At a mountain pa.s.s, Anfey quietly sat on a huge rock. Red air currents, like moving clouds, flew out from the magic crystal in his hand. The red air currents spread out dozens of yards around him. A Fire Sword floated in front of Anfey and slowly revolved on its own. Every time the Fire Sword revolved once around, it would absorb the surrounding fire elements. The sword radiance was stronger as the color of the Fire Sword turned from light red to dark red.
As the Fire Sword got brighter and became clear as crystal, the sword radiance suddenly became dark, and millions of small cracks appeared on the Fire Sword. It looked like a rock got corroded after years of weathering and then the red light completely disappeared. It was replaced by a warm orange light cloud.
Anfey gradually drew in his telepathy and looked at the Fire Sword in satisfaction. He put the Fire Sword back into the sheath and turned to look at the fire element magic crystal in his hand. Its volume had been reduced by a quarter. Anfey was happy with the result. It didn’t take nearly as much telepathy or time to make a Fire Sword as it had previously. The job was much easier.
"The magic crystal is very rich in fire elements, and very pure," Anfey commented.
Suzanna did not know how to respond to Anfey’s comment. Wasn’t it obvious? If magic crystals were not rich in elements, or pure, then what value would they hold? Suzanna wondered.
"Anfey, do you know you defy common sense?" Blavi said bitterly. "No one would believe it even if they know about it. How could you trigger the elements in the magic crystals with just your telepathy, without any help of magic arrays. Is your telepathy stronger than our professor’s?"
"If others do not believe it, then don’t even bother telling them," Anfey said with a smile. He stood up and walked to Suzanna and Blavi.
"I think I understand what you mean. If there were no others better than you, we would be safer. Anfey, is that what you mean?" Blavi asked.
"That’s right. Blavi, you’re getting smarter," Anfey said.
"Anfey,
are you complimenting me or making fun of me?" Blavi playfully gave Anfey a punch.
"I am definitely giving you compliments. You are a commander in charge of the most powerful mage group in our league," Anfey said.
When Anfey talked about the mage group, Blavi went quiet for a while, then said, "Anfey, I do not know if I am in the position to tell you this."
"We are brothers. Why don’t you just tell me?" Anfey smiled.
"Anfey, Ozzic and his people are not trustworthy! Anfey, I am not trying to create problems among us. I am telling you what I feel," Blavi immediately explained. "Do you remember that day? They…for the magic crystals."
"I know," Anfey said quietly. "They are not like you. We have the same professor and have been through a lot together. We are not biological brothers, but even closer than brothers. No one could break us apart. They are different. That is the reason I did not want conflict with Fernando and Scarlet. In fact, I do not have to be worried, since most soldiers in s.h.i.+eld of Light legion are from Maho Empire. With their support, Fernando and Scarlet cannot push us too hard. That’s why I don’t worry about Christian’s safety very much."
"What are you worrying about?" Blavi asked.
"I am worried about the mercenaries in the league." Anfey sighed. "Fernando and Scarlet are not stupid. They know well that the biggest problem with the league is internal instability. If they did something behind our backs and tried to sabotage our unity, it would be hard to prevent," Anfey said.
"If that is the case, why don’t we…" Blavi looked like he was determined to kill someone.
"No, no! They are still our people now," Anfey said, shaking his head, "but there are different degrees of loyalty to ‘our people’. Fighting against Fernando or Scarlet is different than fighting death spirits. No one had another option than to unite and fight shoulder to shoulder. There would be too many unexpected factors if we fight with Fernando and Scarlet. We are just keeping things moving forward. They should have no loyalty problems, and that is why I am trying to
to avoid Fernando and Scarlet. If we could easily win the battle, we would fight. If not, we just run away. The key is to keep mercenaries optimistic."
"Are we going to continue like this?" Blavi asked with a frown.
"We do not have enough people, so we can only keep going the way we are," Anfey said slowly. "When we meet up with Sante and Zubin, I have an idea."
"What’s that?" Blavi asked.
"I would like to send our people to each mercenary group. Let’s call them magic counselors." Anfey thought of the position in his previous world called an executive council. Of course, the magic counselor would have more power than the executive council. "Counselors cannot give commands, but on certain occasions could veto commanders."
"So it would be the supervisor of a commander?" Blavi asked.
"You can say that." Anfey smiled. "Blavi, I have already thought about having you be the magic counselor for Unit One. You have to be careful with your language and behavior. No matter what you think of Ozzic, you have to keep a good relations.h.i.+p with him. Don’t fight with him. You have to pay special attention to Ye. If you accidentally show your dislike towards Ozzic, Ye would definitely sense it, even if Ozzic could not."
Blavi was quiet and slowly nodded.
"Let’s put it this way. If we are in danger, I am not sure about others, but s.h.i.+nbella and Ye would definitely work for us. Well, Ye is in an awkward position." Anfey had a smile on his face. "On one hand, Ozzic helped him a lot and trusted him, so he treats Ozzic like a brother and thinks for him all the time. On the other hand, he is willing to work for us and thinks for us as well. For example…"
"For example, if Ye spoke up for you, it would be hard for you to make the decision," Suzanna said.
"Yes." Anfey nodded. "Ozzic may not be that important, but we need have Ye on our side. He is very good. For the sake of Ye, could you let small things go if Ozzic offends you? Blavi, do you follow?"
"Yes, got it." Blavi smiled. "If you
"If you asked me some time ago to deal with a person I do not like, I might not be able to do it. I will try now though."
"Anfey, do you think those commanders object if you send supervisors, I mean, magic counselors, to each mercenary group?" Blavi asked.
"There would definitely be challenges, but I have my bottom line. They have to have magic counselors; otherwise I could just do what Blavi suggested: kill anyone who does not obey," Anfey said calmly. "The League of Mercenaries are not regular mercenary groups. The current policies and rules in the mercenary group are not what I want while those commanders have too much power. The commanders set too much constraints on their mercenaries. I cannot allow them keep their absolute power."
"If they really…" Blavi was interrupted by Anfey.
"Then kill them." Anfey looked cold. "If I could get support from Ye, it would mean I would get Ozzic’s support as well. We also have s.h.i.+nbella, the mage group, and us. If we have to fight, we have the advantage. Orsie and Thompson are smart. They know what they should do. The only trouble would be Joseph. That is fine. I could kill him to set an example for others."
"I am concerned that we could create problems if we suppress those commanders so hard," Blavi said.
"Every magic counselor will have a position in the mage group. When units are on different a.s.signments, they could apply for mages to join the battle though magic counselors, or even ask the whole mage group to help them. With this condition, mercenaries would not be too opposed to magic counselors."
"Will it be enough if they are just not against it? What if they isolate magic counselors?" Blavi asked.
"They cannot." Anfey smiled. "Magic counselors mainly deal with regular mercenaries. Regular mercenaries would not refuse to make friends with an honorable mage. Of course, it would depend on each individual mage to develop his own reputation."
"To bond with regular mercenaries." Suzanna thought for a while. "Blavi, what do you think?"
Blavi nodded confidently. "I think it would work." Whenever he talked with mercenaries, they all looked honored and surprised. If he tried purposefully he tried purposefully to bond with them, he felt he could get along with them quick.
"Suzanna, do you have any concerns?" Anfey asked.
"No, I think it is a good idea," Suzanna said.
Suzanna was not the same palace maid who was willing to risk her life to complete missions anymore. Blavi was not the same naïve mage anymore. They had experienced so much in the past year. Anfey was autocratic at the beginning because of the situation he was in, and he knew those kids would not have any valuable suggestions. After things had settled, he tried to ask more and gave guidance to Christian and a few others. Whether he was guiding them or pus.h.i.+ng them to learn, Christian, Suzanna and few others indeed matured every day. They would not have had so many suggestions a year ago.
Switching the topic, Suzanna said, "Anfey, why did you stop triggering magic crystals? I think you still have telepathy left."
"We do not have time," Anfey said calmly. "The knights from Shansa Empire are only a few miles away."
"What? Why didn’t you tell us earlier?" Blavi was shocked and immediately looked up to check.
"Not griffin riders," Anfey said. "They are cavalry. We killed a few griffin riders a few days ago. I think Scarlet feels bad about it and would not send more griffin riders out to get killed." Anfey was not bragging. The Fire Sword could instantly release all kinds of elements and large-scale series of lightning. If they did not have too many griffin riders, and would fly in close formation, he could kill a bunch of them with one attack.
"How many soldiers do they have?" Blavi asked.
"More than 20," Anfey said.
"Only about 20?" Blavi suddenly looked relaxed. "It is not fun. We could just stop them there and then go to meeting Riska."
"No, kill these soldiers. We have to catch up with Riska soon," Anfey said.
"Anfey, did you say we have to cover for the mercenaries?" Blavi asked.
"Not necessary anymore," Anfey said slowly. "The day before yesterday, the griffin riders flying northeast were missing. Today, the scout knight in the northeast is missing again, which will give Scarlet enough information to locate us."
