Chapter 8 The Kind Lich Master
The undead generally do not accept the living as their refuge, because to most of the undead, the living are just food or experimental materials.
Among the undead creatures, only vampires are a peculiar species that fall in love with their own food. That is why vampires do not have a good relationship with other undead creatures.
Just like it is difficult for normal people to accept the act of marrying a roast chicken, usually it means I respect your XP, but please stay away from me.
Moreover, any mortal who falls in love with a vampire will either become a vampire himself or be burned to death as a vampire.
Interracial relationships on this continent usually don’t end well.
Even true love is so miserable, not to mention the relationship between superiors and subordinates. It is often either liches enslaving humans or necromancers contracting liches.
Ambersu didn't have this idea. After opening up the path of alien skeletons, his demand for human corpses was greatly reduced. The virtual soul technology completely replaced the uncontrollable human soul, so Ambersu didn't need to raise humans as guinea pigs.
What he needs is money.
It would have been impossible for mortals to turn to an evil creature like a lich, but the City of Alchemy was experiencing an economic crisis that had not been seen in a century, and a large number of free people had fled because of the tax increase by the lord. Amberxiu was going to take this opportunity to recruit some mortals.
Doing business is not as profitable as collecting taxes. The poorest lord in Alchemy City is richer than Amberxiu.
Behind the castle of Ambersu is a large tract of fertile land, which can easily feed three to five thousand people after being cultivated.
This was a one-time deal between the Alchemist Council and Amber, two potion formulas in exchange for permanent ownership of the land, tax-free forever, but it could not be inherited or given away. If Amber was to have his ashes scattered and his life box smashed by a paladin one day, the land would be automatically reclaimed.
The tax exemption condition alone can save Amberxiu a lot of costs. While other lords collect 80% in taxes, he can just collect 60%.
Rules are meant to be broken. It's fun to hurt others with your own power, and it's fun to keep hurting others with your own power. If you want to blame someone, blame the economic crisis. All the living people are being treated as subjects by the lich.
After being questioned by Amber, Raul finally confirmed that he had met a wise leader that had never been seen before. The lich master only collected 60% of the tax. What kind of good man is he?
If this news were to spread, tens of thousands of free people would probably pour into the territory of this lich lord, and those human lords would probably form a large army to attack this merciful lich lord.
In Raul's fantasy, Amber was sitting at the negotiation table, and he said to the noble lords in a deep voice: "Humans, please treat your compatriots well."
Because of this mercy, Raul was more certain that he had misunderstood Amber. With an attitude of atonement and repentance, Raul was ready to do his best to help Amber recruit other free people who had escaped.
Only Isabel always felt that something was wrong, as if the brother and sister had completely fallen into the trap designed by the lich.
But it seemed not right. The brother and sister's breaking into the lich's territory was just an accident. No matter how powerful the lich was, he would not use his prophecy on two mere mortals.
Isabel never thought that a lich would be short of money, because he could obviously rob them.
It is not surprising that liches go to human lords to rob money and people. Once, a lich who hated humans cast an enhanced version of the poison cloud spell, causing millions of people to be infected with the plague and die.
It would be strange if evil creatures didn't attack humans.
Because of this, Isabel found it strange no matter how she thought about it. She felt that Amber must be hiding something, but this was not a problem that a mere alchemy apprentice could figure out.
It took about another day, and Raul came back, and this time he came back with ten living people.
When they saw Amber Xiu, they were so scared that their legs went weak and several of them turned around and ran away.
Fortunately, Raul controlled the alien skeletons to stop them. Some people cursed Raul for being a traitor who worked for the lich, while others cried and said that they had an 80-year-old mother and an 8-year-old child and begged for mercy.
It was at this time that Amber's foresight was apparent. After he gave them the tranquilizing potion, the cries that sounded like ghouls singing opera quickly disappeared.
Calmness is the prerequisite for communication. Raul then dropped the bombshell of Amber's 60% tax, which really fooled these people.
Only 60% tax, is this lich an angel in disguise? You know, before the tax increase, they had to pay 80%, and now it has been increased to 90%, and they are collecting taxes two years in advance.
That is why they could not bear it and chose to run away.
But even if the people can escape, their families cannot. The property left behind by these escaped free people in the territory will definitely be taken away by the lord.
Faced with the choice of selling themselves into slavery and losing their property or simply losing their property, most of them actually had no choice.
Once they lose everything, even freemen with some skills are likely to starve to death, because this tax increase is not the work of a certain lord, all vassals of the Alchemist Council are affected, and they don't even know where to run.
Now, they appear to have a new option.
Joining a lich, they had considered it for even a second before, which was disrespectful to their own race. But now their lives were almost in danger, so they went to hell with their race, and followed the lich master to have meat to eat.
After receiving Amber's assurance and seeing the environment around the castle, these escaped free people decided to join Amber and become his subjects.
There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!
Amber knew that his plan was half successful. These ten or so people would soon help him create the persona of a benevolent lich lord and attract more free people to join.
Amber appointed Isabel as the head maid and arranged for these people to live in the castle temporarily.
Ambersu had to temporarily put aside his undead experiments and go to the real alchemy city to make purchases. It was impossible for all the free people to live in Ambersu's castle, so they had to find a place to build new houses, cultivate fields, and raise livestock.
But when they fled, they could only carry a small dagger and some change, and it was impossible for them to take their house with them, so they were penniless and everything needed Amberxiu to prepare for them.
Of course, it’s not free, it’s for rent.
Tools, seeds, and livestock were all rented out, and the rent depended on the lord's mood. A kind lord would lower the interest to attract new freemen, while a cruel lord would raise the interest to the extreme, preferably forcing the tenants to sell their children and turn from freemen into slaves.
It is hard to say who is right or wrong in these actions. Some benevolent lords may have their entire family killed by their subjects, and some cruel lords may not die of old age.
This is a world where the bigger the fist, the bigger the truth.
There are too many things that Amberxiu wants to buy, and the unit price is not high. If he chooses to send them by express delivery, he will lose a lot of shipping costs. It is more cost-effective to order them directly in person and spend some time renting a carriage to deliver them.
However, if you want to go to the Alchemy City, you have to change your image, otherwise you will easily get into unnecessary trouble.
Amber stood in front of a huge mirror and cast a transformation spell on himself.
Amberxiu changed from a scary skeleton to a handsome young man with black hair and black eyes.
This is exactly what he looked like before he traveled through time.
(End of this chapter)