This Lich Requests More Remuneration

Chapter 40: Chapter 40: The Realm of the Wealthy Woman Chapter 40: Chapter 40: The Realm of the Wealthy Woman Amberser was quite surprised to see this message. Hadn’t Headless Bro’s wife said he couldn’t come out for several years? How could he still send private messages?

Amberser hurriedly replied, “Headless Bro? Weren’t you put under lockdown by your wife?!”

“The Crown of the Headless Knight: What lockdown? Don’t spread rumors, man. It was just a minor disagreement.”

“Diga Ultraman: You can lie to others, but don’t lie to yourself, man.”

“The Crown of the Headless Knight: Cut the crap. Anyway, I’m planning to go out and clear my head. Can I stay at your place for a few days or not?”

Ah, that pitiful look, Amberser didn’t have the heart to bring up the issue of rent. Just this once, he decided to be generous—after all, providing a room was no big deal since the Undead didn’t need food or drink.

“Diga Ultraman: Fine, stay as long as you like.”

“The Crown of the Headless Knight: Good bro, I’m on my way.”

Just as Amberser was feeling that something was amiss, a burst of light suddenly appeared in the center of his laboratory.

It was the Teleportation Circle Amberser had used to send Living Mercury to Headless Bro before. This madman, planning to teleport directly over?

Amberser hastily called upon his magic, opening the restrictions on the Teleportation Circle.

Transferring a glass bottle through the original Teleportation Circle was feasible, but moving a Legendary figure was not so easy—get it wrong and the circle could explode.

In a frantic rush to lift the circle’s restrictions, a tall figure stepped out from a surge of deep, shimmering light.

It was a giant, several meters tall and clad in black heavy armor, who had to bend over to avoid accidentally crashing through the ceiling.

“Quick, Ultraman bro, shut down the Teleportation Circle…no, just destroy it!” bellowed the Headless Giant, his voice like a tolling bell. Then he smashed his fist onto the circle, the force akin to an earthquake, nearly collapsing Amberser’s entire laboratory. That intricate Magical Teleportation Array was utterly pulverized by the punch, rendered completely useless.

Amberser said with a pained expression, “Big bro, calm down! My place can’t handle this sort of roughhousing.”

The Headless Knight, undisturbed, commented, “Ultraman bro, your place is a bit too shabby, not fitting for a Legendary Lich’s stature.”

Amberser instantly tossed away that sliver of sympathy and told Headless Bro, “Don’t compare this place to the Dragon Tomb. If you don’t like it, go back. Also, my Teleportation Circle was expensive!”

Amberser silently decided to charge Headless Bro a daily rent of two hundred Gold Coins, to cover the repair costs.

“Don’t worry, I’ll pay you double,” the Headless Knight said.

After speaking, the massive body of the Headless Knight began to shrink rapidly, soon attaining a normal height.

Moreover, he somehow produced a helmet from nowhere and placed it over his neck. Clearly a custom-made helmet, it fitted seamlessly with his expensive-looking Enchanted Cuirass, and the eyes of the helmet lit up automatically when put on, as though there were eyes inside.

Once the helmet was on, the Headless Knight became a Death Knight, without a single flaw to be seen.

Amberser couldn’t help but say, “Really? Running away from home and still in disguise? Is your lady chasing you down to kill you?”

The Headless Knight took out a small pouch and stuffed it into Amberser’s hand, saying, “Rushed over here, didn’t bring much in the way of gifts. Just a little something, brother, take it.”

Amberser looked inside and saw it wasn’t Gold Coins, but rather an array of high-quality magical materials, most of which were specialties of the Dragon Tomb, priceless and rare.

Amberser estimated their worth at at least two to three hundred thousand Gold Coins.

“What are you talking about, big bro? There’s no need for formalities between brothers. Come on, let me show you around this little place. Anything you need, just ask.”

Amberser’s attitude changed completely; with those magical materials worth three hundred thousand Gold Coins, he was ready to swear brotherhood with Headless Bro.

Fortunately, Headless Bro wasn’t picky and after a brief look around the room, he said to Amberser, “We’re not far from Alchemy City, right? I’ve heard that in Alchemy City, all races are present and Undead won’t be hunted just for entering, right?”

“That’s right, as long as you don’t start any conflicts, any race can enter Alchemy City safely. Big bro, you thinking of going into the city to stroll around?”

Amberser hesitated a bit. Considering the worth of those tens of thousands of Gold Coins, he should really show Headless Bro around, and fulfill his duty as a host. But he was in the middle of discussing business with Withered Rose. If he missed a message from that wealthy client, it would be trouble. That was a business deal that could set him up for years, worth far more than just a few hundred thousand Gold Coins.

The Headless Knight, seeing Amberser’s hesitation, didn’t make things hard for him and said magnanimously, “Don’t worry about me, I’m just going for a drink and a casual look around. You do your thing.”

Such a great older brother, generous and considerate. But how does a Headless Knight drink? By prying open the wound on his neck and pouring it in?

“Big brother, there’s no problem with you going to Alchemy City, but I suggest you change your appearance. Alchemy City doesn’t reject the Undead, but with your current appearance, I’m afraid Alchemy City would go into alert mode immediately.”

The Headless Knight emitted a presence of a strong being from almost every part of his body, not to mention the Enchanted Armor. Even a blind person could feel the intense magical power on it; it was probably a Divine Artifact.

Appearing fully armed in Alchemy City could easily be misunderstood as Undead coming to attack.

“Oh, that’s true.”

Headless Bro pinched a ring on his hand, and his body quickly changed, from a powerful Death Knight to an ordinary human tough guy.

A ring with fixed shapeshifting magic, quite a luxurious item.

It’s not that shapeshifting is all that impressive; on the contrary, the spell is quite common. It’s just that the materials for magic items capable of fixing a spell are expensive, and using them to fix a shapeshifting spell seemed as extravagant to Amberser as making an ashtray out of gold.

Even if Headless Bro had spent all his secret stash, he still exuded an enviable aura of wealth.

After transforming, Headless Bro seemed very ordinary, like a down-and-out middle-aged adventurer, but if you looked carefully, you could notice the battle-hardened aura that he occasionally revealed.

He truly was an impressive figure who had fought his way through thousands of Paladins in the Laine Empire.

“Alright, I’m going to drink alone; don’t worry about me.”

Headless Bro must have been repressed for too long; after saying those words, he rushed out so quickly that Amberser couldn’t react in time.

“How long has he been repressed to be in such a rush to drink? Ah, even a legendary being is afraid of his wife. Marriage really is the true graveyard.”

Amberser just sighed for a moment, then he no longer had time to worry about Headless Bro’s affairs because Withered Rose had already sent a message.

[Withered Rose: I must say, your design for the Mercury Spirit Servant is very creative. If my teacher were still here, he would definitely be very happy. Thank you.]

Amberser could sense a touch of sadness from the text.

[Diga Ultraman: I’m glad you’re satisfied.]

[Withered Rose: There are a few areas that could be tweaked, but overall, I’m very satisfied, and it almost completely meets my requirements. However, you can’t produce the Living Mercury Solution yourself, can you? If you want to manufacture a large number of these Mercury Spirit Servants, you’ll need to order a large quantity of Living Mercury Solution from Alchemy City.]

[Diga Ultraman: That’s true, but don’t worry about the cost; Alchemy City has counterfeit Living Mercury Solutions, and those are much cheaper.]

[Withered Rose: No, you underestimate the quantity I need. I need at least one hundred thousand Mercury Spirit Servants, and once you purchase such a large amount of Living Mercury Solution, Alchemy City will definitely notice, and it’s very likely they will investigate our trade, which could alert the Laine Empire.]

One hundred thousand?!

Amberser was startled by the number. He was planning to sell these Mercury Spirit Servants for fifty thousand Gold Coins each, which would add up to five billion Gold Coins without any discount – an amount that would drive the penniless Alchemists of Alchemy City to do anything. This fortune was enough to make Alchemy City ignore contracts and dismantle Amberser’s castle outright.

And with this number of Mercury Spirit Servants, Withered Rose wasn’t really planning to wage war against the Laine Empire, was she? That would be a losing war.

[Diga Ultraman: Then there’s really no way. I can’t order that much Living Mercury, I’ll have to try breeding them myself. The Mercury Spirit Servants are a complete species, capable of reproducing on their own, but it will take a long time and require a large amount of metal.]

[Withered Rose: Right, I thought as much. Time is not an issue, I will help you with the metal feed.]

[Diga Ultraman: Transporting metal, a low-added-value commodity, through a Teleportation Circle, will be very costly. If we order ores in large quantities, Alchemy City will likely notice that too.]

Magic is somehow omnipotent, but the cost cannot be ignored; valuable items can be teleported by magic, but for goods of low value and in large quantities, using a teleportation circle is just too extravagant.

[Withered Rose: No need; I’ll drive down the price of ore in a short amount of time. There should be mines going bankrupt by then. I’ll provide you with funds to buy the mines.]

Amberser: …

Sister, how rich exactly are you?

To suppress the price of ores in an entire region, is this the realm of the wealthy?