This Lich Requests More Remuneration
Chapter 493 - 454: The Mortal Enemy of the Kuotao Murlocs

Chapter 493: Chapter 454: The Mortal Enemy of the Kuotao Murlocs

To inquire about a deity’s preferences, actually, it’s easier to start with their alignment and deity position.

Brivodoup belongs to the neutral evil camp, but during his outbursts, he falls into the chaotic evil alignment.

His followers are much the same—the Kuotuo Murlocs may seem foolish, but they are anything but kind-hearted. Kuotuo Murlocs revel in slaughter and destruction, not merely for survival’s necessity. Kuotuo Murlocs delight in killing other creatures and stripping them apart to decorate their dwellings and construct divine idols.

One more thing, the Kuotuo Murloc community hardly holds any moral values; their social environment is incredibly barbaric.

Therefore, Brivodoup wouldn’t do anything good either, being nothing but a neurotic shit-stirrer.

But this doesn’t help in luring Brivodoup out of the Divine Realm, as you can’t expect him to have an episode and storm out in a frenzy. Amberser’s Destiny Weaving can’t affect a true deity either.

Moreover, what Amberser is most opposed to is doing nothing and waiting for the Goddess of Fate to deliver fortune to his doorstep. He’s accustomed to choosing his goals, making the utmost effort to achieve them, and then leaving a little chance for the Goddess of Fate to offer some assistance during the process.

Because waiting for a stroke of luck often results in waiting for death.

So, Amberser didn’t give up. If he couldn’t find any flaws in the Koutao Mermaid Goddess, then he had to seek a solution from her enemies.

After all, your enemy is bound to know you the best.

"I remember there seems to be a book with relevant records."

Books related to deities are ninety percent wild histories, either fanatical praise or hater’s rants, with loads of true and false content—very difficult to discern the real from the fake. That’s why Amberser treated most books on deities akin to fiction, setting them aside after reading and not carrying them around.

So he left all those books in his old home.

Amberser passed through the Teleportation Circle and arrived at the castle he hadn’t seen for a long time.

Back then, Amberser was so poor that the castle was all he had left, and its decor was also quite shabby, to the point where he could only offer guests plain boiling water.

Now returning, the castle seemed to be bustling with more life.

There were quite a few maids cleaning throughout the castle; when they saw Amberser, they were stunned for a moment, then respectfully bowed and addressed him as "Master."

Amberser casually nodded, figuring Isabel must have trained these maids well, so as not to have a repeat of last time when they couldn’t even recognize the castle’s owner.

However, this visit wasn’t for catching up with Isabel. Amberser headed straight for the casually arranged bookshelves and began to search.

Amberser’s personality was a bit rough around the edges; he never bothered about details that didn’t affect the results of his experiments, which is why the most plentiful thing in this castle was bookshelves.

He had a habit of reading and putting books down wherever, as long as they didn’t hit the floor, reasoning that as a Lich with eternal life, he had plenty of time.

As a result, searching now proved to be quite troublesome, and he could only rely on memory to sift through them gradually.

"Let me think, it should be here," Amberser flipped through the books on the shelf and took out a familiar-looking ancient tome. "Ryan’s Harem’s Goblin Guard...ugh, not this one."

Amberser consecutively pulled out various wild histories from the shelf, like "Troubles of the Young Drow Elves," "Eighty-Year-Old Lolita Elf Wife: Part Six," and so on. It took him a long time to confirm that it wasn’t this shelf—the entire shelf was filled with embellished novels collected before his transformation into a Lich.

Just as he was about to move to another location to search, Amberser saw Isabel in front of him.

"Teacher, it’s been a long time. You finally came back to visit. I’ve reported to you before about slightly remodeling the laboratory. Now that you’re here, you can check to see if it’s to your liking," Isabel said.

Isabel appeared much more mature after not having seen her for a long time, the restraint and nervousness of her apprenticeship days gone from her face.

Nonetheless, she was still very surprised to see Amberser.

Amberser shook his head; he no longer needed the laboratory in this castle.

"If you like it, that’s fine. Isabel, have you seen any of the books I left nearby?" he asked.

Amberser’s question made Isabel pause, and as she glanced at the books on the floor, her face turned red.

"No, no, I... I haven’t seen them..." she stammered.

Isabel’s hesitant manner made Amberser feel a bit regretful—it seemed he couldn’t count on her.

"Alright then, go about your business. I only came back to find a few books."

"Teacher, I don’t have anything pressing today," Isabel seemed to make a resolution as she said to Amberser: "Let me help you look for them."

Having another person help was always good, so Amberser said, "The ’Chronicles of the Gods,’ ’Deep Diver’s Memoirs,’ ’Oceanic Gods’ Strife,’ ’Deep Sea Creature Atlas’—just these few."

"Ah?" Isabel was perplexed for a moment, was it not that kind of book they were looking for?

Feeling a bit relieved, Isabel followed behind Amberser, carefully helping him search through the dusty shelves.

Many of the books hadn’t been touched for years, and Amberser hadn’t looked through them a second time.

Not daring to disturb Amberser’s collection, Isabel had let them be. She carefully wiped away the dust and meticulously read the text on the spines. Isabel followed Amberser through an entire floor, but they still hadn’t found the book they wanted.

While going upstairs, Isabel couldn’t help but ask, "Teacher, have you encountered some trouble?"

Amberser nodded, casually saying, "I’m preparing to deal with a Shrimp-head Goddess and came back to find some information. Sigh, I should have organized them better in the past; it’s really troublesome to search now."

To Isabel, there was nothing surprising in this; in her eyes, Amberser was almost no different from an omnipotent Deity. Lately, the teacher’s name had spread across the continent and had become the hero of epic tales.

Such a reputation made ascending to Deity status not at all strange.

How nice, it’s a pity that she couldn’t always stay by Amberser’s side.

Amberser, noting Isabel’s faint sigh, inquired, "What’s wrong? Have you encountered any troubles lately?"

Isabel now made a substantial amount of money every month for Amberser. The Fountain of Youth, a type of Magic Potion, had become Amberser’s best-selling product, more profitable than selling Undead Armaments.

This was a golden goose, and of course, Amberser wanted to take good care of it.

After a moment’s hesitation, Isabel decided to be frank with Amberser.

"I am fine, it’s my brother. He’s argued with me a few times lately. He wants to get into the slave trade with the Dwarf Kingdom and is hoping I can support him."

Amberser asked with confusion, "Slave trade? It can’t be said to be unprofitable, but it’s not easy to do well. How did he come up with this idea?"

The slave trade was considered one of the bloodiest businesses, but if done well, it could earn money and bridge relationships at every social level.

However, this was not a business just anyone could do. First, you needed official permission to become a "legal" Slave Master.

Freemen were always precious; the kingdom needed stability and wouldn’t turn freemen into slaves on a large scale, hence the prohibition against arbitrarily enslaving commoners. Ordinary slaves could be bought for a handful of copper coins, but if a freeman was selling themselves into slavery, the price would be extremely high, and the process complicated. Forcibly capturing freemen normally resulted in severe punishment, including but not limited to having one’s entire family reduced to slavery.

Secondly, you needed to have enough military force. Otherwise, how would you capture slaves, transport them, or keep them contained?

Then there were sales channels—deciding what kind of slaves to sell to whom, how to sell them quickly to save on food, and the nuances of these transactions were things that The average person couldn’t handle.

Raul probably had never touched this business before. His sudden interest in it seemed a bit odd.

Isabel explained, "My brother has always wanted power and influence. In his eyes, being a Slave Master would satisfy him spiritually. I tried setting up other jobs for him, but he was unwilling. So, we ended up fighting over it."

Isabel felt somewhat sad. The relationship between the siblings had grown more distant after she became Amberser’s student. Initially, Raul was willing to venture into a Lich’s territory for her, but today they had a big argument over the slave trade.

Isabel couldn’t understand her brother’s thinking; she had almost been sold into slavery, so she inherently detested the industry. Who would have thought that one day her own brother would aspire to become a Slave Master?

"People have their own ambitions, you’re both adults now, and you should decide your own futures. Since your brother has this idea, let him do it. If you don’t support it, just leave him be. If he gives up over such a trifle, he wasn’t that committed in the first place."

Amberser was very open-minded, not minding what others did as long as it didn’t affect him.

He wasn’t particularly moralistic; the slave trade had been a tradition since ancient times in this world. Raul was a local, and his interest in the trade was nothing astonishing.

Isabel said, "But I feel my brother is being influenced by someone. Lately, there’s a woman who has grown quite close to him. And my intuition tells me she has ulterior motives."

"That’s even more normal. You’ve become successful, with money and status, and that will influence Raul. When a man has money and power, naturally, there will be countless women with their own agendas around him."

The indifferent attitude from Amberser made Isabel anxious, and she couldn’t help but say, "Teacher, I can’t just watch as my brother gets deceived."

"Then solve it your way. Isabel, you are already the most outstanding young Alchemist of your generation. Gustavo Flint has hinted more than once about wanting to take you on as his apprentice. Although the old man is scheming, his eye for Alchemy is much better than mine. Isabel, stop considering yourself a helpless little girl. Such a minor issue shouldn’t stump you."

As Isabel was reflecting, Amberser suddenly hurried to a bookshelf and pulled out a thick ancient tome.

"The Deep Sea Creature Atlas, finally found it."

Amberser excitedly flipped through the pages, quickly finding the section on Kuotuo Murlocs. He rapidly read the text, brushed through familiar content, and at last discovered this passage.

"During the zenith of the Heart-stealing Demon Empire, they enslaved a large number of Kuotuo Murlocs, using them as servants and food. According to the researcher’s study, there is no record of a Kuotao Mermaid Goddess during the existence of the Heart-stealing Demon Empire, suggesting that the birth of this Deity may be related to the history of the Kuotao Murlocs’ enslavement."

Amberser laughed heartily, finally having found the greatest enemy of the Koutao Mermaid Goddess.