This Lich Requests More Remuneration
Chapter 401 - 373: The Holy King’s Contract

Chapter 401: Chapter 373: The Holy King’s Contract

"To dissolve the contract, we need the forgiveness of all the kingdoms? What kind of strange requirement is that, and who would forgive you?"

Amberser thought the old man, Sevres, was trying to fool him after hearing this. Driving away the Dragon Race made sense, perhaps because it was not suitable to continue waging war against the remaining dragons at the time; a complete annihilation would have been too much for the other races to bear.

But to leave behind such a condition for the dissolution of the contract—what was that about?

It would have been straightforward to just prohibit all dragons from returning; why leave this condition that "all the kingdoms have forgiven the Dragon Race"?

Sevres said with a sigh, "Yes, no race would forgive the Dragon Race. That’s why for more than a thousand years, we have been on this ocean, not daring to return. Only the Bone Dragons, being Undead, are no longer part of the Dragon Race and thus unaffected by the contract."

Amberser spoke with surprise, "So, you’ve created such a terrifying bomb in the Dragon Tomb, just to turn all dragons into Bone Dragons and have them return?"

"How could that be possible, if all dragons were to die, then there would be no Dragon Race," Sevres retorted. "If they all became Undead, the Dragon Race would lose its future."

"You’re being a bit racist there," Amberser said.

All present were Undead, none bereft of a future; Amberser’s future, in fact, was as wealthy as the world’s richest magnate.

Sevres didn’t argue with Amberser, but continued, "The contract is that simple. At that time, the surviving dragons were not many. Including myself, there were only three adult Giant Dragons, and all were seriously injured. The rest were immature young dragons; adding them up, there were several hundred, though."

Gareth, also curious, asked, "Then why didn’t Arthur Laine just kill all of you?"

Sevres glared at Gareth, and Amberser quickly added, "How can you talk to your father-in-law like that? If Arthur Laine had killed him, you probably wouldn’t have a wife."

Sevres then looked toward Amberser, the Lich’s remarks even more outrageous than those of his stupid son-in-law; no wonder they were friends!

Gareth hurriedly apologized, as he was also momentarily overexcited.

Ah, Arthur Laine, once his idol indeed, but Gareth had never imagined that one day he would be slaying his way through the Laine Empire.

Amberser pondered back and forth, feeling something was not quite right, and asked, "What in the world do the Githyanki plan to do to help you dissolve this contract?"

Sevres shook his head and replied, "They haven’t told me everything, after all, the Undead can no longer be considered part of the Dragon Race. All I can confirm is that they need several years to complete this plan."

How are the Githyanki going to get every kingdom on the continent to forgive them? Will they directly attack all the kingdoms, and then have the Dragon Race leap out to pretend to be the heroes who save the continent?

That’s impossible. Not to mention how fake the play would be, no rational person would believe it.

Even if they really believed it, would that constitute forgiveness for the Dragon Race? They’re not idiots; they would keep issues separate and wouldn’t allow the Dragon Race to return and compete for their living space.

Unable to figure it out, Amberser decided to resort to a trump card.

"The matter over a thousand years ago should be inquired of the parties involved; perhaps there are details of the contract that we are unaware of and Sevres has forgotten," Amberser said.

Sevres, puzzled, replied, "The parties involved? Aside from me, no one in the Dragon Race could remember the contract from back then; they are all from a new generation, mostly just children at the time."

Amberser shook his head and said, "No, I’m not talking about dragons; I’m talking about Arthur Laine himself."

Amberser opened up a small barrier to isolate the flowing Dark Magic Power, then took an hourglass out of his private space.

Everyone looked curiously at the hourglass, and Sevres exclaimed loudly, "The Eternal Hourglass! How did you get your hands on this item? It was a treasure of Atros, stolen by Arthur Laine at the time, and we could never find its whereabouts. With this Divine Artifact in hand, Atros wouldn’t have lost to Arthur Laine!"

What was going on with this Lich? How could he produce such long-lost treasures?

Amberser replied calmly, "Lord Sevres, please calm down, or you will be even more agitated shortly."

Sevres composed himself slightly and couldn’t help asking, "Can you also resurrect the emperor of our Dragon Race?"

"I can’t do that, but I can make your nemesis of the Dragon Race appear before you. Arthur, come out and meet an old acquaintance."

With Amberser’s summons, the Heroic Spirit of Arthur Laine gradually emerged from the hourglass.

Upon seeing Sevres, Arthur Laine asked with some confusion, "May I ask who you are?"

Sevres’s eyes bulged; he had never imagined such an unbelievable thing existed in the world. That face, those eyes, and the immense Force of the Holy Light were things Sevres could never forget in his lifetime.

Sevres roared, "Arthur Laine! It really is you! How did you become like this? Weren’t you supposed to have entered the Divine Realm of the Lord of the Dawn?! I’ll... I’ll kill you!"

"Wait a moment, old man, I don’t know you," said Arthur Laine, looking innocent.

"Don’t recognize me?!" Sevres angrily revealed his true form, a giant bone dragon emitting rainbow light, but one of its wings drooped down as if on the verge of breaking off.

"Look at my wing, do you remember me now?!"

Sevres opened his mouth, almost swallowing Arthur Laine whole.

Seeing that the situation was not right, Amberser quickly said to Gareth, "Stop your father-in-law quickly, if they start fighting, this Dragon Tomb is going to explode!"

It was no joke; Arthur Laine had been nurtured for a long time with a soul fragment by Amberser and had now recovered most of his strength. His battle with Aige was earth-shattering, and if a fight broke out here, even if he couldn’t win, the Dragon Tomb would definitely be severely damaged.

Gareth was about to step in front of Sevres to console him, "This isn’t the same Arthur Laine from before, my brother told me, this is just a Heroic Spirit that inherited some memories. Calm down, if it really were Arthur Laine, you still can’t fight here!"

Perhaps Gareth’s reminder had an effect; Sevres gradually calmed down and reverted to his human form.

Now Arthur Laine also remembered and said in surprise, "So it’s you, I remember, the wound on your wing was left by me."

After he said that, Sevres almost lost control again, remembering that sword blow, he truly wanted to rip Arthur Laine to shreds.

It took Amberser a long time to calm the emotions of the Dragon Tomb’s Master and explain the origins of the Heroic Spirit.

When the atmosphere was no longer so tense, Amberser began to inquire about the matter of the Dragon Race contract.

Initially fearing this Heroic Spirit lacked later memories, Arthur Laine said instead: "Oh, that. I thought about what to do after defeating the Dragon Race quite early on. Listening to what you say, the content of this contract is similar to what I had in mind."

Intrigued, Amberser asked, "Why would you leave the possibility for Dragon Race to return? If all kingdoms forgive the Dragon Race, they can return, how does that seem reasonable?"

But Arthur Laine found it even more puzzling, "Why is that unreasonable? If someone sincerely atones for their wrongdoing, isn’t being forgiven normal?"

Amberser didn’t know how to judge, was this Arthur Laine so naive... no, so idealistic?

"But that’s the Dragon Race, one that has left behind countless blood debts," Amberser said with some agitation.

Arthur Laine shook his head, "The Dragon Race is a wise race, they are beings of this world too. We overthrew the Dragon Race’s tyranny because they harmed other races, making life impossible for everyone.

Although I don’t know the final outcome of the war, I suspect that most of the evil dragons have perished since the remaining ones were driven out. Most of those that survived were likely young dragons, and children certainly have the opportunity to be forgiven. Even if this generation cannot do it, we can wait a thousand, two thousand years; this hatred can’t last forever.

"Do you want war over ancient hatreds again thousands of years later? Can you imagine two people drawing swords on each other because their ancestors were enemies thousands of years ago? If so, the blood shed in war would be meaningless.

"From a human perspective, it’s not easy to forgive the Dragon Race. If it can be achieved, significant sacrifices must have been made, allowing them to return to their home. I think this contract is quite reasonable," he added.

Arthur Laine even seemed a bit smug, feeling that the rule he had set was flawless, perfectly solving all problems.

Everyone fell silent at Arthur Laine’s words, and even Sevres released the fists he had been clenching tightly.

This Holy King truly had a way of thinking different from ordinary people, but Amberser found himself unable to spot any flaws.

The contract was beautiful, idealistic, and naive. If everyone could understand the initial intentions behind this contract, the Dragon Race might be moved by it. But now, it seemed Arthur Laine was indeed too naive.

But after hearing all this, Amberser’s respect for Arthur Laine grew even more.

Worthy of the Holy King’s name, humanity was indeed fortunate to have such a hero in those times.

Wait, no, that’s not the point now.

"Arthur, think again, aside from this method, is there really no other way to dissolve the contract?" Amberser asked.

He needed to know the Githyanki’s plan, and after all this talk, there was no useful information.

Arthur Laine shook his head, "I’m not the kind of person accustomed to leaving hidden clues, nor am I good at playing with words. According to my memory, I shouldn’t have left anything else, at least not back then. But whether there might be changes later on, I really don’t know."

Amberser felt it was a pity and decided to send Arthur Laine back to his personal space.

Amberser pondered that he would have to inquire with the Githyanki, extracting the souls of a few Githyanki should reveal some clues.

Having settled on his next plan, Amberser then asked Sevres, "One last question, Lord Sevres, I ask you as a Lich, why did you try to seize the Divine Power of Death? What exactly is going on with this Dragon Tomb, and how was the Divine Power extracted?"

Sevres replied with resignation, "You might not believe it if I told you. We extracted the Divine Power purely for one reason: to improve the success rate of transforming into Bone Dragons. As for the method you mentioned, that’s credited to your Elegy Poetry Society. It was your chairman who brought us a ring, and through that Divine Artifact, we were able to borrow the power of death."