This Lich Requests More Remuneration
Chapter 542 - 485: Bargaining with the Goddess of Wealth

Amberser’s first batch of Soul Currency, a whole ten million, had already been delivered into the hands of Zariel and Goddess Tiamat.

This was the product of Amberser’s years of busywork hidden away in his private space.

All Souls were set to various extreme emotions, such as bravery, resentment, desire, and so forth. But that extreme emotion was the only effect, frankly, stuffing one into a Skeleton would likely cause it to fall apart immediately, after all, there was a need to cut costs.

Anyway, as long as the Souls within the currency were not liberated, everything would appear to have no issues on the surface.

And Amberser had already mentioned this to Zariel in advance, so he wasn’t afraid that the Archduke of the Devils would find an excuse to accuse him of breach of contract.

Right now, Zariel had no desire to dig pitfalls, as She was already captivated by these Soul Coins, having never seen so many of them piled together.

In Hell, the value of a Soul is extremely precious, and it has a wide range of uses.

Zariel’s elite troops were often equipped with Hell Engines, a device created by Hell magic that significantly enhances the power of devils, and these Hell Engines didn’t burn petrol, but Soul Currency.

Many special breeds of devils even require consuming Souls to survive, just like daily rations. Without it, they would starve to death.

It could be said that due to this, Souls in Hell are not only hard currency but also consumables.

Even though Hell has connections with many planes and Souls continuously fall here to face punishment and torment, the nine layers of Hell each taking a share, plus the everyday consumption, it was true that all Devil Lords lived quite tightly.

Looking at the neatly aligned over ten million Soul Coins, both Archdukes of the Devils felt the urge to eliminate the other and monopolize this wealth.

However, in the end, both of them held back.

This was only the first installment from that Lich, there would be more to follow, and infighting at this point was pointless.

When the Soul Bank opens, relying solely on an Archduke of the Devils won’t be enough; there must be a guarantee of military strength.

Therefore, both Archdukes forcefully suppressed their inner greed and began the work of constructing the Soul Bank.

It’s not that other devils hadn’t thought about constructing a bank; after all, the Mortal Realm had Goblin Banks, and it wouldn’t be difficult technically for Hell Devils to replicate it. The real problem was it was hard to prepare the capital.

Soul consumption was too high, and it seemed like the Lord of Hell had calculated every Devil Lord’s consumption, keeping the amount of Soul Currency at a level where everyone wouldn’t starve but also wouldn’t be fully satisfied.

Under such circumstances, even if you wanted to run a bank, you couldn’t bring out the capital to do so.

Other devils weren’t easy to fool either; if you didn’t have the means, no one would deposit or loan money from your bank.

Now that the capital was there, what was missing was talent.

To find talent in this area, one had only to go to Minaros on the third layer of Hell.

The lord of this layer was Mammon, an absolute miser and capitalist in Hell. Perhaps because of a romance with the Lord of Hell’s daughter that was forcibly broken up, after the heartbreak, Mammon’s life was solely about amassing wealth.

In all of Hell, Mammon had the most Soul Coins and the most Goblin capitalist slaves.

These Goblins meticulously calculated various overheads for Mammon and planned out the fine details of contracts to ensure more mortals would lose their Souls due to contractual debts.

It’s just that Hell, being separated from other planes, meant that these actions hadn’t granted Mammon an absolutely overwhelming advantage in wealth, he was just a little more comfortable than other Hell Lords.

Thus, when Zariel approached Mammon with Soul Coins to purchase Goblin capitalists, Mammon’s initial reaction was that this Zariel was fake.

Since when was this battle maniac interested in the Souls of capitalists?

But regardless of who it was, the Soul Coins weren’t fake, so Mammon still sold the Souls of those Goblin capitalists to Zariel. However, Mammon was also cautious, secretly branding several Goblin slaves’ Souls with his own mark so he could monitor their activities at any time.

Through these Goblins, Mammon then saw something that made His eyeballs nearly pop out.

Mammon’s first reaction was that the Soul Coins were fake, and that bitch Zariel was actually making counterfeit currency!

However, when He put the Soul Coins into the Hell Engine, He found that their quality was very good, without any issues whatsoever.

"Where did Zariel get so many Soul Coins?! Could it be, She had swallowed the Tiflin Kingdom?! Was the supposed failure a lie all along?"

Mammon tried every means to find out, and finally, after relentless effort, He got wind of Zariel and Goddess Tiamat’s plans to open a Soul Bank.

The bank was supposed to do business with all the Hell Lords, and naturally, it was to be widely publicized; there was no way to keep it secret.

Mammon was alarmed.

Once this Soul Bank was up and running, He would no longer be the richest devil in Hell.

Without a second thought, Mammon approached them directly, requesting to join in on the Soul Bank business.

However, neither Goddess Tiamat nor Zariel agreed.

The two Archdukes of the Devils from the first layer of hell might not be good at managing finances, but they also knew banks could make a lot of money. Why should they give a share to you, Mammon?

How could Mammon accept this? After losing his love, there was no other desire in his life but to make money. Not letting him join was like torturing him, a torment that could drive Mammon’s soul insane.

So today, he came to negotiate with the two again. Mammon would rather have a smaller share of the profits, but at any cost, he wanted to be part of the banking business.

Zariel and Goddess Tiamat were nearly driven mad by him, discussing whether to suppress him with force instead, since Mammon couldn’t beat them if they joined hands.

Finally, when these three Hell Lords were about to fight until heaven and earth turned dim, Zariel’s Magic Mirror lit up, and the image of Wojin in the guise of the God of Alchemy appeared in the mirror.

Wojin looked at the three Hell Lords and with a slight sensing knew what had happened.

All trade and transactions could not escape the Goddess of Wealth’s perception, even those deals that hadn’t been agreed upon yet.

"Oh, it looks like I’ve come at a bad time."

Zariel gave Mammon, who kept pestering, a glare, then said to the Magic Mirror, "God of Alchemy? What do you want with me?"

Even though Zariel knew the Magic Mirror was a product of the God of Alchemy, he usually was in contact with Amberser. This damned God of Alchemy, it turns out, could activate the Magic Mirror at will, without needing his consent. Now with Mammon still there, the situation was a bit awkward.

"I’m just here to remind you that the time we agreed on has arrived. Brivodoup is already in a state of madness and weakness. It’s time to solve his problem."

Zariel exclaimed in surprise, "It’s already been solved? How did you do that?"

Truth be told, Zariel actually just wanted Amberser’s Soul Currency and had no intention of fulfilling his duties. Kidnapping a Goddess, especially one hiding in her own Divine Realm, was an utter joke. Zariel’s original plan was to rush Amberser to pay all the Soul Currency, so he could make a big profit in hell and then there would be no "after".

Jokingly, if gods could be dealt with that easily, All Gods would have been in chaos long ago.

Zariel himself had no way to deal with the Koutao Mermaid Goddess; what could a mere mortal do?

But how could it be resolved so soon?

Zariel certainly didn’t want to work for Amberser and found an excuse to say, "Well, I’ve been a bit busy lately. Maybe we need to postpone the day of action."

But Mammon had already heard the problem and hastily proposed, "Is this the kind of cooperation you have? Even though I don’t know how you obtained a large number of Soul Currencies, but if Zariel is unwilling to do it, I can help! I’ll charge the same fee as him and guarantee no extra price!"

Zariel gnashed his teeth in hatred. He could have had a free ride, and yet Mammon was messing things up.

Wojin was waiting for this moment; competition created room for bargaining.

Driven by his feverish pursuit of wealth, Mammon couldn’t wait to make a statement, which Wojin naturally wouldn’t let slip by.

"Very well, then it seems the contract needs to be amended."

Wojin’s Divine Power seeped into the negotiation, influencing the three Hell Lords without them realizing it.

Zariel, without hesitation, said, "Don’t listen to this guy’s lies. He’s the greediest devil in hell, cooperating with him would be the stupidest decision."

Mammon quickly countered, "But I have the best reputation! The promises I make are never delayed with excuses, unlike some devils who lack even the most basic spirit of a contract."

Goddess Tiamat angrily said, "This doesn’t concern you, idiot! We agreed on a total of twenty million Soul Currencies, and not a single coin belongs to you. Don’t think about stealing our money!"

Mammon immediately exclaimed frantically, "Ten million each?! How could there be so many?! Damn it, Lord of Hell, I must join this deal, I have to, and no one can stop me!"

Goddess Tiamat roared, five ferocious dragon heads splitting from her, ready to launch an attack on Mammon.

Zariel also drew his long sword, ready for a two against one.

But just then, Wojin puzzledly said, "Ten million each? That’s not right; I remember my student’s total price was eighty million Gold Coins. Twenty million for Zariel and sixty million for Goddess Tiamat. Isn’t that how it was?"

The five dragon heads, which were about to spit fire, suddenly froze, and then all turned towards Zariel.

"Sixty million? When you first told me, it was only six million!"

Zariel’s expression froze; he had never expected the God of Alchemy to reveal the real price at this moment! Damn it, the Lich had said they wouldn’t expose... no, it was the God of Alchemy who had said it, with no connection to the Lich, and it was impossible to invoke the contract to punish the Lich!

"Zariel! You’ve deceived me!"

Goddess Tiamat furiously pounced towards Zariel, the five dragon heads began to spew flames recklessly.

Zariel had to spread his wings to dodge everywhere; Goddess Tiamat in a state of frenzy was not to be trifled with.

The Dragon Flame melted everything around it; wherever it touched, rocks instantly turned into magma. Goddess Tiamat seemed bent on tearing down the place, leaving Zariel, who was guilty, completely unable to retaliate.

As Wojin watched the chaotic scene unfold, he felt that long-missed sensation of controlling a negotiation.

It was wonderful. The haggling of business was always so pleasurable, it’s just a pity that the opponents were too crude.

Just when the two Hell Lords were about to smash even the Magic Mirror, Wojin continued, "Since Zariel has hidden the true price, then this contract is annulled. Now it seems we need a new bid. I think, perhaps we could hold a small auction. What do you three think?"