Chapter 8 The Kind Lich Lord

Undead creatures generally do not accept the allegiance of the living, as for most undead, the living are nothing more than food or experimental materials.

Among undead creatures, only vampires, a bizarre breed, might fall in love with their food, which is also why vampires don't get along well with other undead.

It's like how ordinary people can hardly accept the idea of marrying a roast chicken; generally, it's "I respect your xp, but please keep your distance from me."

Moreover, mortals who get involved with vampires either become vampires themselves or are burned as vampires.

In this continent, relationships with other species mostly do not end well.

Even true love ends tragically, not to mention the relationships between superiors and subordinates. It is often either liches enslaving humans or necromancers making contracts with liches.

Amberser, however, did not have this intention. After pioneering the path of the Alien Skeleton, his need for human bones decreased significantly, as the Pseudo-Soul technology completely replaced the uncontrollable human souls, so Amberser did not need to breed humans as lab rats.

What he needed was money.

Ordinary people would not normally pledge allegiance to a lich, an evil creature, but Alchemy City was facing an unprecedented economic crisis in a century. A large number of freemen were fleeing due to the Lord's increased taxation, and Amberser was ready to take this opportunity to take in some mortals.

There is no easier money than collecting taxes, and even the poorest Lord in Alchemy City was richer than Amberser.

Behind Amberser's castle lay vast tracts of fertile land that, once cultivated, could easily support three to five thousand people.

This was a deal struck between the Alchemist Council and Amberser: two magic potion recipes in exchange for permanent ownership of the land, permanent tax exemption, but no inheritance or gifting rights were allowed. Should Amberser one day be turned to ash by paladins and have his Life Casket smashed, the land would be automatically reclaimed.

Just the tax exemption alone would save Amberser a substantial amount of cost. While other lords collected eighty percent in taxes, he could entirely collect sixty percent.

Rules are made to be broken. Hurting others with your wealth brings temporary joy, but doing it incessantly brings constant joy. Blame it on the economic crisis; now people are becoming subjects to a lich.

After being morally interrogated by Amberser, Raul finally confirmed that he had encountered a rare enlightened ruler. The Lich Lord only levied sixty percent in taxes — what great benevolence!

If this news were to spread, perhaps tens of thousands of freemen would flock to the Lich Lord's domain, and the human lords would likely assemble a large army to crusade against such a merciful lich.

In Raul's fantasy, Amberser sat at the negotiating table and said in a deep voice to the noble lords, "Humans, please treat your brethren kindly."

For this mercy, Raul became even more certain that he had misunderstood Amberser. With an attitude of atoning for his sins, Raul was ready to do his utmost to help Amberser recruit other fleeing freemen.

Only Isabel always felt that something was amiss, as if she and her brother had completely fallen into the trap set by the lich.

But that didn't seem quite right. The siblings had stumbled into the Lich's Domain by accident, and even a lich could not be so powerful as to use prophecy on two mere mortals.

Isabel had never considered that a lich might lack money since he could simply take it by force.

It was not strange for a lich to rob human lords of money and people. There was once a lich who hated humanity and unleashed an enhanced version of the Poison Cloud Spell, causing millions to die from a plague.

It would be odd for evil creatures not to attack humans.

That was why Isabel always found it strange, sensing that Amberser must be hiding something, but this was beyond the understanding of a mere Alchemy Apprentice.

After perhaps another day, Raul returned, and this time he brought back ten living people.

When they saw Amberser, their legs turned to jelly with fright, and several of them turned and ran.

Fortunately, Raul controlled the Alien Skeleton to block their path. Some cursed Raul for being a traitorous henchman of the Lich; others wept bitterly, begging for mercy, pleading on behalf of their eighty-year-old mothers and eight-year-old children.

At this time, Amberser's foresight became apparent. After pouring the Tranquility Potion down their throats, the wails that rivaled a Ghoul singing opera swiftly ceased.

Calm is the prerequisite for communication. Only then did Raul drop the bombshell of Amberser's sixty percent tax, which indeed tempted the hearts of these people.

Only a sixty percent tax? Could this be some Angel in disguise?

Before the tax increase, they were already paying eighty percent, and now it was insanely raised to ninety percent, with the payment demanded two years in advance.

It was precisely because of this that they had no choice but to flee.

But one can flee their home, not their possessions. The properties left behind in the Lich's Domain by these fleeing freemen would certainly be seized in their entirety by the Lord.

Faced with the choice of losing their properties or enslaving themselves and losing their properties, most really had no choice.

Once everything is lost, even skilled freemen could likely starve to death because the tax increase wasn't the doing of a single Lord—all vassals of the Alchemist Council were affected, and they didn't even know where to flee.

Now, it seemed they had a new option.

To seek refuge with a Lich, something they wouldn't have considered for even half a second before, as it would be disrespectful to their own race. But now they were about to lose their very lives, to hell with race; following the Lich Lord meant having food to eat.

After receiving Amberser's assurance and seeing the surroundings of the castle, these fleeing freemen decided to join him and become his subjects.

Amberser knew that his plan was largely successful. These dozen or so people would quickly help him build the image of a benevolent Lich Lord, attracting even more freemen to join.

Amberser appointed Isabel as Head Maid to arrange for these people to temporarily reside in the castle.

And so, Amberser had no choice but to put aside his undead experiments and travel to the real Alchemy City to make purchases. The freemen couldn't all live in his castle; they would have to find land to build new houses, cultivate fields, and rear livestock.

But the refugees, at most carrying a small dagger and a bit of spare change, couldn't possibly take their houses with them as they fled, leaving them with nothing. Amberser needed to prepare everything for them.

Of course, not for free. He would rent everything to them.

Whether it was tools, seeds, or livestock, there was a tradition of renting, with the rent entirely at the Lord's whim. A benevolent Lord would lower the interest rate to attract new freemen, whereas a cruel Lord would pile on the interest, preferably forcing tenant farmers to sell their children, converting freemen into slaves.

These practices couldn't really be judged as right or wrong; benevolent Lords had been killed by their subjects, and cruel Lords not necessarily died a natural death.

This was a world where might makes right.

Amberser needed to buy too many things, and since the unit price was not high, opting for delivery would cost a lot in shipping fees. It was more economical to go directly to the supplier, spend some time, and rent a horse-drawn carriage to bring it all back.

However, before heading to Alchemy City, he needed to alter his appearance to avoid unnecessary trouble.

Amberser stood before a large mirror and cast a Shapeshifting spell on himself.

Amberser then transformed from the frightening skeletal form into a handsome young man with black hair and black eyes.

This was exactly how he looked before his transmigration.