Badge in Azure

Chapter 55: Paper Puppet and Scarecrow (Part 2)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“What did you do to Walnut?” Saleen did not disclose to anyone the matter of the paper puppet and instead stayed in the room to question Nailisi. There were only two mages in the entire inn. It had not taken much analysis from Saleen to figure out where the paper puppet had come from.

Even though Walnut had been envious of him, he had promised Walnut that he would introduce his teacher to him. That should have been enough to allow Walnut to complete the mission in peace, and not suddenly turn against him.

“I didn’t do anything.” Nailisi’s innocent look was quite attractive. Saleen saw her put her hand to her back and thought for a moment about her tail. Demons, they loved to tempt humans!

“Nailisi, Walnut was a potential enemy, but there would never be a need for me to see him in the future. I don’t know how you did it, but since you’ve angered him, that means extra trouble for me.” Saleen toned it down. He wasn’t so crazy as to berate Nailisi over Walnut.

“Master, I just wanted to do it. There was no reason…” Nailisi had seen Saleen’s attitude change and for some reason, spilled out her true feelings. She was secretly shocked. Was this because of the soul bond? This is bad. This bond is influencing me more by the day…

Instinct?

Saleen furrowed his brows and thought about this word that he had seen on magic notes regarding biology.

“Master, this mage was very dangerous. He had the scent of the demon on him.”

“He’s a demon!” Saleen was shocked. There shouldn’t have been any demons left on the Myers Mainland.

“No, no. What I mean is, he was like a demon.” Nailisi thought hard but she couldn’t figure out a way to describe Walnut.

“It’s alright. You’re not to make any decisions yourself next time. This is the last time, understood?”

“Understood.” Nailisi looked down, secretly elated. Master had not punished her after all. Next time, she would just keep her thoughts from Master.

Before Saleen could fall asleep, a commotion broke loose outside of the inn as a group of soldiers surrounded the building.

Although there had been no eyewitnesses when Walnut had murdered the soldiers, the soldiers at the border were very familiar with the abilities of adventurers and were quick to recognize that their partners had been killed by a mage. There were very few mages in town right now and it had not taken long for the soldiers to search for this inn.

When Flamenco realized that Walnut was missing, his heart was filled with rage. He had helped him when he was at his poorest. Who would have thought that he would bring him so much trouble.

He calmed himself down and started negotiating with the soldiers. Seeing the Grade 5 badge that he carried, the soldiers did not dare arrest anyone. A Grade 5 mercenary was someone that even the baron of the town would be careful with. Many high-grade mercenaries were in fact supported by large wealthy clans. Since the emperor had dictated that the wealthy could not raise too many personal soldiers and controlled the numbers tightly, they had begun enlisting the help of mercenaries.

This town was everything to the baron. Even though it was close to the border and was beside the Chaotic Swamp, rarely did murders like this ever happen. The mercenaries or adventurers who came here seldom caused trouble and bandits would not have their eyes on a place this small. The baron had grown rich from the taxes collected from the adventurers and the two parties had always had a harmonious relationship.

Flamenco had no choice but to meet with the baron personally. The baron was greatly displeased but did not lose his temper immediately. With the loss of two soldiers, he would need to receive a compensation of at least twenty gold coins. However, the other party was a Grade 5 mercenary, and if he really offended him, there would be hard times ahead.

Flamenco was also afraid that the baron would lodge a complaint to the professional

union. If that happened, his mercenary regiment would be given a major disciplinary record and have their status dropped to a Grade 4 on top of paying a huge sum of gold coins as punishment.

The two finally came to an agreement. The compensation would be paid by the Nut Mercenary and they would use their best efforts to capture the wanted mage, Walnut. For every day that Walnut was alive, the Nut Mercenary would need to pay a day’s worth of reward fees.

Until now, Flamenco could still not understand why Walnut would have done such a thing. Taking all of this in, Saleen waited until Flamenco returned to the inn before calling him into his room and showing Flamenco the hole in the wall.

Under the control of Saleen, the icicle had only pierced halfway into the wall, leaving a mark around the depth of a finger. Stuffing the curtains into the small hole and giving it a good wipe, Saleen pulled out the curtain to reveal a dark red color smeared onto it.

“What is this?” Flamenco didn’t understand.

“It’s a combination of red sand and dragon blood ink, key ingredients in the making of a puppet. Walnut must know some simple puppet magic, as earlier on, a paper puppet tried sneaking into my room…”

Saleen hadn’t even needed to finish before Flamenco understood. He took a deep breath, suppressed the anger in his heart, and asked, “Mage Saleen, such an atrocious thing has happened. Why didn’t you inform me?”

If Saleen had informed Flamenco, Flamenco would have gathered the others, captured Walnut, and executed him on the spot. It was better now that Walnut had escaped, leaving a dirty mark on the Nut Mercenary at the same time.

“I wanted to let this matter go and had no intention of doing anything to him. Everyone makes mistakes and as a mage, I should understand the weaknesses of others.” Saleen couldn’t have said it more sincerely. In that moment, he seemed more like a preacher from the Holy See than a mage.

Flamenco clenched his teeth while Saleen comforted him, “You don’t have to take it to heart. I trust you. I won’t bring up this matter to the union.”

Flamenco sighed in relief. If Saleen were to bring this up to the union, his brand would be completely destroyed. For mercenaries, credit was of the utmost importance and once it was gone, it would be very hard to progress in the future.

No mistakes would be tolerated in this line of work. Many mercenaries had destroyed their futures due to a moment of folly and had needed to become bandits instead.

“Mage Saleen, thank you so much. Regarding the compensation…”

“Don’t be silly, I didn’t lose anything. Our contract still stands. You will send the four of us to Karen Prefecture, and I will pay the two pieces of phlogopite. Just don’t forget to give me the five hundred gold coins,” Saleen joked. This made Flamenco feel much better.

Following a silent night, the next day, the Nut Mercenary went to the professional union to put up a wanted notice and kick Walnut out of their team before setting out with Saleen and the others.

Everyone in the Nut Mercenary had two horses, and they were much better than the Hetao short horses that Aini had bought. The mercenary named Javelin was right ahead of everyone, acting as the scout. Aini, Saleen, and the others were sandwiched between the rest of the mercenaries, protected. They slowly increased the speed of their horses and left the town.

As Saleen was leaving, he hurriedly turned back and took one last look at the words inscribed on the town’s gate: Deep Forest Town.

The Nut Mercenary had a lot of experience and always kept a constant speed with the horses, conserving the most energy. The four mercenaries in charge of protecting Aini observed his reactions from time to time. This youth’s sickness was written on his face, and the Nut Mercenary would not let their employer die of exhaustion just to save some time.

Saleen’s horsemanship was decent but Sika’s was the best. With a little cajoling from her, her horse was immediately tamed and under her control. This was a strength of the Caucasus, who didn’t need any bonds to control even magic beasts, much less a horse.

Nailisi was the worst. The horse that she was riding was the most irritated and seemed to see through her cover. It was good that she had great strength, even more than the horse. She kicked the horse on its belly and finally got the horse to obey her.

As they weren’t travelling very fast, Saleen had the time to enjoy the view along the way.

The view in Phoenix Duchy was very different from the one in Sikeqinya. The soil here was arable and there were many fields that were suitable for planting crops. Even though it was on the border, there were many villages along the way and the authorities had maintained the entire area very well. The roadsides were farmland and since it was well into autumn, the wheat had been harvested and numerous fields had left the harvested crops lying out.

In comparison, Sikeqinya’s land was poorer. No wonder Sikeqinya people were best at doing business. Saleen remembered that Ceylon City had few villages nearby and when natural disaster struck, even the rich could sometimes not get any harvest.

What amused Saleen were the many scarecrows in the fields. As the wind blew, the cloth on the scarecrows flapped in the wind, alarming the birds that were eating the crops.

However, there was one bird that wasn’t scared away. It was the silver-beaked raven. This bird was very clever and could easily see through a human’s ruse. A flock of silver-beaked ravens landed on the many scarecrows, seeming to mock the foolishness of humans.

However, silver-beaked ravens preferred to eat meat during the autumn, which minimized the losses of the farmers.

Snap!

A silver-beaked raven stood on the hat of a scarecrow and curiously surveyed the group of men on horseback that were riding in from a distance. As they passed by the field, Nailisi cocked her head and flashed her teeth at the raven.

Fear flashed past the black pupils of the silver-beaked raven as it spread its wings, attempting to fly but seeming somehow unable to move.

As the Nut Mercenary rode past, the raven was still struggling in fear. The scarecrow suddenly lifted its hand, grabbed the unlucky raven, and shoved it into its mouth.

Fresh blood streaked down the face of the scarecrow as the dying groans of the raven could be heard all around, alerting the rest of the silver-beaked ravens.

Blood dripped down as the scarecrow’s features became even clearer. It turned around and looked at the mercenary regiment in the distance. In the nearby fields, more scarecrows came alive, facing towards the east.

The wind blew past the field and the scarecrow’s clothes made a fluttering sound. After some time, the scarecrow that had eaten the raven started jumping with all its might, bouncing away and leaving the field.

“Master, I don’t feel well.” Nailisi willed the horse to Saleen’s side as they travelled together. Her horse had been tamed with violence and did not dare do anything.

“What do you want now…”

Saleen said without much energy. He had already figured out Nailisi’s temperament. This was a very energetic imp who could not be held back. If he did not let her do something, she would go looking for trouble.

“I don’t know. I just don’t feel comfortable.” Nailisi furrowed her brows and got even closer to Saleen. She was unusually confused too. Since leaving the temple, she had realized that the humans in this universe were weaker than what she had expected and were not always dangerous as the legends had described. However, the uneasiness in her would still arise from time to time. Was she sick?

“Nailisi, don’t be silly.” Saleen steered his horse away from Nailisi. Nailisi looked dejected as she secretly took a piece of fresh meat from her bracelet and began to chewing.

Maybe she was hungry. That would explain her feelings. Nailisi tried comforting herself.