Vris’alud

“Savais is dead. I can’t pull out his soul,” said the pale man sitting on a huge ivory throne before turning to a middle-aged man standing in the center of the huge dark hall.

It shocked the middle-aged man. His deathless could effortlessly pull the soul of any lich. It didn’t matter if it was imprisoned in a powerful spell or tool. If he willed it; it will appear.

There are only a few exceptions, like artifacts or the powerful witches and shamans, but most of them don’t interfere in the business of his deathless or not powerful enough to do so.

“I want complete details of the battle of Greltheaven,” ordered the pale man.

There was a slight disappointment, but no anger in his eyes. The defeat did not anger him. If every small defeat had angered him, they wouldn’t have conquered 75% of the island in less than five years.

However, there would be some punishment for this defeat as there are rewards for the victory.

“As you command, my lord,” said the middle-aged man and bowed deeply.

….

Meldhorn

“Well, it is quite unexpected. I truly had not thought that they would be able to defeat the undead,” said the man with a smile.

“It was unexpected and some of that credit goes to us. They used our intelligence and weapons, we had sold to the prince,” said the old man, making the blond-haired man smile.

A moment later, his expression turned serious.

“Have you asked them?” he asked, and the old man nodded. “Yes, my lord. All of them had confirmed, that they didn’t sense the demise,”

Just like the birth of the legacy; all other legacies sense the death of legacy. It cannot be hidden.

“A marked legacy. The only one on the entire continent, aside from that,” said the man, with his eyes filling with indescribable thoughts. “Yes, they are extremely rare, and most of them cross Grade III with enough time,” replied the old.

The man in the head seat nodded but didn’t say anything. Though he turned his eyes toward the direction of Greltheaven; thinking only he knows what.

…..

Lauryl Town

“So, he won,” said Baron Harrods with a smile on his face, with surprise hidden beneath.

“My sources say that they had killed eight of the ten Lv. 30+ powerhouses that attacked them and adviser Silver has personally killed the lich,” said Baron Homer, sounding pleased.

He looked woman sitting beside him. She didn’t say anything, but there was a small smile on her face.

Snort!

Though not everybody is pleased. The expression on the middle-aged man with the dark blue hair, which is almost black, is stiff as he snorts.

Feeling the gaze of everyone, he loosened them and put a smile on his face.

He is Baron Lockridge, and he is the one who had called this meeting. There are six barons here, each with considerable influence on the baronies.

He had called them to discuss a daring proposal. Something which he wouldn’t even dare to think about yesterday, but the developments that happened yesterday and the information he got today had forced him.

He could tell some like an old man and the woman beside him already seemed to guess his intentions and felt receptive.

“Why are you called us here, Baron Lockridge?” asked the old man Harrods and nervousness flashed in his eyes for a moment.

He is not a nervous man, but he is planning to propose something that could get him hanged. It is the risk he is willing to take for the massive rewards that it will offer.

“I have called you all here to present a proposal,” said Baron Lockridge. “What proposal?” asked Baron Oliver immediately.

“A proposal to….”

…..

“Wait here,” I said and walked ahead, with every step I took, the surrounding mist got denser till there was nothing but dense mist before it parted into a circular shape.

There is a square black stone-bed in the middle made out of spells and on it is Stone.

Seeing the state he was in, a shock couldn’t help but appear on my face.

He had nine palm-sized gem daggers buried in different parts of his body. They are burning like a lamp with a very dense bronze flame around them, which is being absorbed by the planet floating above.

The whole body is painted with strange symbols and runes forming a star, with many herbs, roots, gems, and other things in between.

They are shining in powerful energies roaring inside him and they are much stronger than before. Even now, I feel like, he could explode any time.

The energies may be stronger, but they didn’t seem to be doing damage. I didn’t see rupturing and the purple marks of magical poisoning had also seemed to have gone paler than before.

“He looks good,” I said. Hearing that mirthless smile, appeared on her face.

“I did everything I could, but it, is very likely, he will die unless the elder-blood inside him calms down,” she said, looking at Stone. “That is good enough. Let's hope he survives.” I said and turned to leave.

I could see she worked hard. What she had was quite shocking already. We can now leave everything to fate and hope, that he came out through it alive.

“Wait!” she said as I moved to leave.

I turned back to her and saw the blackened bone in her hand.

I recognize this bone; there are a huge number of them near the legacy. They are bones belonging to the undead. The explosion was powerful enough that it had charred the bones of the undead.

“When the legacy exploded, lich and necromancers drained the death energy from the undead to save themselves. Creating a temporary vacuum, which was immediately filled by the magic crystal energies and burning emotion power they were carrying,” she said.

“Meaning?” I asked, feeling confused.

“Everything that has the emotion is expensive. I feel like these will sell for good money,” she replied.

Seeing that, my eyes lit up.

Money is the thing, I need the most. I have to pay a lot of people. Merchants, mercenaries, soldiers, and many other people. If bones had value, I would sell them; I didn’t have any inhibition against it as long as it gave me the money.

“I will ask them to collect it,” I said and walked away.

Soon, I walked out of the mist, with Zela and Jon, other guards, waiting for me by the carriage.

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“How is he?” asked Jon, worried. “Alive,” I replied, before turning to Zela.

“As for them to collect all blackened bones around the establishment,” I said, and the questions appeared in her eyes. “They have absorbed some of the burning emotions and might be worth something,” I replied.

“I will inform Colonel Cardin, immediately,” she replied. I nodded and entered the carriage.

Lt. Col Azalea is still responsible for the army, until the Stone wakes up, while Colonel Cardin is responsible for supply and other things.

The carriage moved; giving me the look of destroyed buildings. It is not the undead that did that, but us, and it worked.

Now we will have to rebuild it all.

“I had looked at the damage and it is not big. The walls are relatively unscathed. The only damage is to buildings; it will be a costly affair, but not as much as we had expected,” Robin said.

“It is not the only thing, that we need the money for. The count had drained the whole treasury before escaping,” I said, feeling the anger rising in my heart.

The bastard hadn't only escaped, but taken all the money with him. The money belongs to the city.

It was quite a lot since that cheapskate barely spent on anything.

“It will be hard, but I am confident that you will somehow be able to manage it,” he said. “I wish I had the same confidence as you,” I replied, to which he smiled.

Soon, the carriage stopped, and we walked out of it.

It is not the mansion we had walked out of, but the city hall.

I had said to myself, that if I survive, I will shift to the city hall. I am doing it; it is far more efficient than working from the mansion.

Click!

We entered inside and a minute later, into my new office. It is not empty; Ina and Lola were here and also the files and everything, that were in the office at the mansion.

I nodded at them and focused my eyes on something else. I don’t think, I could face those eyes; like me, they are too suppressing their emotions.

Their friend has died. Someone they have known for years.

“Try to find out if they will forcefully remove the blockade if the undead don’t remove it,” I said to him.

“I will,” he replied.

We need the blockade to be removed, not only for the breathing space it will give us but also because we need resources urgently. Specifically, the healing potions. The bastard Count had not prepared for battle; there were barely any resources in the strategic stores.

Though there is a question of paying for it, since we don’t have any money.

There are several options, including taking a loan and asking for the aid. Getting a loan would be hard, banks wouldn’t give loans to a city, that could be captured at any moment by undead, but there was some positive response about the aid from our rich neighbor.

I am even planning on selling the drops of emotion essence I have. There are a few drops, including the ones, I got as a gift.

I don’t want to do it, but there is no choice.

“Port Midlet had won the battle,” said Zela, bringing me out of my thoughts.

“Good,” I said, feeling relieved.

Seeing the undead capturing one city after another made me quite scared. This is their second defeat after the Greltheaven.

I hope they suffer the same fate, Renwell. There is a chance they will; I heard a few things that make me believe it might happen.

However, I didn’t dare to let my hopes go up.

“Any news on Lancel and others?” I asked. Count is dead, I have proof of that, but there is no news on Lancel.

Though it won’t matter if he is alive as well.

He will not have the city, which we have defended with blood.

Click!

Soon it was afternoon, and the door of my office opened. Lt. Col Azalea entered with Colonel Cardin.

“Lord Silver,” they greeted.

“Sit, both of you,” I said, looking at faces that had a small smile.

“All the undead had been eradicated. We have also removed all the unexploded mines around the safe zone and entertainment district,” informed Captain Azealia, bringing a big smile to my face.

“Very good. Open the safe zone but in phases. We don’t want any accidents in the rush,” I ordered.

“Will do, my lord,” she replied and turned her eyes toward Colonel Cardin.

“We had also found something in the place. You had asked us to look,” said Colonel Cardin, with a small smile on his face becoming slightly bigger.

When the undead came into the city; they had slowed down for a few minutes. At that time, Knight, Lich, and Necromancer Esalya had entered one building for a minute before coming out.

I had forgotten about it, but remembered before leaving for the city hall, and asked them to check it out.

“What did you find?” I asked, and both of them smiled brightly. “It will be better to show you,” he said and turned toward the door.

“Bring it in,” he said, and the door of my office opened and nine people came in. Eight of them are holding the four big chests, while the ninth one is holding the box with several iles bags.

Thud Thud Thud!

They placed the chest down with heavy thuds, which made my heart beat even more wildly.

“Open them,” said Lt. Col Azalia, and the chests began to open one after another. Showing me shining imperials.

It isn’t just imperials, but there are also precious gems and other things in there. The last one contains potions and small wooden boxes, which are likely magical resources.

“There are more in the bags,” she added, and I turned to the box filled with the iles bags.

“This is a rough estimate, we have made of things we have found,” said Col Cardin and handed me the file.

I opened the file and read it quickly before my eyes stopped at the final number. It is huge money. Not enough to solve all our problems, but enough to give us a good breathing space.

They have likely gotten it from the two cities. It is unlikely from their treasuries. It is most likely from the people, they have killed and captured.

I closed the file and turned to Zela.

“Contact Margaux and ask her to send the storages of Knight and Lich from the vault,” I said to her.

She nodded and sent the message, while I turned to the two in front of me. Feeling much better now that I have some money in my hands.