This Lich Requests More Remuneration
Chapter 437 - 409: The Key to Remaining Unmarried

Chapter 437: Chapter 409: The Key to Remaining Unmarried

Airel, as the hostess, couldn’t refuse Withered Rose, this enthusiastically persistent guest.

By the time she regained her senses, she had already brought Withered Rose to the busiest commercial street in Storm City.

How did I end up shopping here, weren’t we supposed to talk business?

No matter Airel’s confusion, Withered Rose still acted like they were best friends, affectionately pulling her around to shop till they dropped.

Compared to the poor Fury Tide Kingdom, Gloomyland was not only second to none in wealth, but its environment was just subpar.

The seabed gold mines of the Fury Tide Kingdom would be exhausted before they could fetch a few tens of millions of Gold Coins, and such small veins were considered not worth mining in Gloomyland. Withered Rose was generous with her spending, tossing out handfuls of Gold Coins whenever she fancied something, and it didn’t take long for her to buy up half the street’s goods.

Airel’s eyes nearly popped out of her head; she, as a Princess, had never been so extravagant.

Initially, she was somewhat bothered by wasting time shopping, but seeing those overjoyed merchants, Airel began to think that perhaps spending a little more time wasn’t such an issue.

Making these impoverished people a few extra Gold Coins was also a good thing.

With that thought in mind, Airel became enthusiastic and began introducing Withered Rose to the specialties of the Fury Tide Kingdom.

Aged salted fish, large and perfectly round pearls, fist-sized Fish Green Stones... In short, she made out every visible item to be a specialty of the Fury Tide Kingdom, unavailable elsewhere.

Withered Rose was very accommodating, smiling and lavishing Gold Coins everywhere.

By the end of the street, Airel felt a bit embarrassed.

Just on this short walk, Withered Rose had spent nearly two thousand Gold Coins.

Two thousand Gold Coins! That was what the Fury Tide Kingdom coveted the most, enough to buy a huge estate in Storm City.

Many of the goods had their prices jacked up just because the sellers saw Withered Rose’s opulence. The Tide Fury people asked for outlandish prices, and Airel hesitated many times but in the end, didn’t interfere, allowing Withered Rose to spend ten times more on these unnecessary things.

After walking this distance, Airel felt restless. It seemed like she had helped the common people of the Fury Tide Kingdom make a fortune, but wasn’t it a bit improper to swindle this generous Undead Queen?

Withered Rose, however, seemed not to have noticed, and instead asked where else they could buy specialties of the Fury Tide Kingdom, as if she hadn’t spent enough.

This made Airel feel even guiltier. The Queen trusted her so much, and yet, was she going to continue deceiving her?

After hesitating for a while, Airel said to Withered Rose, "I apologize, Your Majesty Rose, but you’ve spent too much. Those items aren’t really worth that much. I will have someone return the excess amount to you."

Withered Rose replied in surprise, "Not worth that much? Why do you say that? Aren’t those all good things I’ve never seen before?"

Airel said helplessly, "Everything in the Fury Tide Kingdom comes from the sea. Those so-called sea treasures are just common things, not worth so many Gold Coins."

Withered Rose said gratefully, "Ah? Is that really so? Sister Airel, you are so kind-hearted to admit such a thing. Had it been someone else, they would have dragged me to another street to shop by now."

Airel said embarrassedly, "Our Fury Tide Kingdom is too poor. Seeing so much Gold, it was hard to resist. But you are our guest, Your Majesty, and we should not have done this."

"No, no need for that. Sister Airel, your words are a hundred times more precious than those Gold Coins. Starting today, you are a friend I acknowledge," Withered Rose said, looping her arm through Airel’s.

"Friend?"

Airel felt her mind muddled. How could she receive praise after deceiving someone? How did they suddenly become friends?

But Withered Rose didn’t give her a chance to think, gesturing to her followers and saying, "All the things we bought just now, give them all to my sister Airel as a greeting gift."

This gift overwhelmed Airel’s ability to think.

A present worth thousands of Gold Coins, the equivalent of gifting her an estate within Storm City, was too substantial for Airel to accept with ease.

Yet she was no match for Withered Rose, who dismissed Airel’s few attempts at refusal with "You don’t want to be friends with me?" and thus confusedly accepted the gifts.

With just one shopping trip, Airel had grown closer to Withered Rose, appearing less like strategic adversaries and more like intimate friends.

Next, Withered Rose didn’t discuss business with Airel. She merely mentioned that she was really tired from the flight and wanted to rest for the night.

At this moment, Airel was too preoccupied to ponder whether the Undead could feel fatigued and without a second thought, she arranged for Withered Rose to stay inside the Royal Palace.

It wasn’t until the deep silence of the night that Melina couldn’t help but ask Withered Rose, "Mother, why did you go shopping with the princess? And how could you have been deceived out of so much money?"

Melina had already sensed something was amiss during their shopping spree earlier that day, as the price of pearls inexplicably jumped from one Gold Coin to ten. Even Melina could tell there was something wrong with such pricing.

Withered Rose was quite satisfied with Melina’s reaction; the naive child at least noticed that something was off, indicating that she had made some progress.

Withered Rose explained to Melina, "We came here with two objectives. One was to finalize the deal for your father. There’s no difficulty in that, because your father said that no one in the Fury Tide Kingdom could see through any issues in the plan. Every clause on it appears to be greatly beneficial to the Fury Tide Kingdom, and even if we don’t lift a finger and just present the plan, they’ll have to sign it. The Fury Tide Kingdom can’t resist the opportunity to surge their national power."

"So, my friendship with Airel isn’t for the sake of the trade, but for the second task your father assigned. We can’t let Aeolus marry Airel, but as outsiders, how can we meddle in the marriage of the Princess of the Fury Tide? It seems your father doesn’t want to completely fall out with the Fury Tide Kingdom either, so we have to find another way."

"As long as I become friends with Airel, I’ll have the right to say a few words about my friend’s wedding. Do you understand now?"

Realization dawned on Melina. She now understood the plan, but immediately asked, "Then why didn’t father mention this before we left?"

With a smile, Withered Rose replied, "It’s a method only a woman can use, how could your father prepare for that in advance? Or to put it another way, he doesn’t need to give me too many instructions; he trusts that I can do it."

Indeed, as Withered Rose stated, Amberser always had great faith in Withered Rose’s abilities. Mere brute force was not enough to control a kingdom. The assertiveness Withered Rose usually exhibited was just one aspect of her personality; she also did not disappoint when it came to using her intellect.

Melina now thoroughly grasped her mother’s intentions. She then asked, "So what do we do next? Can we tell Airel now so she will refuse the marriage?"

Withered Rose shook her head and said, "It’s not that simple. Although we’ve become friends, our bond isn’t deep yet. It’s not time to discuss that. Let’s wait a few more days. I believe Airel will truly appreciate my sincerity after the contract is signed, and that’s when we can discuss these deeper issues. However, before that, there’s a key piece of information we need to inquire about."

Excitedly, Melina asked, "What key information?"

Although Melina was not the sharpest, she particularly enjoyed playing detective, unraveling mysteries thread by thread. The last time Amberser took her undercover among the Dark Elves was incredibly fun, albeit short-lived.

Now, Melina once again felt the thrill of being part of a detective game led by someone else, and she couldn’t wait to be part of the plan.

After pondering for a moment, Withered Rose said, "From today’s conversations, I’ve learned that people in the Fury Tide Kingdom marry young, with women marrying as early as twelve. However, Airel is far from young; she’s already twenty-eight and seems to have never married, which is not customary for the Fury Tide Kingdom. We need to find out the reason she hasn’t married; without it, it’s improper to continue discussing marriage with her."

"Can’t we just ask her directly?" Melina asked, puzzled.

Withered Rose gave her daughter a reproachful look and taught her, "Given her age, Airel is considered an old maid in the Fury Tide Kingdom, someone who’s hard to marry off. Asking her directly might offend her. Aren’t you a woman too? Don’t you understand that?"

"Um, not really."

Melina felt wronged; she was barely older than a year. How could she know the thoughts of a twenty-eight-year-old woman?

Withered Rose didn’t expect her naïve daughter to suddenly wise up and simply said patiently, "Don’t worry, it shouldn’t be hard to find out. After all, she’s a princess and the only heir to the Fury Tide Kingdom. Her marital status must be a matter of concern for all the citizens. It’s probably easy to get some news just by asking around."

"That’s good!" said Melina excitedly. "I’ll go inquire. I’ll ask those merchants who cheated us out of our money today."

"Is that how you inquire? That’s more like turning yourself in, as if you’re eager to let everyone know we’re targeting Airel," Withered Rose said helplessly. "You should listen more, observe more, talk less, and act according to my orders."

Melina deflated like a punctured ball and said reluctantly, "Alright, I’ll listen to you."

This was nothing like the pretend games she used to play; she didn’t have any chance to shine, and adventuring with her father was far more thrilling.

Withered Rose didn’t care what Melina was thinking. For the next few days, she continued to interact with Airel, and the contract discussions went smoothly. Just as Amberser had anticipated, Fury Tide Kingdom people had no concept of "labor costs." To them, fishing was work as much as working for Amberser was, but the latter was far more profitable.

Airel hadn’t expected the contract to be so "favorable"; it seemed like the Fury Tide Kingdom wasn’t giving up much to gain a lot. Food, materials, airships, and a wealth of Alchemy products and weapons—these were a boon for the Fury Tide Kingdom.

So much so that the King of the Fury Tide sought out Airel and seriously inquired whether she had struck another deal with the Lich, as no Lich would offer such generous terms otherwise.

All Airel could do was swear she had only met the Lich once and hadn’t agreed to anything.

The King of the Fury Tide was so excited that he muttered prayers to Talos hundreds of times before eagerly proceeding to sign the contract with Withered Rose.

After the contract was signed, Withered Rose also subtly managed to learn the key to why Airel was not marrying—a name, Monger Greyriver.