Badge in Azure

“I don’t like this world all that much either,” Saleen said.

The badge in his hand began to absorb the energy of that light barrier. The God-hunting Spear might have been a powerful divine spell equipment, but there was no energy left within. The spirit of the item had died as well. The remaining energy was quickly sucked up by Saleen’s family badge.

The hard stone floor beneath the spear cracked. The spear took flight but was quickly captured by Nailisi.

Don did nothing as Isabella stood and walked to Saleen’s side, leaving him behind. He simply stood on the ground waiting.

Grey light from Nicholas’ Scepter of the Fallen glittered and shone into Isabella’s body. Nicholas nodded to Saleen after finding nothing wrong with her.

Saleen took out an empty scroll made of Starline paper and levitated it before writing contract contents on it at blinding speed using the magic pen. He handed the contract to Nailisi when he was finished.

Nailisi came beside Don and handed him the contract. Don read every single word written on the contract while Sika asked Isabella about what happened after she was taken away. Isabella hid nothing. She had been by Don’s side since the day she was taken away.

Don had only stood up when Isabella finished telling her story. He asked for the magic pen from Nailisi and wrote his name on the contract. The Starline paper burned and turned to dust. The contract truly went in effect. Don did not play any tricks.

“Your Highness Saleen, where is my weapon?” Don looked at Saleen after he was done signing the contract.

Saleen took a look at Nailisi, who handed the God-hunting Spear somewhat reluctantly to Don. The old man played around with the weapon for a little bit and found it to be a good fit for him.

Even if the weapon were to be one devoid of divinity, its sharpness and sturdiness would still enable him to use it to the greatest effect. Common weapons were simply too easy to break for someone at his current level.

Isabella felt incredibly mentally exhausted. If she had not been a mage, it would have been difficult to even relieve herself while staying by Don’s side for so long. Even so, she still felt herself to be incredibly dirty.

It was something she was unable to bring up to Saleen, which made her feel awful. Saleen had let Don go, which made her feel uneasy. Does that mean I’ll have to continue working with this man?

Sika understood what Isabella was thinking. She calmly walked up to Don after he took the spear. As she stood before the old man, she suddenly said, “Saleen is only taking you in for the moment. But, don’t you think you owe someone an apology for what you did?”

Don shook his head and said, “She’d still feel awful even if I were to apologize. What would be the point?”

“I’m just asking,” Sika said and quickly brought her staff up, flinging it hard down on Don.

Isabella covered her mouth, but no one around them had any intentions of helping.

Don frowned and thrust the spear at Sika’s throat. The move was incredibly quick. It was possible that his spear would have been able to penetrate Sika’s neck before she was able to land a blow on him.

The trajectory of Sika’s blow remained unchanged, but she sped up all of a sudden. The acceleration seemed to be done in anticipation of Don’s attack. If he were to stick with his attack, his brain would get smashed first.

The God-hunting spear was quickly turned horizontal to block the staff.

Don had intended to go with the flow. He land a thrust on her, forcing her to back off. However, the power of the blow felt unexpectedly heavy. His wrist bone broke with a pop.

Sika retrieved her staff along the trajectory of her attack. Don’s weapon fell to the ground with a clang.

Sika coldly said, “The reason why Saleen kept you alive was because it was inconvenient for him to make a move against you since it would have probably messed up Isabella as well. How strong do you think you are? You can’t even take one blow of mine. You can be no more than a knight leading a group with no one but yourself. It’d be a damn waste to even have one more person working under you!”

Don’s numbed heart ached violently as he was being provoked by Sika’s words. However, the pain of his broken wrist prevented him from picking up his weapon, let alone retorting Sika’s words.

Isabella cried immediately after hearing Sika berate Don. She had been a strong woman who had refrained from showing any weakness when she was taken away by Don. That had prevented him from hurting her.

Isabella reminded Don of his daughter, but she did not know that. She was under immense pressure being at Don’s side, which had almost drove her crazy.

She bore some resentment toward Saleen for accepting Don’s surrender. She felt a lot better when she saw Saleen not doing anything to stop Sika’s actions. However, the outcome still surprised her. Since when did Sika become so powerful?

Seeing Don feeling rather dazed, Saleen said, “Nailisi, put Don’s weapon away. Nicholas, patch him up. We’ll have him take the lead.”

Saleen was able to feel that there were some godly beings remaining in that cave. Since the cave was an incredibly complex one, he saw no need to kill those creatures one by one.

It was out of pure accident that he found Isabella without having to jump through hoops. Good things like that were hard to come by again.

Don accepted Nicholas’ healing without saying a word. He left the cave first while Saleen and the others tagged along behind.

The demons waited patiently outside the cave. Don was not walking fast. He was only briefly stunned to see a demon. He quickly calmed himself down. Just what kind of people is Saleen surrounding himself with?

Curiosity sparked in his originally numbed, unfeeling mind. The demons did not attack. They simply sealed the cave.

Nailisi dismissed the demons while Saleen cast Quickcloud, taking Isabella with him to the little platform on the peak.

The ones by Saleen’s side said nothing throughout the entire process. It was as if they all knew what would have happened.

Don was immersed in thought. His daughter was killed by the Holy See. Her soul had completely dissipated. Nothing about what happened was known other than Theisio did not keep his word and rescue her.

He was done serving the Holy See and had no intention of following Saleen. However, things back then were such that if he were to say so, he would have died on the spot.

While he was completely at peace with dying, Don was not willing to die lying down. He hoped to see the Holy See being crushed. Only by killing every single one of those people who had tortured his daughter would the pain in his mind be eased.

He did not return to the Holy See because he knew that the Pivotal Council and Tribunal had made peace. No punishments would have been visited upon the members of the Tribunal even if he were to head back.

Even if he were to become the head of the Heaven Knights, the outcome would have been the same. The status of a head inquisitor was far above that of a leader of the Heaven Knights in the Holy See.

A devout believer should have borne hatred, but Don’s mind was no longer bound to the Lord of Glory.

“We’ll depart after a four-hour break.” Saleen returned to the platform and set up a tent specifically for Isabella before letting Eleanor and Nicholas perform more thorough healing on her.

Saleen sat outside the tent and called for Don. He inquired about the Holy See’s internal affairs from Don while crafting javelins for Sika.

Saleen was not concerned about the possibility of Don ambushing him. A huge swath of Water Flame separated him from Don. Even a grand swordmaster would not have been able to cross the Water Flame and attack him.

Don had complicated feelings when he felt the power of the Water Flame. Things were different than how Theisio had described it. The pope told him that Saleen was just a sorcerer who had advanced not long ago.

After chatting for an hour, Saleen found out that Don had been incarcerated for a long time. He probably knew less about the Holy See’s internal affairs than Nicholas did.

Don mostly knew about the infighting between the upper echelons of the Holy See while Nicholas knew things about the middle and bottom echelons. All of that information was still useful.

Javelins were low-level magic equipment. Saleen did not need to put in much mental powers during the crafting process. He talked to Don while paying attention to the sounds coming out from the tent.

Eleanor and Nicholas emerged from the tent not long afterward. Nicholas nodded to Saleen. The gesture said that there was nothing wrong with Isabella’s body.

Eleanor rode on her Wings of an Elf without saying anything and took to the sky. She had also seen to Isabella’s conditions for a bit. Elf magic worked rather well on Isabella.

Isabella grew rather homesick despite having nothing wrong with her body.

“You’re not a good fit for this group. Your heart died a long time ago,” Saleen said to Don while continue crafting javelins.

Don’s hands were healed, but they were still incapable to be used for battle. He sat before Saleen silently. After a moment of silence, he finally said, “If it had been 30 years ago, I’d have envied you people. I might have even wanted to be part of the group.”

“That’s fine, so long as you’re willing to form a group of knights,” Saleen said “I need someone who knew how religions propagate to get this done.”

“Are you really wanting to establish the Nature Faith?” Don asked rather doubtfully. Saleen was a mage after all.

“Of course I am. I didn’t sign a contract with you just to bind you,” Saleen said. “This is my own wish as well.”

“But, you’re a mage,” Don replied.

“Well, if you can be a knight of the Nature Faith, why can’t I establish a Holy See dedicated to Nature Faith?” Saleen took out the six newly crafted javelins from the Water Flame and put them by his side before continuing to throw in materials. He had no intention of stopping.

Don was utterly incapable of comprehending Saleen’s words. He had been in contact with many mages before. Their attitude toward the Holy See had all been more or less the same.

“It’s a personal matter and an attempt to rebuild the Nature Faith,” Saleen said. “As such, I can’t let everyone around me be involved. That was why I wanted you to be a part of this. Of course, if you’re able to get this done well, I’d be willing to support you materialistically. There is a forced time limit to the contract. Our relationship would last for 1,000 years.”

The temperatures around the Water Flame was incredibly cold. Don could not help but shiver. That cold feeling was something he had not been felt for the past century or so.

“Are you not afraid that I’d take control of the religion and become your enemy after 1,000 years?” Don asked.

Saleen’s eyes pierced through the silver-whitish Water Flame Looking at Don, he said, “Not a bad idea for you to do so. I wouldn’t need to bother about the bond we’ve built over the past millennium. Plus, I’d be able to just kill you by then while getting rid of the religion along the way.”

Don shivered yet again as the winds blew at the mountain. Saleen’s words were incredibly cold and brutal, so much so that even his numbed and unfeeling heart was able to feel the bone-chilling coldness.

He had no idea what Saleen was trying to pull. Is this young mage simply trying to set up the Nature Faith as a personal hobby?

He had no idea that Saleen was feeling very relieved after uttering that line. His mind felt freed after speaking the thing that had bothered him out loud.

I’ll just let the Goddess of Myers resurrect if she wants it so badly. I’ll just kill her when she’s done resurrecting herself.