This Lich is a Better Landlord Chapter 94

Ambrose sat in front of The Porcupine Knight, curiously toying with the dual swords in his hands.

The elves had all been stuffed into his private space. With this space capable of stopping time, he didn't even need magical seals; throwing them in and freezing time was enough.

There was nothing special about the elves themselves, only these two swords were a bit odd.

He originally thought they were enchanted with magic specifically to break *Shield* spells, but that wasn't the case. The magical patterns on these two short swords were unique—so unique that even Ambrose hadn't seen them before.

Careful study revealed that these two short swords were like mana black holes, capable of absorbing mana from anything.

When the *Shield* was hit by the short swords, part of the mana was sucked away, causing structural imbalance, which was why it was pierced.

This wasn't a standard "anti-magic" effect, because the stolen mana could be injected into the user's body.

"Are the people using these weapons afraid they won't die fast enough?"

Mana was a very personal thing. It wasn't like internal energy in martial arts novels that could be passed to whoever; absorbing someone else's mana was equivalent to drinking poison.

To enhance the destructive power of the short swords, they wouldn't hesitate to commit suicide?

Looking at that elf's performance, he really did seem to have a suicidal, desperate vibe.

The Porcupine Knight sat nervously across from Ambrose, unsure of what this powerful necromancer wanted to do. Just now, when Ambrose asked what contract he signed with the elves, he could only simply explain the elves' purpose. Then, this powerful necromancer entered a state of contemplation.

The Porcupine Knight didn't dare ask more. He couldn't deal with those elves, let alone this terrifying necromancer.

Ambrose put away the strange dual swords, planning to go back and interrogate the elves properly.

Their arrival was too strange. It didn't seem as simple as just paving the way for the Elven army. The main army hadn't officially attacked yet; it was impossible for pathfinders to be this deep in the core.

There must be a connection to the magic contract the elf sent away. With no clues, he could only go back and investigate slowly.

Turning to look at The Porcupine Knight standing to the side, Ambrose beckoned to him. The lord approached cautiously.

Ambrose's first sentence was: "How many gold coins do you have?"

The Porcupine Knight froze, then hurriedly said, "To show my gratitude, I am willing to pay a reward of twenty thousand gold coins."

Ambrose shook his head. "Not how much you give me. I'm asking you, how much is the total."

"Huh? You mean..."

Ambrose said nonchalantly, "Exactly what I mean. You said it yourself, you're willing to pay any price. I want all the gold in your treasury. That's not excessive, right?"

The Porcupine Knight said excitedly, "Master, if you take all the gold coins, this territory will fall apart immediately. If you do this, you are no different from those elves."

Ambrose smiled faintly and said to The Porcupine Knight, "What does the collapse of your territory have to do with me? Besides, the City of Alchemy is about to enter a melee. What use is gold alone? can you hold onto it?"

The Porcupine Knight said with pleasant surprise, "Master, are you willing to assist me? I am willing to use all my gold coins to hire you as a mage consultant!"

Ambrose: ...

Why did this guy dream so beautifully?

A mere few tens of thousands of gold coins to hire a Legend? You couldn't even hire a fake one.

"What I'm saying is, just because *you* don't have money doesn't mean others don't. Didn't you ally with several small lords? But on the outskirts of the City of Alchemy, your small alliance doesn't rank at all, right? There are so many rich lords; you can go rob them," Ambrose said.

The Porcupine Knight smiled bitterly. Why wouldn't he want to rob them? But as Ambrose said, their alliance didn't rank at all. Combined, they had less than a thousand troops; defending was already beyond their means, so how could they take the initiative to attack?

Speaking of this, The Porcupine Knight regretted that crusade against the Lich immensely. He shouldn't have listened to the nonsense of those Paladins.

As long as he hadn't gotten involved with those Paladins, his available troops would be at least double what they were now.

The Porcupine Knight said helplessly, "We currently lack the power to expand. The nearby lords aren't fools either; they are all prepared for battle."

Ambrose revealed a devilish smile, tempting The Porcupine Knight, "If you don't hit others, will others not hit you? You know your strength isn't enough, and others will definitely choose the weakest to swallow first."

"Master, what do you mean?"

"Lord, have you heard of War Loans?" Ambrose asked.

"War Loans?" The Porcupine Knight frowned. He really hadn't heard of this. As a knight promoted from commoner status, The Porcupine Knight actually didn't have much education. He hadn't been a lord for long, and the daily management of the territory was enough to keep him busy.

"If you don't have enough troops, you can borrow them. For example, I can lend you a batch of undead skeletons for combat. And you need to pay me gold coins. You get the troops to conquer larger territories and plunder more population, and I can earn more gold coins. Isn't this a win-win?"

Ambrose was like a devil from hell right now, tempting The Porcupine Knight into the abyss bit by bit.

Fighting wars was troublesome; Ambrose couldn't be bothered to do it himself. It was better to let others earn gold coins for him.

Having lived for hundreds of years, Ambrose had seen many wars. Every time chaos descended, countless ambitious people appeared. The Porcupine Knight didn't look like much, but he was willing to go all out at critical moments. Giving this kind of person a little boost might yield a good return on investment.

Also, The Porcupine Knight signed some contract with those elves. Although he didn't know what it was yet, this person definitely had other uses.

The Porcupine Knight was reluctant in a hundred ways, but he had no choice.

Ambrose could simply kill him and take everything. At least this necromancer's conditions were a tiny bit better than those elves, giving him a possibility to turn things around.

Ambrose didn't stand on ceremony and took away all hundred-plus thousand gold coins in the treasury.

It was a bit little, but at least it wasn't nothing.

Ambrose made a list for The Porcupine Knight, writing down the materials he needed and the exchange price list for undead skeletons.

It didn't matter if he had no money now; he gave him a loan limit of one hundred thousand gold coins, charging only fifteen percent interest per month. That meant paying back fifteen thousand gold coins a month was enough. For a war loan, this interest could be said to be very low.

But The Porcupine Knight still felt his liver ache. The cheapest mantis-form skeleton on the list cost a thousand gold coins. Hiring adventurers wasn't even this expensive.

Fortunately, the list also included some materials Ambrose needed—various corpses, alchemy materials, etc., which could be used to offset the corresponding amount of gold coins.

The Porcupine Knight directly authorized a loan of one hundred Alien Skeletons. At the same time, he gave a pile of corpses and stocked alchemy materials to Ambrose to pay off the debt. These were casualties from annexing other lords' territories earlier. Originally, they were just covered with a bit of dirt; now they were perfect for waste utilization.

Ambrose was quite satisfied with this transaction. After agreeing on the transaction time, he asked The Porcupine Knight to inquire about Isabel's whereabouts.

Isabel's talent wasn't bad, and she was serious and responsible in her work. Not every alchemy apprentice could help him cultivate the Osteo-Colony Virus; others might have died several times over. Ambrose needed to find her and bring her back to work for him.

However, when Ambrose mentioned the transaction location, The Porcupine Knight's face changed, and he said in surprise, "Isn't that castle... the Lich's..."

Ambrose smiled slightly and canceled the *Polymorph* effect, revealing the true face of a Lich.

The Porcupine Knight was so scared his legs went soft. As expected, the Lich hadn't died at all.

Ryan's Paladins were too unreliable. They had fought their way into the castle, yet they failed to eliminate this Lich.

The Porcupine Knight also secretly rejoiced. Fortunately, he hadn't set his sights on that castle; otherwise, this visit today wouldn't be to talk business, but to take his life.

Ambrose said to The Porcupine Knight, "Alright, prepare the things I want. Remember, with me, debt doesn't disappear with death. If you owe me money, even if you turn into a corpse, you have to pay me back in full."

The Porcupine Knight could only smile bitterly and promise that he would definitely pay off the debt on time.

Ambrose nodded with satisfaction, then returned to his castle.

Opening his private space, Ambrose came before the group of elves frozen in time.

Cicero's time freeze effect was lifted. Ambrose got straight to the point: "Why is the Silvermoon High Court in such a hurry to send you deep into the hinterland? What exactly do they want to do?"

Cicero looked at Ambrose's skull face and said with some surprise, "So you are a Lich. I've heard about you. The destruction of the City of Alchemy should be related to you, right?"

Ambrose reminded him, "I'm the one with the right to ask questions now. You are the prisoner; figure out your position."

Cicero said confidently, "Heh, what can you do to me? At most, torture, or just kill me. But Elven souls will eventually return to the embrace of the gods. If you think torture can make me submit, you can try."

Cicero was this confident entirely because of the characteristics of the Elven race. Blessed by the Elven gods, they possessed extremely high mental resistance. Spells like Charm, Control, and Paralysis that acted on the mind were ineffective against the vast majority of them.

This was a blessing given to them by the gods. Even if Ambrose used the power of the *Golden Throne*, he couldn't suppress the power of the Elven gods.

As everyone knew, to deal with an elf, one could only use force; trying to drug them wouldn't work.

And someone like Cicero, who was clearly a veteran adventurer, probably wouldn't be easily swayed by Ambrose's torture. Mainly, Ambrose didn't have that much time to waste on him.

Ambrose thought for a moment and said to Cicero, "Actually, I can guess a little. The real secret is that contract, right?"

Although Cicero's expression didn't change, his pupils constricted uncontrollably.

Ambrose smiled and said, "See, this is the difference between the living and the undead. If the undead don't want to show expressions, they really can have no expressions. But you can't. Charm spells indeed don't work on you, but you also can't use mental magic to control your thoughts and prevent micro-expressions from revealing your mind."

Ambrose's words threw Cicero into internal panic. He never expected to meet a Lich who was also proficient in this interrogation method.

Ambrose continued, " inferring from common sense, the content of the contract is actually not important. Clauses about guaranteeing humans leave safely are harsh terms no different from a death sentence. The real key should be the consequence of violating the contract, right?"

Cicero wanted to close his eyes to stop Ambrose from observing his pupils, but Ambrose reached out and touched his neck, monitoring his inner thoughts through his heartbeat and pulse.

"Oh, looks like I guessed right. But what benefit exactly do you get after the contract is violated? Make humans surrender immediately? ... No, that doesn't seem right... Benefits for your invasion? Okay, looks like I guessed right again..."

Ambrose probed question by question. By monitoring Cicero's heartbeat, he obtained quite a bit of information.

First, the signing of the contract was definitely related to the Elven race's invasion and was something beneficial to them. The condition for triggering it was these human lords violating the contract.

Also, the massive invasion by the Elven race was happening in the next few days. Cicero and his group weren't the only vanguard; more Twilight Guards had been sent out to force these lords to sign contracts along the way.

Unfortunately, Cicero remained silent, and Ambrose couldn't get more specific details.

But presumably, a small soldier like Cicero wouldn't know things in too much detail anyway.

Ambrose resealed Cicero and stroked his chin in thought. The Elven race was as stubborn as the Ryan Empire; they might not be willing to pay a ransom to buy back Cicero's group of Twilight Guards.

It seemed it was time to contact the Desert Dwarves.

Doing business meant constantly exploring markets. Since the Elven race wouldn't pay, he believed the Desert Dwarves would be willing to spend a large price to buy these elves.