This Lich Requests More Remuneration
Chapter 645 - 567 The Price to Pay

Chapter 645: Chapter 567 The Price to Pay

Allen never thought he would one day be so eager for the return of the Lich, when originally he had wanted nothing more than to grind the Lich’s bones to dust.

Just two years had passed, and Allen had gone from being a paladin with a profound background to a traitor, and then the only one who could stand up to represent Laine.

The time was too short, Allen felt completely unable to keep up with the pace of the world’s changes, nor could he shoulder the responsibility given to him by His Majesty the Holy King.

Amberser looked at Allen’s haggard appearance and felt somewhat emotional as well.

Not everyone is Arthur Laine, a fact he knew all too well from personal experience.

Once thinking himself equal to Arthur Laine, it was only after Amberser personally experienced the trials Arthur had endured that he realized the unimaginable gap between them.

"Allen, do not hold yourself to Arthur’s standards,"

Hearing Amberser’s words, Allen shook his head and said, "Lately, I haven’t had the time to think about what His Majesty the Holy King would do. After the collapse of faith, almost everyone was disheartened, and with all my might, I could only get a few people to buck up. But now Laine really can’t cope with the Dwarves and Orcs anymore, so I want to ask for your help, no matter the cost, please save Laine."

Amberser touched his nose awkwardly; two years ago, he was the Lich who cursed Laine to death every day, and now he had ironically become Laine’s savior, the whims of fate were truly malicious.

"I roughly understand the situation, and you keeping Laine as a whole under these circumstances has already been very well done."

It wasn’t that Amberser had become easier to talk to, but that Allen had indeed done a decent job.

After the battle with the Magic Dragon, Arthur Laine sacrificed himself, but Laine was strictly speaking, the defeated nation, and moreover, the instigator of disaster.

The entire nation was on the verge of collapse.

The Orcs had considered taking action directly, and the new Orc King also needed to establish his might. Although winter was almost over, the food crisis had not been completely resolved, so why not bleed Laine a little?

They had suspended hostilities before because they could not continue, but now they were certain to win the fight, so why not strike?

Thus, as soon as Laine had stabilized a bit, Allen immediately headed to the Orc Mountains, hoping to eliminate the war by compensating with food.

But the more he showed weakness, the more excited the Orcs became, becoming even more eager to invade Laine.

Once Allen confirmed this point, he had no choice but to challenge the Orc King.

The tradition of the Orcs was to respect martial valor, and many issues could be settled by a duel. But for an outsider like Allen to challenge the Orc King, he first had to pass the blood combat ritual.

It was a mountain specially designated as an arena, from its base to its summit, countless Orc warriors waited for Allen to challenge them.

If he could make it from the base to the summit within one day, then Allen would qualify to challenge the Orc King.

Since its establishment over a thousand years ago, there had been thirty-four challengers, but only one succeeded, the twenty-seventh Orc King.

This was also the most straightforward method for an Orc to become king.

However, only one had succeeded in a thousand years because those defending the positions were Legendary warriors, numbering at least twenty. Moreover, it wasn’t necessarily a series of one-on-one battles; if the defending Orc warriors took a dislike to you, they could choose to beat you down as a group at any time.

And Allen was exactly the kind of Laine person the Orcs disliked the most.

So right from the start, Allen was being hunted down by a group of five strong Orcs.

But in the end, Allen, dragging his battered body, reached the summit, only to have his arm chopped off by the Orc King with an axe blow.

Though Allen failed, the Orc King still granted his request.

Because on his way up the mountain, Allen had likewise seriously injured twenty of their Orc Legendary warriors.

Had Allen chosen to kill them, the Orc Kingdom would have suffered heavy losses, and Allen might not have been so severely injured, perhaps even retaining the strength to fight once he reached the summit.

The Orc King hesitated for a long time, whether to kill Allen, the spiritual pillar of Laine, on the spot, or to step back.

In the end, he followed someone’s advice, spared Allen’s life, and chose to negotiate with Laine for greater benefits.

Allen used Divine Arts to heal his severed arm and then negotiated with the Orc side for several days, retreating step by step, promising the Orcs many compensations, finally stabilizing the situation somewhat.

Yet the Dwarves remained the crux of the issue, because the Orcs had only temporarily agreed. Once the Dwarves initiated war and gained an advantage, the Orcs might deploy their forces and tear up the contract at any time.

But the Dwarves had no blood oath ritual to compel Allen to fight desperately.

The current Dwarf King could only be described as greedy, they wanted not only to reclaim their desert, but they also wished to see Laine utterly collapse and then swallow all the benefits.

After hearing the situation from Allen, Amberser asked, "With everything in such disarray, are you Laine People still going to hold the World Conference? The Lord of the Dawn has already won the wager, hasn’t he given you any guidance?"

In a world with Deities, everything should align with the will of the Deities.

"The Lord of the Dawn only gave me one piece of guidance after His Majesty the Holy King left," Allen said with emotion. "But I don’t understand its meaning."

"Even Paladins can’t interpret divine oracles?"

Amberser was a bit surprised. If Priests had to rely on devout prayers to communicate with Deities, Paladins were more like warriors personally chosen by the Deities and should enjoy their favor even more than Priests.

"It’s not that the oracle cannot be interpreted, but I can’t comprehend it, because the Lord of the Dawn didn’t command me to do anything. He just said to follow my heart and to never give up hope. Then, he mentioned holding this World Conference to finalize and seal the sins of Laine."

Amberser furrowed his brow, the words didn’t seem problematic; the doctrine of the Lord of the Dawn was exactly that.

But at such a critical time, such a vague oracle was as good as gibberish.

The Lord of the Dawn wouldn’t just let Laine be destroyed, of this Amberser was a hundred percent certain, but what exactly did this Deity want to do?

Amberser knew too little about the Lord of the Dawn to guess His intentions from His habits; he simply said to Allen, "Since the Lord of the Dawn has told you to let go and do it, then you shouldn’t feel burdened. Now, give me a bottom line, what’s the most Laine can offer?"

"We can return the desert territories to the Dwarves and also pay a certain amount of war indemnities. Converted into gold coins, it would be about six billion eight hundred million."

"Is that all?" Amberser was a bit surprised. How could such a large Kingdom like Laine offer only so little in gold coins? The Dwarves would never agree.

"Laine is in complete chaos inside, needing resources everywhere; this is already the limit that Laine can offer."

Allen was quite helpless. It was already good enough that Laine had not collapsed; it was impossible now to raise funds with national efforts as in the past.

"Such a price will definitely not satisfy the Dwarves, but it’s not impossible if I go to negotiate," Amberser said.

Allan let out a sigh of relief. Amberser’s words meant he was willing to help. And as long as the Lich was willing to act, any problem could be resolved; after all, he had singlehandedly mediated the war between the Elves and Dwarves. But Allen was surprised; why didn’t the Lich ask for payment first? This contradicted his previous behavior.

Allen couldn’t help but ask, "Master Ultraman, how about you name your price first? I’m feeling a bit uneasy."

Amberser looked at Allen with disdain and said, "Do you know how much gold a Soul Coin can exchange for in Hell?"

Allen shook his head.

He had never been to Hell; how could he know.

Amberser laughed and said, "It’s about two hundred kilograms of gold."

Allen’s eyes widened. Were Soul Coins really that valuable?

Amberser continued, "Gold is worthless in Hell; it’s just that the cost of transportation to other Planes is high. Do you know how many Soul Coins I possess?"

Allen shook his head again, but he estimated it must be a tremendously large number, at least tens of millions by conservative estimates.

However, Amberser did not reveal the actual number but said, "Allen, I am no longer the Lich I used to be. I now have higher pursuits. I will help you resolve the trouble with the Dwarves without the need for you to pay any gold coins, but I want you to pay something else."

"As long as it’s something I can offer, even my soul is available!" Allen declared firmly.

Amberser disdainfully said, "Your soul is worthless, and besides, if I dared to do anything, the Lord of the Dawn would slap me across the face."

Allen scratched his head in embarrassment.

"Then what do you want?"

With a smile, Amberser said, "I heard you say that there were over a million suicides in Laine, most of whom were elite troops guilty of war crimes, right? Since they’re all going to Hell anyway, why don’t you let me make use of them?"