Alliance
“Foreign wizard! I can sense an aura emitting from you, that only clan priests possess!” The high-level barbarian warrior, Odge, had his eyes fixated on Leylin’s hands, “In addition, you’re also a soldier worth respecting!”
His astonishing sharpness allowed him to sense Leylin’s accomplishments as a warrior.
“Then… Speak your purpose in coming here!” After Odge spoke, the fox lady Madam Tillen immediately stood obediently as the side, as though she was a maid showing respect.
Leylin took a deep breath, then said his request, “I would like to join forces with the Barbarians’ to attack the Baltic archipelago!”
“Are you crazy, young lad?” Even the fox woman couldn’t listen to such a fantastical plan. She stood up as her chest heaved violently, “Do you know how many Professionals Marquis Louis has under him? You actually want to rope us in as his enemy? Don’t think we’ll think highly of you because you exterminated the Black Tigers and Half Merfolk Island. Wait till you’ve gotten rid of the Black Skeletons or Tigershark Pirates, before saying that again!”
“But… you’re ALREADY enemies with the Marquis. I’m just offering a helping hand, am I not?” Leylin shrugged his shoulders and said with a smile.
“Good lord! To think that I actually know a chap like you who doesn’t understand the complexity of the situation…” Madam Tillen was so furious that her entire body started to tremble, and she was close to chasing him away immediately.
But at this very moment, an enormously powerful pair of hands stopped Tillen from taking action. “Let him continue!”
“Odge… You…” The fox lady turned around and saw the interested expression in the barbarian’s eyes.
“The enemy of our enemy is our friend!” Leylin smiled and spoke frankly with assurance. “Not only can the Faulens offer you support as a noble family, I am also a wizard, with a formidable tutor as my backing.”
The power of magic was the eternal sorrow of these barbarians. Odge’s expression changed greatly in response. Even though there were a few barbarian priests who had inherited magical abilities, they were always at a disadvantage compared to human wizards.
Upon seeing this, Leylin became more confident. “I presume… that you also know how powerful magic can be, right?”
“Yes, we will require the assistance of formidable magical power to aid us in defeating Boruj!” The Barbarian Warlock nodded.
“Boruj… Is that the chief wizard of Louis’ family?” Leylin quickly recalled the information he had purchased at the Thieves’ Guild.
“That’s right! I can tell you for definite that he’s a high level wizard above rank 15! Without him, if they relied only on Black Skeletons and Tigershark Pirates, I’d have ripped those two pirate crews into shreds a long time ago…”
“A wizard above rank 15!” Leylin exhaled deeply. Such high level wizards often had great mastery over powerful plane transmission spells and life spells, which made killing them exceptionally difficult.
“Such wizards are probably few and far between even in the Dambrath Kingdom, right? Why would he agree to work under Marquis Louis?”
If it was him that was the marquis of the empire, there would still be a possibility of attracting a high-level wizard to work for him. But Marquis Louis evidently didn’t have this qualification. In the entire Dambrath Kingdom, the only person who had the ability to recruit a high-level wizard would only be His Majesty.
“As a matter of fact, I know a little about this…” Seeing that Odge didn’t reject the alliance, and even appeared to admire Leylin, Madam Tillen took a deep breath, no longer looking down on Leylin.
“According to my intelligence reports, that marquis apparently promised to build him a wizard tower, and used this to pay for the wizard’s assistance…”
“We absolutely must not let him successfully build a wizard tower!” Without waiting for Madam Tillen complete her sentence, Leylin had already made up his mind. Even it was a wizard tower of the lowest standards, the amount of wealth required was astronomical. Two million gold coins was the most basic requirement, and they had to be kronas.
With such a huge temptation, it was no wonder that Boruj would cast himself as one of Marquis Louis’ subordinates. It was also not surprising that his table manners were exceptionally unsightly 1, as he was a person who wanted any kind of benefits.
But the more it was so, the more Leylin wanted to destroy their alliance.
No one else understood the terror of a wizard tower more clearly than a wizard himself. A low-ranking wizard tower was equivalent to a rank 15 wizard, the sort that did not need to rest day or night, with boundless energy. Once he successfully constructed his wizard tower, the entire Baltic archipelago would be so sturdy that it would be impenetrable under Boruj’s supervision.
With the wizard tower, not only would Boruj take a step forwards to advancement, it also meant that he could groom a steady flow of wizard apprentices!
It only took a few reminders from Leylin before Odge’s eyes shone with resolution.
“But… According to our intelligence reports, Marquis Louis is already secretly buying mithril and refined gold in bulk, and they even increased the intensity of their slavers’ fleet. He even sent people to the mainland to acquire high-grade construction blueprints…”
“The more he moves forward, the more we cannot let them succeed, or else his will be the only voice in the outer sea in the future!” Leylin’s expression was serious, “I’ll incessantly raid his shipping routes from now, I’ll need your cooperation for intelligence reports and to fence stolen goods.”
Hearing Leylin’s simple yet crude plan, Madam Tillen had a rather thoughtful expression on her face. What he offered was something the Barbarians themselves could not do.
Were they to do such a thing, it would mean the start of a war! The Marquis’ powerful fleet of ships would arrive at Pirates’ Cove in the blink of an eye, but it was different for Leylin. He was executing this in private, but still had the identity of a noble on the surface.
Even Marquis Louis would not dare to commit the heinous crime of attacking another noble family’s territory without any evidence. Besides, only a wizard like himself would be able to avoid the detection and predictive spells of the wizard working under Louis.
As for dispatching pirates and the like, did he think the other nobles were fools? There was a church on Faulen Island as well.
As long as the high-level wizard Boruj was not around, Leylin dared to join up with the Barbarians, and make sure that Boruj would walk the path of no return.
Many thoughts passed through the barbarian’s mind. One should not be baffled by his appearance; although he was a barbarian, his ability to hold the throne of leadership showed that he was no simple character.
Moreover, no matter how he looked at it, the one taking the risk would be Leylin and his family. There wouldn’t be any gains or losses on his part. This was what Leylin had planned long ago, and it would soon bring sorrow to his weaker opponents.
“Madam!” At this instant, there was a light knock on the door.
“What’s the matter? Didn’t I say before that you can’t approach the lord if there isn’t anything important?” Madam Tillen scowled, but continued to swing her hips as she opened the door by a small crack.
“Madam!” A maid with extremely clever eyes lowered her head and secretly scanned her surroundings, before whispering something in Madam Tillen’s ear.
After closing the door, Madam Tillen returned to her seat. She looked at Leylin oddly. Her facial expression changed a few times, before she leaned forward on Odge’s shoulder and said a few words to him.
“You’re good!” Odge gave Leylin a profound look. He then whispered urgently and hastily in Madam Tillen’s ear.
A high-ranking warrior of Odge’s level could already manifest their qi into the external environment. Isolating an area from detection was simply a piece of cake for him, and even Leylin couldn’t hear anything they were discussing.
“Alright! Our chief has agreed to form an alliance with you, and even share our intelligence reports and the channel where we dispose our stolen goods with you!”
Madam Tillen grudgingly shot a bitter glance at Leylin, as though he had gotten some huge advantage, “However, we want half of the benefits of your profits every round!”
“Ten percent at most, or else I will not be able to pay my subordinates!”
Once they were back to this matter, Madam Tillen seemed to have returned to being that shrewd wife. Leylin couldn’t give them his benefits just based on a few sentences she uttered, and they settled on the criterion of thirty percent in the end.
Since the leaders of both parties had already confirmed their inclination towards a collaboration, the rest of the matters could be settled by their subordinates. Odge stood up, causing a slight tremor in the process.
“Nobleman from the outer seas, wizard Leylin! Are you my friend?”
“Of course. May our friendship last for a long time, and even carry over to our descendants!” Leylin solemnly made a promise.
*Thump!* Two fists, one large and one small, collided, producing a light crack. This was a contract of their alliance and a pledge between men.
Of course, how long this would be maintained was a question that Leylin found hard to confront. However, before the fall of Marquis Louis’ influence, their relationship as allies would be relatively solid.
After Odge left, the fox lady moved next to Leylin. Her petite frame which could light up a fire in most men was almost completely leaning against his body as she said in a feminine voice in his ear, “Hehe… Odge seems to like you very much?”
“My apologies, Madam! It’s about time for me to leave!” Leylin pushed her away courteously and got up to take his leave.
Hearing his words, a trace of disappointment flashed across her eyes, although it wasn’t clear if it was genuine or false. “Your behaviour really does deeply wound me! However, elder sister still has two gifts for you!”
“Karen! You belong to Mr Leylin from now on. You need to satisfy all of his demands, understand?”
“Understood, Madam!” Karen agreed like it was a conditioned reflex, before a hint of shame and fury flashed across her face, as though she had come to a realisation.
Although he was fully aware that Madam Tillen was being generous, at least she had gotten the approval of the barbarian, or else she definitely wouldn’t have dared to free Karen of her imprisonment. Leylin thanked her anyway.
1. Acting tastelessly and greedily