Chapter 413
That was the first time in Saleen's life that he had gotten drunk . Before he learned magic, he had no money to drink . After he picked up magic, he had been controlling his hobby strictly .
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It was after the end of the meticulously plotted war, Saleen finally relaxed entirely and needed his rest . When he woke up, Aini left and it was Sika by his side .
Saleen took a glance at the amended blueprints and he kept them while he asked, "Sika, your people, are they satisfied with where they are staying?"
"They're okay . The environment is nice . There are many treehouses in South Court and they like it . Just a bit troublesome when it comes to rearing the magic wolves . "
South Court was a garden that took up a couple miles of land . It was troublesome to set up a garden in the city, but Saleen's city was built in the forest . Where South Court was, there was originally a pond, which was strange . Saleen dug a manmade lake according to the terrain, there were many dried trees around the lake and they could directly make wooden houses on top of the trees . The Cascausus people liked treehouses very much as they were filled with the flavor of nature .
At first, besides his initial plan to develop South Court into a garden, Saleen also planned to conduct small scale training there . He would not have saved such a big piece of natural area otherwise .
"It looks like they still want to move out . "
Sika smiled and answered, "Yeah, the Cascausus people like mountains . There is a forest dozens of miles away from the city in the south . Moving there could be beneficial for you too . "
"Sika, I need an army . " Saleen thought for very long, but he could only form that sentence . He did not know how else to tell Sika that he had his selfish motives for letting the Cascausus people to come to his city . The Cascausus people made very good warriors .
"I am a warrior priestess, I can form a Caucasus army but I could only form an army of a thousand people . The others, you would have to hire them . " Sika's hint was obvious, the thousand people required no money .
"No, Sika . I do not want the Cascausus people as an expeditionary force . I wish for them to protect this city like how you protect your village . Regarding the number, your army will be fully managed by you . In the city, even I do not have the power to deploy them . "
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Saleen knew that without his own army he had no standing . He did not want Sika to be bullied in the future though . If Sika had her own selected troops, no one would dare to show her disrespect and make things difficult for her .
"The South Court could be for elderly Cascausus people and I would send people to build a village at the south of the city . You will stay here, okay?"
"No, I want to stay with my people . " Sika rejected bluntly .
"Why?" Saleen asked in annoyance .
"If I stay here, it would be difficult for you to look for a wife . " Sika pouted and answered .
"With you, why do I need to look for a wife?" Saleen saw that there was no one in the room so he spoke loudly .
"You are so silly . You have such a great fortune and you would need to look for a woman to give birth to a son that carries your name, Metatrin . Otherwise, these things would be for the outsiders . You haven't named the city all this while . I think you should just call it Metatrin City and only the direct line of descendants can inherit this land in the future . "
"Sika, did you think-"
Sika stopped Saleen and said, "I did not misunderstand you, but I have my own responsibilities . My parents passed away when I was very little . I was brought up by the elders of the village . Now that I have become a warrior priestess, I have to live according to Caucasus's traditions . I could only leave when there are more priests among the Cascausus people . "
When Sika said that, it sounded organized and clear . It was not anything like her normal casual manner .
"I can understand . " Saleen nodded and he was reminded of his childhood friend, Dick . Back then, only the little beggar would be willing to share some food with him . Saleen would rather take the risk of being chase after to let Dick flee instead of taking Ulysses's advice to kill him back then .
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Some loving kindness would not be repaid fully .
Sika smiled and said, "If you were to pick a woman randomly, we will have to see whether the woman can win against me in a fight . "
"Huh?" Saleen looked at Sika's back subconsciously . He then was reminded that he had given Sika his ring of gifts . Her weapon was hidden in the ring . "A woman that can win against Sika?" Saleen could not think of any few . "Can Lex win against Sika? In the past, definitely, but it's hard to say now . "
With a hit of Sika's cudgel, his water shield would break instantly . "Saleen couldn't think of any armor that could withstand such strong attack . Even the way Nailisi looked at me was in grovelling manner . I guess my strength might have overtook the little demon . "
Nailisi could tell the best, she would not see falsely .
Looking at Saleen's facial expression, Sika comforted him, "Don't worry, if Lex was willing to give a dowry, it would be nice if you marry her and I wouldn't stop it . If it was Irene, then forget it though . "
"Sika, that's not what I meant . "
"Saleen, if your parents were alive, wouldn't they want you to have your own home with a lot of children?" Sika's questions shut Saleen up . He liked Sika from his bones and he tried thinking about it for the first time . Why would he think about marrying another woman? He could not fight back at what Sika said though . If his parents were alive, of course they would want him to have his own family and have kids to carry on his legacy .
"Forget it, I am a mage . There isn't any mages that think about this question at such an early stage . " Saleen left that aside and told Sika, "As you are here, I want to build an army of a thousand people to take responsibility of our safety . The regiment would not be under any program but everyone who joined would need to sign a contract with me . "
"Contract?"
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"Yes, if one betrays me, they would receive punishment like in those magic contracts . "
"Isn't that like follower?"
"Yes, but I want to militarize followers . Thousands of people have to be selected elites as I don't want them to charge on an enemy's line . I only want them to be in the city to protect ours and the city's safety . I want two hundred Cascausus people that ride on magic wolves . "
"Would you give them the treatment of followers?"
"Yes, but if they weren't up to my expected standard, they would lose the restriction of the bond and resume commoner status . "
"Alright . I believe there are still many of them that are willing to follow a mage . Saleen, why do you want so many followers?" Sika did not understand . Saleen might not be strong, but with his age, he could become a sorcerer in no time . By then, he could opt for higher level followers .
"Haha . " Saleen laughed dryly, but he did not answer Sika . He actually did not need so many followers and the cost to take care of followers was way higher than maintaining an army after all .
What Saleen thought was, if Sika really did have a child, he could send his followers to protect his descendant . He could wait until Lex returned, the city could be expanded entirely . A lot of people were eyeing his position . Spear thrusts in the open and arrows shot from hiding, it would be hard to prevent . He could nurture followers for now, and by then, he would have enough power to ensure Sika and their child's safety .
Of course, the safest bet would be to be someone strong like Joey himself, but that was impractical . With thousands of followers, it was equal to the standard of a grade-9 sorcerer and it must be a rich sorcerer .
Saleen was well aware that there would be many mages from Sregl Island that would follow him in the future . Some Caucasus magic wolf warriors, and some talented Barbarians would as well . He would teach them sword craft and his troops of followers would not be too weak . They would be able to fight in a decent scale war . As for the city, he could pick someone among the followers to manage . At the end of the day, he had to research about magic and he could not be bothered by the troubles of commoners everyday .
"Hmph, look at yourself laughing . You must be thinking about something evil . " Sika said while someone knocked on the door .
"Come in . "
The one who came in was the grade-4 mage from Sregl Island, Pasatilo . He saw Sika and he hesitated, but he said, "Master, everyone seems to have something to discuss with you . "
"Oh?" Saleen creased his eyebrows and suddenly understood . Ever since they left Sregl Island to follow him, they had no ranking . With their talent, it would be difficult for them to become sorcerers, but these low level mages would become grand mages . These people had to seek a way out . Luckily, he had a plan for the future ready . He would not be able to answer them all of a sudden otherwise .
"Bring them here . "
"Yes, master . " Pasatilo bowed . After he left for a while, he brought all the mages from Sregl Island into Saleen's room .
Jason gave Saleen very few mages, there were three grade-5 mages, three grade-4 mages and eighteen grade-3 mage . There were many magic apprentices . These magic apprentices were selected according to the standard of a sailing crew, to operate alchemy machinery on the warships .
Lex took away one third of the mages and Saleen sent a grade-5 mage out . Then, there were sixteen mages left in the room . Even Truman, who was normally guarding at the magic cannon, came .
Saleen looked at these mages, "If these people were to be left on the mainland, they would all be targets of recruitment by the nobles . On Sregl Island, these mages were just to set sorcerers off though . "
"Teacher had let you all follow me and I already understood teacher's intention . Now, I, Saleen Metatrin, in magic's name, hope that you can be my followers . Will you?"
The sixteen mages from Sregl Island were thrilled, they bowed and answered, "Master Saleen, we do . "
Among the sixteen of them, there was one grade-5 mage that was at the same level as Saleen but the grade-5 mage was already over forty years old while Saleen had just become an adult . Everyone knew that with Saleen's talent, he would become a sorcerer before he turned forty . As his followers, they could use Saleen's magic tower and these people's lifespan would at least be one hundred and twenty years old . They even stood a chance to promote to a sorcerer .
Following Saleen meant that they did not need to be troubled by practice as Saleen would take time to teach them about magic even though Saleen was not their teacher .