This Lich Requests More Remuneration
Chapter 657 - 577: All About Human Relationships

Chapter 657: Chapter 577: All About Human Relationships

Raul had endured the longest two minutes of his life.

Screams, roars, the sounds of chaos, and the cries for mercy... all jumbled together, ringing in Raul’s ears.

The carefully fortified castle was shredded like cardboard, the highly paid mage consultant teleported away after casting a single fireball, and the well-fed mercenaries scattered like birds and beasts after a few were trampled to death.

Everything he had painstakingly built was entirely destroyed in just two minutes.

Until that Black Knight, covered in blood, made his way to the highest point of the castle, arriving in front of Raul, everything was already destroyed.

The Black Knight casually tossed the corpse of a mercenary, whose head he had crushed, in front of Raul and asked, "Still want to resist?"

Staring in disbelief at this bloody scene, Raul’s voice trembled as he asked, "Who exactly are you? I’ve never wronged you, why would you..."

The Black Knight impatiently interrupted, "Did those slaves ever wrong you? You’re grown, not some naive child. You’re still asking such questions?"

Hasting had been an adventurer in his lifetime, having witnessed more life and death than Raul. Even if he had suffered tragic past experiences of being assaulted by a witch and turned into an undead by a Lich, he wouldn’t be as naive as Raul.

Eventually, Raul offered no more resistance, looking resigned to his fate.

Hasting grabbed him, but did not leave immediately. Instead, he asked, "Where’s that woman who gave you those bad ideas?"

Raul was startled. How did this Black Knight know to ask this, did he know about Ivy?

"Who exactly are you?" Raul asked excitedly.

"Not recognizing me... Oh well, that’s normal, I’ve changed my armor. I am Hasting, remember?"

"Hasting?!"

Raul recognized the name, wasn’t he an undead under the command of the Lich? Why would he suddenly appear here, wreaking havoc on his estate?

Angry, Raul said, "Was it Isabelle who sent you?!"

Hasting, still holding onto Raul, looked around and didn’t see Ivy. He said a bit impatiently, "You really have a problem with your intelligence. I told you, it was my master who commanded me to come!"

Raul’s eyes widened in shock, murmuring to himself, "Master... this can’t be possible... he..."

Hasting, tired of dealing with this foolish man, tapped on his chest. A blob of Mercury flowed out from a gap in his armor and quickly shaped into a human form.

Hasting commanded, "Hales, go find that woman and kill her."

Hales hesitated, "Ah, isn’t that bad? Master said we consider lives only if they resist, and we’ve already caught this one."

Hasting snorted coldly, "Master wouldn’t care about the life of such a woman. This wench caused you and me to make this extra trip by stirring trouble, don’t we need to vent?"

Hales quickly nodded, then reformed into a blob and began moving swiftly across the ground, disappearing in no time.

Hasting continued holding Raul as they walked down the castle. Before reaching the bottom, Hales returned, holding a head of a woman, eyes still open in death, wrapped in Mercury—it was the same woman who had just been in Raul’s arms.

Raul stared dumbly at the head, unable to comprehend what had happened, then felt a pain at the back of his head and fainted.

After confirming Raul had fully lost consciousness, Hales complained, "Bro, why go through all this trouble? Having to perform this act in front of him, when it’s clearly to avenge Miss Isabelle, yet we say it’s our revenge."

Hasting snorted, "You clearly don’t understand. It’s enough that Miss Isabelle knows we avenged her; if Raul knew, this fool might even blame his own sister later. Are we courting favors or sowing discord? Now Raul hates us, and Miss Isabelle owes us a favor, which will come in handy eventually. Serving under our Lich Lord isn’t just about fighting; it involves dealings and social graces too."

Hales helplessly said, "It’s even more complicated than when we were adventurers."

"Of course, we used to deal with the lower echelons by black-op tactics, but now, who around the Lord isn’t among the top echelon in the world? We’re just adventurers turned ord

inary, you a ranger and I a thief. If we don’t want to end up dismissed like this fool, we better understand our place." Hasting was lecturing his partner when he suddenly added, "Weren’t you smarter before? Can’t you see even this? Is it because you sleep too much now, don’t use your brain, so you’ve grown dull?"

Hales replied helplessly, "Becoming undead is like this, gradually losing all desires, naturally losing the ability to think too. It’s only because our master added something to our souls that we can even maintain up to now. If you don’t sleep more, your will would dissipate even faster."

"That won’t do, I have to tell master about this when we get back; I don’t want to end up drooling like a zombie all day."

"Right, if I lose consciousness, I’ll truly be just a lump... I think those Mercury Avatars have it quite good, some of the earliest ones are already working on the assembly line."

The brothers chatted as they carried the unconscious Raul back into the castle.

Amberser didn’t ask for specific details and had the two brothers wake Raul.

Seeing Amberser in the mirror, Raul trembled and said, "My lord, you truly have resurrected."

Amberser smiled and said, "What, if I hadn’t resurrected, you would think you did nothing wrong?"

Raul, unwilling to admit defeat, said, "Where did I go wrong? I was merely striving to climb higher, and in the end, I just didn’t know that you, my lord, had resurrected. If I had known, how could I dare..."

"But even Isabel didn’t know from the beginning."

Amberser’s words silenced Raul for a moment before he spoke more passionately, "That’s because Isabel is a woman; she’s different from me! I must climb higher, I must seize power in this cruel world to preserve my own life, or I would be destroyed easily by you just like today.

"I know the despair of waiting for death. Every time I have a nightmare, I relive that scene. What’s wrong with wanting to control my own fate? I don’t have the immense power that you possess, my lord. I can only rely on earning money to buy the power needed for my protection. Doing business means dealing with people. Here in the Dwarf Capital, the Alchemist Association’s power is so immense. What’s wrong with cooperating with them?

"If you, my lord, were still alive, I would never do this. If only you could lend me even a bit of help, I wouldn’t need to seek help from those alchemists! Why am I wrong? Anyone in my position would make the same choice. Nobody willingly bows to fate!"

Amberser was not impatient, just letting Raul express all the grievances in his heart without rebuttal. He merely calmly said, "Right, nobody wants to be controlled by fate, including myself. We all struggle against it.

"However, you lost."

Raul stared at Amberser, surprised, thinking this wise figure celebrated by the people would have some grand discourse. That’s it?

Amberser curiously said, "What, did I say something wrong?"

Raul paused, a bit unsure how to respond. Did he lose? Indeed, he had. His hard-earned domain had been easily breached. Mercenaries had fled, slaves had scattered amidst the chaos, and he was sure to go bankrupt. If that wasn’t losing, what was?

But was that all?

Amberser, understanding what Raul was pondering, calmly said, "Raul, the world isn’t that complicated. I don’t want to preach any grand philosophies to you. If you believe that anyone standing in your position would make the same choices and think you did everything as best as you could, then what is there to be discontent about?

"If the situation repeated, wouldn’t the result be the same?

"You think you tried hard, but you still lost. Choices outweigh efforts, and luck outweighs choices; sometimes that’s just how fate is."

Raul passionately said, "Then what’s the meaning of life?"

"Find the meaning yourself. Why should I care? Now, go apologize to Isabel, and then get yourself to Silver Coin Island to work in a factory assembly line, and consider the meaning of life there."

Amberser, impatiently waving his hand, had Hasting throw the man into the Teleportation Circle.

Once Raul had vanished, brothers Hasting and Hales playfully approached the Magic Mirror.

Knowing the look on these two, Amberser sensed trouble. Yet, considering they managed their tasks reliably, he begrudgingly listened to what they wanted to say.

When Hasting and Hales mentioned the Undead’s progressively diminishing will as a negative effect, Amberser clapped his hands, excitedly said, "If you hadn’t brought this up, I would’ve forgotten. Perfect, I have an experiment that might solve this problem completely, only lacking experimental materials... ah, no, volunteers. Want to give it a try?"

Hasting: ...

Hales: ...

Did the Lich Lord just say experimental materials?

Hasting couldn’t help but ask, "Master, may I inquire about the danger of this experiment?"

Amberser confidently said, "Don’t you know my methods yet? Even if your soul shatters, I can stitch it back together for you, guaranteed you won’t die."

Hasting and Hales exchanged glances, their stance clearly screaming ’big trouble.’

They knew their master’s habits all too well; his assurance of not dying meant, indeed, they wouldn’t die, but that mostly likely, the experiment would shatter their souls.

However, knowing Amberser’s tendencies, his eyes already alight with excitement, even if they refused, this experiment was bound to happen.

Could they even refuse at this point?

Hales spoke first, "Master, we are one hundred percent willing to volunteer. However, last time I was transformed into an Undead first, and Hasting was left in a container for a long time. This time, I can’t jump ahead again. Please let my big brother go first."

"Huh?"

Hasting stared at his brother, shocked. This guy, had previously claimed to have become dumber, now it seemed he was just feigning!

Serving this lord was indeed not just about fighting; it was all about managing relationships.