This Lich is a Better Landlord Chapter 95

Boundless yellow sand reflected a golden color under the sunlight.

This was the unique Golden Gravel of the Salokmar Great Desert, looking just like real gold. This gave Salokmar the alias of the Golden Kingdom.

But this was only because many years ago, a Legendary Mage used the *World Weaving* spell on Salokmar, modifying the atmosphere of this dead desert so that when sunlight fell, it would leave a brilliant gold-like color on the sand.

Doing so was purely for aesthetics.

Sand was ultimately just sand. Once it left the Salokmar region, it was no different from ordinary sand.

Moreover, because the desert was excessively blinding during the day, the residents here had to wear specially made sunglasses; otherwise, they would go completely blind within a few minutes in the golden desert.

Deep underground beneath this golden desert lay countless labyrinthine catacombs, rumored to be traces left by a previous civilization.

Even though Salokmar had been excavating these underground catacombs for centuries, they had only dug up the tip of the iceberg. Yet, the legacy of the ancient civilization dug out from within was enough for Salokmar to live a stable and affluent life.

It could be said that the entire economy of the Salokmar Dwarf Kingdom was built on grave robbing.

Therefore, these Desert Dwarves were most skilled at digging pits, boring holes, breaking seals, disarming magical traps, and so on... It was just that these abilities seemed somewhat insufficient on a frontal battlefield.

Facing the iron cavalry of the Ryan Empire, the Desert Dwarves' fortifications were little better than paper.

Those Paladins, shouting about the Holy Light and flying the banner of liberating human slaves, had been rubbing Salokmar into the dirt for many years.

What made the Desert Dwarves even more helpless was that these religious zealots showed sufficient patience.

Someone once suggested to the Dwarf King to feign weakness, luring the Ryan Empire deep into solitary territory and then using the desert environment's advantage to drag down and destroy them. As a result, the people of the Ryan Empire fought battles but showed no haste. After taking a city, they would start preaching. They absolutely wouldn't advance rashly until everyone in the city had become believers of the Lord of Dawn.

Even with bait placed right in front of them, they could resist eating it.

They seemed to have guessed the dwarves' plan long ago, so for all these years, they had been training troops in the border desert cities. It seemed they wouldn't strike the winning blow until they had trained a force of Paladins completely adapted to the desert environment.

Facing an enemy they couldn't beat and who wouldn't make mistakes, the Golden Kingdom fell into a chronic death. Although the Ryan Empire's advance was extremely slow, every step was solid. Now, even if they abandoned all the captured cities, the Golden Kingdom probably couldn't take them back because the hearts of the people had long since changed.

Under these circumstances, the Dwarf King had to change policy and began a century-long Great Integration Plan.

Any non-human race could obtain equal civil rights in the Golden Kingdom, including the undead, whom the vast majority of races discriminated against. As long as they were willing to abide by the laws of the Golden City, they could survive in this land.

Heggie Stone had regained his status as a legal citizen of the Golden City in this environment.

Deep in a certain underground catacomb, two points of crimson light lit up. Under the illumination of a weak candle flame, a face with rugged lines could be seen. Heggie Stone was unlike those effeminate vampires; his features looked carved from marble, and his gaze was deep and commanding.

Heggie Stone ordered the Orc kneeling before him, "Come here, my breakfast."

The strong-bodied Orc, eyes glazed over, approached step by step. Heggie Stone slowly stood up. His magnificent body was wrapped in a long cloak, looking at least two meters tall.

Only when he moved forward, the outline of two feet was revealed where his stomach should have been.

Heggie Stone was one meter tall, levitating at one meter twenty. He stepped through the void to the truly two-meter-tall Orc and bit into his neck.

After sucking forcefully a few times, Heggie Stone discarded the Orc in disgust.

"It's Orcs every day. Can't we change the flavor?" Heggie Stone said unhappily.

In the darkness, two dwarf servants walked out, saying in panic, "Master, if not Orcs, it's already very hard to find virgins."

"Sigh, whenever it's wartime, moral standards get lower and lower."

Heggie Stone lamented. They, the vampires, actually preferred peaceful and prosperous times. More people meant more food sources. Once war started, people died in large numbers, and the survivors were mostly not palatable food.

Although disgusted, Heggie Stone understood his servants had done their best. The general environment was bad; no amount of effort could change that.

Heggie Stone wiped the residual blood from his mouth and said to his servants, "Are the Gargoyles I asked you to prepare ready?"

Speaking of this, the corner of Heggie Stone's mouth couldn't help but twitch.

What was the relationship between that new kid and the Rose Queen? Three sentences made him bleed heavily.

Top-spec Gargoyles. His own inventory wasn't even a hundred, yet he had to give away twenty. The heartache felt like a wooden stake slowly piercing his heart, tugging back and forth between dead and not quite dead.

But Heggie Stone didn't dare refuse.

The Rose Queen had spoken; he really didn't dare disobey.

This also made Heggie Stone wonder what relationship the newcomer had with the Rose Queen, to make the aloof Queen bias the scales so much.

While not daring to neglect it, Heggie Stone grew a bit more curious about Ambrose.

He opened the Codex of the Undead, preparing to send a message to Ambrose to ask him to cover the shipping costs. Gargoyles counted as large items, and teleportation fees weren't small. He wanted to recoup whatever losses he could.

However, before he could send the message, Ambrose sent him a private message first.

[Tiga Ultraman: Senior, do you have connections with the Desert Dwarves? I captured a few High Elf Twilight Guards here. I wonder if the Desert Dwarves would be interested?]

*Eh? The Elven race has already made a direct move?*

Heggie Stone was a bit surprised. According to intelligence, the Elven race should still be assembling troops. This rookie should be in the central hinterland of the City of Alchemy; how could he encounter Elven troops at this time?

[Hates Humans: What's going on? The Elven race ran to your doorstep? I do have some connections with the Desert Dwarves, but they are like stones. Don't give them fake news, or they will refuse to trade with you forever.]

Heggie Stone was still worried Ambrose was selling fake intelligence. Undead, after all, were capable of anything.

[Tiga Ultraman: Don't worry, I recorded this. You can take a look.]

After accepting Ambrose's send request, Heggie Stone saw a memory crystal emerge from the Codex of the Undead.

Opening the memory crystal's image, sure enough, it was the Elven race's Twilight Guards, twelve in total.

Heggie Stone had to look at Ambrose's strength with new eyes. Twilight Guards were the Elven race's elite. Defeating them wasn't hard, but capturing so many alive was extremely difficult.

"Are rookies these days all this amazing?"

Heggie Stone sighed inwardly, then hurriedly replied to Ambrose: [No problem. I will help you communicate with the Desert Dwarves. I believe they will be very interested in people from the Elven race.]

[Tiga Ultraman: Thanks for the help, Senior. I'll cover the shipping for the Gargoyles.]

[Hates Humans: Brother is generous.]

Heggie Stone typed this reply, but suddenly felt something was wrong. Regarding the shipping fee, hadn't he prepared to discuss asking Ambrose to pay it long ago?

He had expended a favor by acting as a go-between, and as a result, the shipping fee was waived. Didn't that turn into giving away a favor for free?

Did this rookie calculate that he would ask for shipping fees, so he blocked that move in advance with this trick?

"No way, it can't be that ridiculous? I must be overthinking it," Heggie Stone comforted himself.

But it didn't matter if he lost out on Ambrose's side; he was the middleman. How much these elves sold for was something he had to negotiate with the Desert Dwarves. The price difference in between... well, there was plenty of room for bargaining.

After calming down slightly, Heggie Stone discussed the transaction details of the Gargoyles and the elves with Ambrose. After finalizing some details, Heggie Stone ordered his servants to deliver the letter.

Regarding a major matter involving the Elven race, he believed his letter could be delivered directly to the Dwarf King.

Heggie Stone also had to get ready. He had to make a killing to make up for the loss of those twenty top-spec Gargoyles.

Ambrose, having received Heggie Stone's reply, also felt very happy.

As expected, choosing the right buyer was important. Last time he wanted to sell Alan Watson to his own father, it attracted a bunch of Paladins. Selling elves to an enemy force this time—that was true business.

After celebrating, Ambrose began to get busy again.

The order from The Porcupine Knight needed to be completed as soon as possible. He needed this lord to help him build his reputation. Imagine, when The Porcupine Knight used his skeleton army to conquer territory after territory, wouldn't many people know the benefits of Lich War Loans?

Using undead to fight wars required only paying gold coins. No need to consider logistics, no need to delay construction and farming in the territory. This was the perfect weapon of war.

As more people knew about it, naturally, more people would come to find Ambrose to buy undead.

The more customers, the fiercer the battles, and the faster the undead would be consumed.

They would constantly demand more undead, and higher-level troop types.

This was an arms race. Whether you wanted to or not, when spending money to buy undead troops became a habit, everyone would be forced to join the rat race.

And as the sole undead arms dealer in the City of Alchemy, Ambrose would obtain a steady stream of gold coins.

Thinking of this future, Ambrose felt his soul trembling with excitement.

Enough talk. Time to make undead troops. Since The Porcupine Knight was his billboard advertisement, he had to give him the best.