This Lich is a Better Landlord Chapter 104

One of the three territories with mineral veins Ambrose had studied earlier belonged to the Flayed Duke, a believer of Loviatar, the Maiden of Pain.

The title "Flayed Duke" was uniquely noble among the nearby lords.

This Duke wasn't self-proclaimed; it was indeed an ancient family with hundreds of years of heritage, but they had previously lived in a small principality. The country didn't have a large population, but the entire nation worshiped the Maiden of Pain.

She was a goddess full of ambition and aggressive nature, so one could imagine what the atmosphere of that country was like.

Later, that country was destroyed by Ryan.

The Flayed Duke took their wealth and a small number of family members to the City of Alchemy, bought a territory, and continued to style himself as a Duke.

The City of Alchemy had no objection to this because they believed in knowledge above all else. Aristocratic titles meant less to them than a signature on a thesis, and nobles didn't have many privileges.

In the City of Alchemy, you would only see nobles bowing and kneeling to scholars. Etiquette and rules between nobles? Whatever, play amongst yourselves; the City of Alchemy's laws wouldn't touch upon those things anyway.

So the title of Flayed Duke sounded nice, but in reality, it only carried weight within his own territory.

However, this generation's Flayed Duke could be considered to have endured hardships to accomplish his goals. He tried very hard to adapt to the atmosphere of the City of Alchemy, establishing a fairly complete alchemy industry within the family. What the Flayed House produced were alchemy potions pursuing extreme pain and extreme pleasure. Sales weren't great, but there was quite a market among certain special demographics.

But then the City of Alchemy was gone, suddenly entering a state of war.

The day the Flayed Duke learned of the City of Alchemy's disappearance, he knelt before Loviatar's statue and whipped himself hundreds of times. Looking as if he had been flayed, he prayed bloody and kneeling before the idol.

This painful torture allowed him to see Loviatar's smile. His injuries healed rapidly, and he even looked a few years younger.

The Flayed Duke understood that this was the deity's oracle, telling him the time for the Flayed House to rise had come.

So unlike other Grand Lords, the Flayed House took the initiative to attack from the start.

The Sanguine Slave Legion, led by the Flayed Duke's daughter, quickly achieved brilliant military success. Years of peace meant the territories on the outskirts of the City of Alchemy had no sense of crisis.

After all, with such a massive City of Alchemy, the Automatons inside were enough to sweep away everything.

Why raise so many soldiers? Too much money?

Small bandits could be solved by hiring a few adventurers. Large crises, like the previous Magical Beast War, the City of Alchemy would naturally step in to settle everything.

No one expected that one day, suddenly, this powerful kingdom would collapse, leaving all lords, big and small, in a state of confusion, only calming down to think about self-preservation later.

At this time, the people of the Flayed House arrived with their Sanguine Slave Legion.

Slaves controlled by divine arts possessed immense strength and were fearless of death. The more severely injured they were, the crazier they became.

Where these bloody beasts went, no one could resist.

And the pain caused by these beasts became sacrifices offered to Loviatar. Then, this goddess who chased pain granted more boons to the Flayed House, even allowing a Paladin to appear in their family.

Perhaps this phrasing was a bit inaccurate, but Paladins were never the exclusive property of the Lord of Dawn.

Just as villains have their own saviors, devout believers in evil were also another kind of saint in the eyes of their peers.

Theoretically, any deity could bless believers and create their own Paladins. Even someone who didn't believe in any deity, but merely followed a certain oath steadfastly, could become a Paladin.

However, under normal circumstances, walkers under such evil-aligned deities had a special title—Blackguards, also known as Unholy Paladins.

The title didn't matter, but Blackguards were as powerful as Paladins and could similarly use "Divine Smite," except depending on the deity worshipped, the effect of this Divine Smite would differ.

The Flayed Duke's daughter, Bellatrix, luckily became a Blackguard.

This looked even more like destiny, as if the Flayed House was destined to rise.

But this smooth sailing didn't last long. In just a few days, the Flayed House suffered a heavy blow.

The Duke's daughter, who took the Sanguine Slave Legion out to plunder, suddenly returned home covered in wounds, falling into a complete coma before she could say a word.

This newly blessed Blackguard was so heavily injured that if she hadn't been brought to the statue in time for a massive sacrifice of slaves, she probably wouldn't have survived.

After recovering, Bellatrix told the Flayed Duke about her encounter, making this bloody and cruel lord feel fear.

His own daughter ascended to become a Blackguard, leading over a hundred Sanguine Slave Legionnaires, yet couldn't even withstand a single spell from the opponent.

If that Lich came knocking, wouldn't they be unable to stop him?

After worrying for half a day, the Flayed Duke could only beat himself up again, hoping to receive the deity's revelation. Sometimes, it had to be said that the goddess Loviatar was easy to talk to. Offering sacrifices to her really didn't require anything precious; as long as you could endure pain and torture yourself ruthlessly, you could naturally receive her grace.

Injury didn't matter; pain was the source of power. As long as you didn't die, torture yourself to death's door.

Unlike a righteous and upright deity like the Lord of Dawn—where you not only had to follow his doctrines to do good, uphold justice, and sacrifice yourself for others, but also give up many selfish desires and constantly learn and improve in literature and art—only then might you become a Paladin.

In comparison, the cost-performance ratio of believing in Loviatar was super high.

After the Flayed Duke beat himself up and broke his limbs, he truly received Loviatar's oracle again.

But this oracle dumbfounded the Flayed Duke; he didn't even dare to believe his ears and eyes.

Because the meaning of this goddess was: "Follow him; he will bring pain to this world."

The Flayed Duke was afraid he had heard wrong, so he quickly brought his recovered daughter Bella before the statue, hoping this Blackguard favored by the deity could help him confirm.

The final result was the same. The goddess's oracle was that following this Lich could bring more pain to the world.

Of course, this wasn't a mandatory divine command, but more like a prophecy.

The deity had told you what the future held; whether you believed it or not was up to you. If the Flayed Duke didn't believe in heresy and insisted on fighting this Lich, Loviatar would be happy to see it happen. Whether it was her own believers or others, anyone in this world suffering was fine.

Bathed in blood, the Flayed Duke stood before the statue and said to his daughter, "Bella, what do you think?"

At this moment, Bellatrix had taken off her heavy thorny armor, wearing only a pure white dress. She should have been a beautiful and moving noble lady, but her exposed skin was covered in dense scars, so much so that her original appearance couldn't be seen clearly at all.

Hearing her father's inquiry, Bellatrix also frowned deeply.

She had just sworn an oath to make that Lich taste pain a hundredfold, and before she could even start her revenge, she had to defect to the other side?

This was the kind of conflict only believers of the evil alignment would encounter. If it were a Paladin of the Ryan Empire hearing the Lord of Dawn say to defect to a Lich, they would start packing their bags to move that very day.

Bellatrix considered herself a devout believer; otherwise, she wouldn't have made herself look like this ghost.

But believing in the true meaning of pain didn't mean she lacked greater ambition. The goddess's oracle didn't seem that clear-cut; was there still room for choice?

"Father, perhaps we don't need to decide right now. Since the Goddess said he would bring pain to the world, let's wait for a while. It's a chaotic wartime now; he might not necessarily come for us immediately. We also won't carry out revenge for the time being, continuing to expand our territory according to the original plan. If he really comes knocking and we have no way to resist, it won't be too late to submit to him then."

Bellatrix's suggestion wasn't purely slacking off. The goddess's oracle was vague, saying this Lich could bring pain to the world, but who knew exactly what this pain was? What if the way this Lich caused pain was by sacrificing himself?

The Flayed Duke also felt this approach was safer. Worst case, surrender when the Lich attacked. There was no rule in Loviatar's doctrine forbidding submission. On the contrary, Loviatar highly approved of bullying the weak and fearing the strong; submitting to the strong and becoming their stepping stone was behavior very much in line with the doctrine.

"Good, we proceed temporarily according to the previous plan. How is your body recovering?" The Flayed Duke asked his daughter.

Bellatrix clenched her fist and said, "Almost there. I can march out again."

Loviatar's blessing gave Bellatrix powerful regenerative abilities. Combined with alchemy potions and healing spells, her injuries had healed, and she could unleash the power of a Blackguard again at any time.

The Flayed Duke quickly said, "Good, then don't delay. Every day that passes now, the map of this land undergoes drastic changes. We must expand as soon as possible and capture more slaves."

The Flayed House possessed spells to control human hearts, capable of transforming people into crazed blood slaves in a short time. So snowballing was the correct method; constantly plundering and conquering was the most efficient way for them.

Bellatrix nodded. She was just about to change into her heavy thorny armor when she saw a servant running over hurriedly to report.

"Duke, the mining area has been invaded. The soldiers guarding the mine have been routed."

Bellatrix revealed a hideous smile and said in a cruel tone, "Excellent. I needed someone to vent my anger on. Whoever it is, I will flay their skin and flesh to offer to the Maiden of Pain."