This Lich Requests More Remuneration

Chapter 97 - 97 94 War Loans

?Chapter 97: Chapter 94 War Loans Chapter 97: Chapter 94 War Loans Amberser sat in front of the Porcupine Knight, curiously fiddling with the twin swords in his hand.

The elves had all been crammed into his personal space; with this space where time could stop, he didn’t even need to use a magic seal. Throwing them in there to freeze time was enough.

Aside from these elves who were nothing special, only these two swords were a bit odd.

He had though they were imbued with magic specifically designed to break through Mage Shields, but that was not actually the case. The magic patterns on these two longswords were very special, so special that Amberser had never seen them before.

Upon closer examination, he discovered that these two shortswords were like a magic black hole, capable of absorbing any magic from anything.

When a Mage Shield was hit by a shortsword, a part of its magic was drawn away, causing structural imbalance and thus being penetrated.

This was not a typical “magic-breaking” effect, because the magic drawn away could be infused into the user’s body.

“Does the person using this kind of weapon covet death so much?”

Magic is a very personal thing, not like the martial arts in wuxia novels that you can transfer to whomever you want. Absorbing someone else’s magic is akin to drinking poison.

To strengthen the destructive power of the shortswords, would one really resort to suicide?

Looking at that elf’s behavior, it really seemed as though there was an air of suicidal determination.

The Porcupine Knight sat opposite Amberser nervously, not knowing what the powerful Necromancer wanted to do. Earlier, when Amberser asked him what kind of contract he had signed with the elves, he could only briefly explain their intentions. Then this powerful Necromancer entered a contemplative state.

The Porcupine Knight didn’t dare to ask more. He couldn’t deal with that group of elves, let alone this terrifying Necromancer.

Amberser stowed away the peculiar shortswords, ready to return and thoroughly interrogate this group of elves.

Their arrival was too strange; it didn’t seem as simple as just paving the way for the elf tribe’s army. The army hadn’t even formally launched an attack; it was impossible for them to have reached the core area already.

There must be a connection with that Magic Contract the elf had sent away, but without any clues, the only option was to return and investigate slowly.

Looking back at the Porcupine Knight standing to one side, Amberser gestured for him to come closer, and the Lord carefully approached.

The first thing Amberser said was, “How many Gold Coins do you have?”

The Porcupine Knight was taken aback and quickly said, “To express my thanks, I am willing to pay a compensation of twenty thousand Gold Coins.”

Amberser shook his head and said, “Not how much you’ll give me, I’m asking you, how much do you have in total?”

“Ah? Do you mean…”

Amberser said indifferently, “Exactly that. You said it yourself, willing to give everything. I want all the Gold in your vault. That’s not too much, is it?”

The Porcupine Knight protested excitedly, “Master, if you take all the Gold Coins away, this territory will fall apart immediately. By doing this, you are no different from those elves.”

Amberser smiled slightly and told the Porcupine Knight, “What happens to your territory has nothing to do with me. Moreover, Alchemy City is about to plunge into chaos now. What use is just Gold? Can you defend it successfully?”

The Porcupine Knight said with a burst of joy, “Master, are you willing to support me? I am ready to employ all my Gold Coins to hire you as a Mage advisor!”

Amberser: …

How beautiful this man’s thoughts are.

A few tens of thousands of Gold Coins can’t hire a Legendary, not even a counterfeit one.

“What I mean is, you don’t have money, but others do. You’ve formed an alliance with several minor lords, haven’t you? But on the outskirts of Alchemy City, your small alliance hardly matters. There are so many wealthy lords, you could go and loot them,” Amberser said.

The Porcupine Knight offered a wry smile. He wanted to loot, too, but as Amberser said, their alliance didn’t count for much. Together, they had less than a thousand troops—barely enough for defense, let alone taking the offensive.

As they spoke of this, the Porcupine Knight deeply regretted their campaign against the Lich. He shouldn’t have listened to the nonsensical talk of those Paladins.

If he hadn’t gotten mixed up with those Paladins, he could have doubled the troops he had available now.

The Porcupine Knight said helplessly, “We simply do not have the strength to expand now. The nearby lords aren’t fools either; they’re all prepared for battle.”

Amberser revealed a devilish grin, tempting the Porcupine Knight by saying, “If you don’t attack others, do you think they won’t attack you? You know your power is inadequate; others will certainly choose the weakest to devour first.”

“Master, you mean?”

“Lord, have you heard of war loans?” Amberser asked.

“War loans?” The Porcupine Knight frowned. He hadn’t heard of this before. As a knight who had risen from the common people, he wasn’t very educated, and he hadn’t been a Lord for long. Just managing the day-to-day affairs of his territory kept him busy enough.

“If you lack troops, you can borrow them. For example, I can lend you a batch of Undead Skeletons for combat. In return, you would pay me Gold Coins. With troops, you could capture a larger territory, seize more people, and I could earn more Gold Coins. Isn’t that a win-win?”

Amberser now was like a devil from Hell, luring the Porcupine Knight step by step into the abyss.

Waging war is troublesome; Amberser was too lazy to do it himself. It was better to have others earn Gold Coins for him.

Having lived for a few hundred years, Amberser had witnessed many wars. With each outbreak of chaos, countless ambitious individuals emerged. The Porcupine Knight didn’t seem very capable, but he could be decisive when it mattered. With a little help, he might achieve a decent return on investment.

There was another point. The Porcupine Knight had signed some kind of contract with those elves, and although Amberser didn’t yet know what it was, this man was surely still useful.

The Porcupine Knight was extremely reluctant, but he had no choice.

Amberser could have simply killed him and taken everything. At least the conditions offered by this Necromancer were a tad better than those of the elves, granting him a possibility to turn things around.

Amberser didn’t stand on ceremony, moving all of the more than one hundred thousand Gold Coins from the treasury.

It was a little less than expected, but at least it wasn’t a total loss.

Amberser gave the Porcupine Knight a list, which included the materials he needed and a price list for the exchange of Undead Skeletons.

It didn’t matter if there wasn’t any money now, he offered a credit line of one hundred thousand Gold Coins with a mere fifteen percent monthly interest. In other words, fifteen thousand Gold Coins had to be repaid each month, which was quite low for a war loan.

But the Porcupine Knight still felt his liver ache. Even the cheapest mantis-form Skeleton cost a thousand Gold Coins; hiring Adventurers wasn’t this expensive.

Luckily, the list also mentioned some materials that Amberser needed, various corpses, Alchemy materials, and so on. Amberser could deduct the corresponding amount of Gold Coins for these items.

The Porcupine Knight decided to borrow one hundred Alien Skeletons right away, and he delivered a pile of corpses and stored Alchemy materials to Amberser for debt repayment. These were casualties from the conquests of other Lords’ domains. Originally, he had just casually buried them under some dirt, but now they turned into a resource.

Amberser was quite satisfied with this transaction. After setting a time for the trade, he asked the Porcupine Knight to find out Isabel’s whereabouts.

Isabel’s talent wasn’t bad, and she was serious and responsible in her work. Not every Alchemy Apprentice could help him cultivate the Bone Proliferation Virus. If it were someone else, they might have died several times over already; Amberser needed to bring her back to work for him.

However, when Amberser mentioned the place of the trade, the Porcupine Knight’s expression changed as he said in surprise, “That castle… isn’t it the Lich’s…”

Amberser smiled faintly and released the effects of his Shapeshifting, revealing the true face of the Lich.

The Porcupine Knight’s legs went weak with fright. Indeed, the Lich hadn’t died.

The Paladins of Laine were too unreliable; they had already stormed the castle, and yet failed to eliminate this Lich.

The Porcupine Knight also secretly rejoiced that he hadn’t had any designs on that castle. Otherwise, this Lich wouldn’t have come to talk business today but to take his life instead.

Amberser said to the Porcupine Knight, “Alright, prepare the items I want. Remember, with me, debt doesn’t disappear with death. If you owe me money, you’ll have to pay it back even if you turn into a corpse.”

The Porcupine Knight could only offer a bitter smile and assure that he would definitely repay his debt on time.

Amberser nodded in satisfaction, then returned to his own castle.

Opening his private space, Amberser arrived before the group of Elves frozen in time.

Cicero’s time freeze effect was released, and Amberser immediately got to the point: “The Silvermoon Tribunal is in such a hurry to send you deep into enemy territory; what exactly are they planning to do?”

Cicero, looking at Amberser’s skeletal face, said with some surprise, “So you’re a Lich. I have heard of you before. The destruction of Alchemy City should have something to do with you, right?”

Amberser reminded, “I am the one with the right to ask questions now; you are the captive. Understand your place.”

Cicero confidently replied, “Heh, what can you do to me? At worst, it’s just torture or killing me outright. But the souls of Elves will ultimately return to the embrace of the Elven Gods. If you think torture will make me submit, you can try.”

Cicero’s confidence stemmed entirely from the innate traits of the Elf Tribe, blessed by the Elven Gods with extremely high mental resistance. Charms, controls, paralysis, and most spells that affect the mind were ineffective against them.

This was the blessing given by the Deity, and even with the power of the Golden Throne, Amberser couldn’t suppress the power of the Elven Gods.

It was well known that dealing with an Elf could only be done with brute force; even drugging them was futile.

And Cicero, clearly an old Adventurer, was someone whose fortitude meant Amberser’s tortures would likely be ineffective, and mainly, Amberser didn’t have that much time to waste on him.

After contemplating for a moment, Amberser said to Cicero, “Actually, I’ve also guessed a bit. The real secret is that Magic Contract, right?”

Although Cicero’s expression didn’t change, his pupils involuntarily contracted.

Amberser smiled, “You see, this is the difference between the living and the Undead. If the Undead don’t want to show expressions, they truly won’t have any, but you can’t do that. Charm spells might not work on you, but you can’t use mental magic to control your own thoughts and prevent involuntary expressions from revealing your thoughts.”

Amberser’s words left Cicero in internal turmoil, as he never expected the Lich he encountered to be adept at such interrogation techniques.

Amberser continued, “Judging from common logic, the content of the contract actually isn’t important. Guarantees for the safe departure of humans; such harsh conditions are no different from direct death sentences. The real key should be the consequences of violating the contract, right?”

Cicero wanted to close his eyes to prevent Amberser from observing his pupils, but Amberser laid his hand on his neck, detecting his thoughts through his heartbeats and pulse.

“Oh, it seems I’m right. But what kind of advantage can you gain by violating the contract? Enough to make humans surrender?… No, that’s not it… Does it have any benefits for your invasion? Good, I guess that’s correct…”

By probing with one question at a time and monitoring Cicero’s heartbeat, Amberser gleaned quite a bit of information.

Firstly, the signing of the contract was definitely related to the Elf Tribe’s invasion, something beneficial to them, and the condition to trigger them was the violation of the contract by these human Lords.

Furthermore, the large-scale invasion of the Elf Tribe was imminent, and Cicero and his group were not the only vanguard dispatched. More Dusk Guards were sent out to force these Lords to sign contracts.

Unfortunately, Cicero remained silent, and Amberser couldn’t obtain more specific details.

But it’s likely that a low-ranking figure like Cicero wouldn’t know too much.

Amberser resealed Cicero and stroked his chin in thought. Like the Laine Empire, the Elf Tribe was stubborn, and they might not be willing to pay a ransom to retrieve Cicero and the group of Dusk Guards.

It seemed it was time to make contact with the Desert Dwarves.

After all, doing business meant continuously exploring new markets. If the Elf Tribe was unwilling to pay, the Desert Dwarves would likely be willing to spend a substantial amount of money for these Elves.