Sword God in a World of Magic

For just a small moment, Shang entertained the thought of accepting the proposal.

"Thank you, but no," Shang said. "I want to deal with this myself."

Duke Whirlwind only smiled. It was like he had already anticipated that answer.

"It's fine to deal with some troublesome things yourself. You'll learn how to deal with worse situations in the future because of that. However, please keep in mind that your life is still the most important thing. Without it, none of your goals will become meaningless," Duke Whirlwind said.

"I will keep that in mind," Shang said.

"Naturally, no one will even dare to follow or touch you on this journey," Duke Whirlwind continued. "That Adept has also not even considered following us. I even presume that he might abandon the mission before the day is over. After all, he saw you traveling with me."

Duke Whirlwind chuckled a bit. "This mission might appear a little too hot for his liking."

"So, whoever commissioned your death will probably have to pay an even higher premium after today."

Shang furrowed his brows. "Will a True Mage come after me?" he asked. Shang didn't even ask how Duke Whirlwind knew that the person spying on Shang was a Cleaner. Duke Whirlwind had probably seen enough Cleaners in his life. Finding out that it was a Cleaner probably didn't take more than a simple glance._{pᴀɴᴅᴀ-ɴOᴠᴇʟ.ᴄᴏᴍ}

"With enough money, you could probably even hire the King personally," Duke Whirlwind said with a chuckle. "But you don't need to worry. I have implemented policies that track the whereabouts of all the True Mages in my domain. If they want to hire a True Mage to come after you, they will need to get one from outside and smuggle them in."

"As long as your enemy isn't a Peak True Mage that is willing to throw their life savings away just to see you die, you should be fine. At most, they will commission a more powerful Peak Adept."

Shang only nodded.

By now, the group had arrived at the Farm Line, and they were still continuing at a rapid pace.

The speed was honestly impressive.

"What kind of reward do you want?" Duke Whirlwind suddenly asked.

"You already gave me my reward," Shang said.

"That piece of ore?" Duke Whirlwind said with a snort. "Please, that's not equal to what you have done for me. Duke Mithril has proven to be rather annoying with his constant objections to my claim of the former battlefield, and one of his biggest arguments is that my territory is now too big for me. He's constantly complaining that I don't have a mind bright enough to efficiently rule over so much land."_{pᴀɴᴅᴀ ɴ0ᴠᴇʟ}

"And to bolster his argument, he constantly fills my ranks with his people to make everything appear as mismanaged as possible. He gets his people to devastate the landscape and plunder it to such a degree that the natural resources can't even recover with time."

"But you have literally taken care of his biggest hand," Duke Whirlwind explained.

Shang raised his eyebrows in surprise. "My contributions couldn't be that enormous," he said.

"But they are," Duke Whirlwind said with a laugh. "He sent in his two most valuable pawns to the northeastern territory. They aren't valuable due to their power but due to their positions and abilities."

"Lieutenant Horace has enjoyed the full trust of my personal general, and Kiva Orvis is the genius son of Jera Orvis, the personal general of Duke Mithril," Duke Whirlwind said.

"I presume Lieutenant Horace was that Commander Stage warrior?" Shang asked.

Duke Whirlwind nodded.

"And who is this Kiva Orvis?" _{ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀ​ꪶ​}

Duke Whirlwind glanced at Shang with a smirk. "You might know him as One."

Shang's eyes widened.

One was the genius son of the personal general of Duke Mithril?

"Kiva Orvis," Duke Whirlwind said, "a prodigy in physical fighting, strategy, and leadership. He is very famous in Duke Mithril's lands for his power and ability to plan many steps ahead."

"While Lieutenant Horace was the more powerful of the two, Kiva Orvis was the strategic mind behind the operation."

Duke Whirlwind looked at Shang again. "But you stopped him, basically throwing Duke Mithril's plan into the trash."

"That's worth far more than the single piece of ore I have organized for you, Shang," Duke Whirlwind said. "Additionally, if Duke Mithril ever finds out that you were the one that foiled his plan, your life could end very quickly. Taking on such danger is also worth a big reward."

"I hope, for your sake, that you didn't tell Kiva Orvis any sensitive things about your person."

Shang looked at Duke Whirlwind with furrowed brows. "You talk like he is still alive."

"Shang," Duke Whirlwind answered, "such a hostage is worth a lot of money. Killing him is throwing away his inherent value."

"So, he's still alive?" Shang asked.

"If I were to kill Kiva Orvis, Duke Mithril would lose a great genius. However, there are endless people in this world, and finding an equally good General isn't hard. Additionally, General Orvis would only grow to hate me even more, which would increase his motivation and drive to screw with my things that much stronger."

"Instead, I made an offer to Duke Mithril for Kiva Orvis' life," Duke Whirlwind said.

"How much did he have to pay?" Shang asked.

"Well, I can't talk about such things with someone of your current standing," Duke Whirlwind said with a grin, "but I can tell you that Duke Mithril probably lost more from buying Kiva Orvis' life than from every other expense of this operation combined. After all, if he doesn't purchase his life, his personal general will hate him, and things might become troublesome."

"In terms of money, you could say that he has given me enough to fully equip five Circles," Duke Whirlwind said with a bright smile.

'That's a full set of equipment for 25 True Mages, including all their Foci!' Shang thought with shock.

pᴀɴᴅᴀ ɴOᴠᴇʟ That was probably over fifty million gold!

"So, what do you want for your reward?" Duke Whirlwind asked.

Shang remained silent for a while.

Duke Whirlwind didn't continue talking since he had noticed that Shang was thinking.

"I want an honest answer to one of my questions," Shang said a minute later.

"Oh?" Duke Whirlwind uttered with interest.

"Alright, ask away."