Chapter 221 – Joining the Alliance
Zhao Hai nodded. Such conditions were acceptable for him. If the Black Magician Alliance was truly this loose, then joining wouldn’t be an issue.
Maru watched Zhao Hai’s expression, smiled, then said, “So long as you join the alliance, some common and ordinary intelligence will be provided free of charge. If you wish for the alliance to help you investigate matters with special circumstances, or to look up a specific individual, then the alliance will request a fee. This fee will be based on the difficulty of obtaining this information.
“Naturally, the alliance will also give missions you can partake in. For example, some magicians might also with to obtain information on certain individuals. How much you help in their investigations will become the basis for the amount you gain off the alliance’s commision. If there is a magician that requires a magic beast and you help in catching it, then the alliance will also pass a commision for that as well.”
Zhao Hai smiled and thought the Black Magician Alliance was interesting. It seemed like a common mercenary guilds in novels back on Earth. The things they did were similar, except that the alliance catered to black magicians.
Smiling, Zhao Hai said, “What do I need to give in order to join the alliance?”
As soon as he heard the question, Maru understood Zhao Hai’s intent. He was excited and immediately replied, “We do not require anything. It’s fine if you just agree to join. Later on, you cannot spread matters pertaining to the alliance and you cannot betray it. If you agree, then take this and become a full fledged member of the alliance.”
As he spoke, Maru took out a small badge. The badge was similar to the size of a yuan coin back on Earth. On the front side was a dark cloud pattern while the back had a pin, allowing it to be attached to one’s clothing
Zhao Hai carefully inspected the simple badge. After a while, he looked at Maru and said, “Such a simple badge, aren’t you afraid of fabrications?”
Maru smiled. “No. Although this badge looks insignificant and made of simple metal, it was actually made by an elder of the alliance. They performed a few magic experiments and obtained this. Although it isn’t a hard metal, it has very good elasticity. It can change its shape when subjected to external force, then slowly change back to its original state. Moreover, the badge has a number that prevents others from making a counterfeit.”
Memory metal[1]!
As Zhao Hai listened, he thought the material of the badge was similar to memory metal. He really didn’t think there would be such a thing on this continent.
Zhao Hai took up the small badge and carefully checked it, yet he couldn’t see anything peculiar about it. He placed the badge back on the table and turned to Maru. “If the alliance had a lot of rules, I wouldn’t have agreed to join.”
Maru couldn’t help but feel happy. He had a certain understanding of Zhao Hai. He knew Zhao Hai was very strong. During the time Garan[2] had tried to cope with Zhao Hai, his group disappeared without a trace. There was also the attack on Laura by the Immortal Mercenary Group that he repelled. Later on, they too had vanished from the continent. This had proven Zhao Hai’s strength. Such a powerful black magician joining the Black Magician Alliance would definitely increase their strength. This was what made Maru truly happy.
Obviously, the Black Magician Alliance was more into preservation when compared with the Radiance Church. Their aim was simple. Just as Maru said, they aimed to first help other black magicians and pass down their magic techniques. The second goal was to resist the Radiance Church.
Compared to Radiance Church, the Black Magician Alliance’s organization structure was quite loose and less utilitarian. Because of this, Zhao Hai decided to join the alliance.
Once he saw Zhao Hai taking the badge, Maru felt relieved. He smiled and said, “Good. From now on, you are a member of the Black Magician Alliance. Our alliance’s main goal is to help other black magicians and resist Radiance Church. For the rest of the time, you can do your own thing and needn’t worry about being restrained.”
Zhao Hai smiled. “This is good. Since Sir Maru has come this time, we must entertain sir well. Laura, order some people to make preparations. In a while, I will ask sir to join us for a meal. After dinner, I would also like to ask sir to enjoy a play.”
Laura smiled faintly and said, “Alright, I’ll order them to prepare. We happen to have several fire fish at the moment, so it will be good so serve it to sir.” She then told Nier to start preparing.
Maru looked at them strangely. After hearing him speak Laura’s given name, it seemed that Zhao Hai and Laura had some sort of relationship. It wasn’t just that of a collaborator with her benefactor, but instead displayed a sort of intimacy.
What was more important was that he heard Laura telling him to eat fire fish. Although fire fish was not an advanced level magic beast, it was very difficult to eat some. Maru was only a black magician and hadn’t eaten fire fish before. Laura suggesting this was truly surprising.
Before, Laura had returned with fire fish from her visits to Zhao Hai’s place. It wasn’t a gift, but something they ate privately and it also hadn’t been sold to her. As such, no one else on the continent knew Laura had a large amount of fire fish in her possession.
Maru felt extremely flattered with the accommodations. One must know that fire fish were very high quality. With the present status of black magicians, few could eat such delicacies. He hadn’t expected he would taste some today.
With regards to the play Zhao Hai had invited him to watch later, he understood what Zhao Hai had meant. He had investigated earlier before he came. For the past two days, Boric had sent his people into Casa City. It seemed that they were here to deal with Zhao Hai. He didn’t understand it at first, but now that he was being asked to deliberately stay here a bit longer, he knew Zhao Hai’s intentions. Zhao Hai had stayed back in order to wait for the people Boric sent.
Maru, however, didn’t say anything about that. He stayed and waited. In any case, Boric was also a member of Radiance Church, so tidying up his men would be a good thing.
Zhao Hai turned to Maru and said, “Sir Maru, may I know how many members the alliance has?”
Maru nodded. “Naturally. We currently have a total of 13,600 members. Although this may look like a lot, one must understand that the alliance aims to invite every black magician on the continent. While there are some black magicians we cannot contact, there are also those who are reluctant to join. On the continent, about forty or so out of a hundred meetings result in recruitment. If we only have so few, then our days will be tough.”
Zhao Hai nodded. Although he didn’t understand much about the situation of the Ark Continent, he had a certain understanding of the Purcell Duchy. As such, he knew the population of the Ark Continent was immense, and its size was probably greater than that of Earth. The population shouldn’t be lower than that of Earth. In this case, as an organization of the Ark Continent, even with a member count of over ten thousand it was a very skewed ratio.
Zhao Hai turned to Maru and asked, “Does the alliance have any semblance with the church? Like, do we control several mercenary groups?”
Maru smiled and said, “As you know, the alliance is an organization wherein those in direct control have no great power. Some magicians, however, have established their own forces, such as yourself. At present, your influence isn’t small. In the future, the alliance may ask for your help when necessary. Your strength is a part of the alliance and unlike the Radiance Church, we don’t directly order our members. We generally please the magicians working with us. As such, we usually give notice to the magician beforehand and seek their advice. If you don’t wish to help, then we won’t force you.”
Zhao Hai curiously asked, “What if a magician always declines to help? Will the alliance still provide information to him? Wouldn’t this be a loss for the alliance[3]?”
Maru chuckled. “The alliance isn’t a merchant group. It was established to help black magicians and help them pass down their magic. At the same time, we resist the Radiance Church. Helping the alliance is voluntary. We won’t force anyone.”
Zhao Hai somewhat admired Maru and the alliance. So far, the things that had been presented by the alliance showed that they wished to help black magicians. Furthermore, the utilitarianism wasn’t forced. Seeing this, it truly was actively trying to help the black magicians.
Nodding seriously, Zhao Hai said to Maru, “Sir Maru, please help me pass a message along to the Elders Assembly. If there is anything I can help with, please don’t be polite. So long as I can help, I shall.”
Maru laughed. “Alright. I will certainly pass on this message. Zhao Hai, we black magicians have been pushed into a dead end now. If we do not give our all, then it will be our own bad luck in the end.”
Zhao Hai nodded. Although he wasn’t a true black magician, helping the black magicians whenever he could was equal to gaining a patron. If anything happened in the future, then he could ask the Black Magician Alliance for help. This was very important for him.
Around this time, the food had finished being prepared. Zhao Hai and the rest moved to the dining hall and Meg immediately set the meals.
The truth was, these meals had been prepared within the Space. They’d been prepared by Meirin. What Laura had said earlier had just been a cover. Maru had invited Zhao Hai to join the Black Magician Alliance, and Zhao Hai didn’t wish to be malicious. It was just that the Space wasn’t something Zhao Hai could easily share with Maru. This was his greatest secret. Except for those whom he was intimate with, like Laura, in which he was sure wouldn’t betray him, he wouldn’t easily tell others about it.
那些奴隶赵海之所以没有瞒着,就是因为他们不可能背叛赵海,在加上那些奴隶是不可能自己一个人到大6上去的,如果他们在没有主人的带领下跑到了大6上,那一定会被人当成逃奴抓起来,所以赵海不怕他们会出去乱说。
The reason Zhao Hai didn’t conceal this secret from the slaves was because it was impossible for those slaves to betray Zhao Hai. In addition, it would be impossible for them to establish themselves anywhere else on the continent. If they weren’t under a master and ran away to some other place on the continent, then they would be called a runaway slave and captured. This was the reason why Zhao Hai wasn’t afraid of them speaking out irresponsibly.
The meal was very sumptuous. Of course, the main course was fire fish. There was also beef, pork, rabbit meat, and various kinds of vegetables. Maru looked at the vegetables and couldn’t help but swallow his saliva. These years, due to the suppression of the Radiance Church, the life of black magicians had become very bad. He himself hadn’t eaten such a grandiose meal as of late.
Notes:
-This chapter was MTL’ed. Please leave a comment for constructive criticisms and advice. Thanks.
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-Please check out the Editor’s footnotes, thanks.
Footnotes:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shape-memory_alloy ↩
[2] Again, it’s shown as Zhao Jia, which makes no sense. ↩
[3] He can ask an intelligent question but can’t remember something had happened a few days ago when he’s suddenly in trouble… Yea, I’m talking about the Rank Nines in the swamp…