moment. We need to attack Pompeii City immediately.”
Eleanor added, ”it was said that Pompeii City was in league with Alchemy City and gained a lot of support from mages. There were many towers in the city, making it very difficult to deploy the metal flyers.”
”So we'll see how many troops the Grand Duke will send in our way. If they're not coming here, I'd just set up the Demon City. If he's here...” Murderous intent glimmered in Saleen's eyes.
Everyone but Sika was taken aback, sending shivers down their spines.
If the Grand Duke of Pompeii sent his forces to attack the Demon City that Saleen built, it would be the end of the invading army. The Grand Duke was formidable, but he did not come from a thousand-year-old clan like Grand Duke Iron Blood. Being in league with Alchemy City was simply a move to help in Pompeii City's defense.
On the other hand, Saleen had 100,000 demons, as well as thousands of demonic spirits at his disposal. They were capable of dealing with enemy forces ten times their size.
”Acknowledged, Master. I'll send demons to scout for news and see how large of the force it will be. We'll see if Alchemy City will move against you at once.” Nailisi summoned demons capable of flight. There were even some flying demonic spirits. Nailisi gave her orders and the demons nodded, flying off to carry out their tasks.
Saleen met with the generals and commanders of the allied forces after finishing his discussion with his followers. Saleen stated that he intended to build a Demon City and that he would be able to keep the demons in check. Only trained demons would be assigned to the nobles.
Qin people were envious of and intrigued by the demons. ”Your Highness Saleen, how about this? You create an alliance with the nobles and everyone chips in to organize these demon mercenaries. I'm fully aware that you're not concerned about the cost, but doing so would allow the demon mercenaries to serve directly under the allied forces,” one high ranking general suggested.
The general continued after seeing a lack of interest from Saleen, ”none of the southwestern nobles will fight for loot that mercenaries acquire. Everyone simply wants their name in this, which means that if any of the southwestern nobles are harmed, the demon mercenaries are obligated to help out, and no one would have any right to refuse.”