Chapter Twenty - From the Observation Logs of Fenfang - Day 100

Fenfang Fang's Observation Log | Day one hundred

I had a meeting with the city council today. It was very productive!

Seventeen suggested that, since this would be my first formal attendance at one of their meetings, I should arrive appropriately attired and accompanied by an honour guard. I, of course, didn't dress the way Seventeen wanted me to.

I really respect him, but his sense of fashion is... I don't know if it was in fashion even a millenia ago. I am not walking into an important meeting in shorts held up by suspenders and with a bow-tie on. I don't care how traditional the garb is, there are lines no self-respecting women should have to cross.

So I woke up very, very early, skipped my morning magic practice, and instead cleaned all of my clothes as best I could so that they wouldn't smell like zombie.

I miss Alex so much.

Anyway, we came to the city hall with an escort of the biggest, strongest undead we have, and I think it really helped to make an impression. The entire council was in attendance, and they did more bowing and scraping and begging for my attention than I think was strictly necessary.

Is this why cultivators allow power to get to their heads? Because I have to admit, it is kind of nice being the centre of so much positive attention.

I was given several gifts, received no less than seven marriage proposals, and was offered the use for several mansions, ladies maids, and the personal attention of a lot of relatively powerful businessmen that have their operations based out of the city.

It's very flattering. I think that if I wasn't so enamoured with magic and the idea of getting my violent revenge I might be more tempted. I'm... not the prettiest girl around, I know, so I never got this much positive attention before.

I know it's all fake. They just don't want me to set my army of undead on them, or they think that I'll be taking over the entire world or something and they want to get in on it early, but still, it's nice.

It's too bad that not all of the news I received was as nice.

But I'm going to cover the positives first.

Merchants have arrived from Lava Fist City and from Seven Hills. This is fantastic, because it means that trade is resuming. Yu Xiang isn't doing that badly at the moment, but a lot of that is because a small chunk of the population has died, and the food reserves we have left aren't as taxed as they might have been.

Freeing up the Hungering Inferno's stores has helped too. The sect was hoarding a lot of food and non-perishables. My army doesn't need them, so I decided to sell most of it back to the city for more money. I kept a supply of it for my own, personal use, but that's all.

The ginseng that I found in the sect master's personal stores is really yummy!

Anyway! Trade being active again is only a good thing. The merchants that arrived were a little worried about the undead, but we welcomed them with open arms and they're making a good profit, so I think they'll be back.

Merchants care more about profit than they do about danger, so we should be safe for a while.

The farms are starting up again, and I've gotten Seventeen to set some undead to tilling fields and preparing some larger farms. We'll be hiring some older farmers to help. They might not be able to do all the manual work themselves anymore, but they can watch the skeletons at work and show them what to do.

Anyway, I think we should be okay with food once things start going.

The other trade is going well too, but I don't care quite as much about it. Our army doesn't need clothes much, and while workable metals are nice, they're not a necessity.

More good news is that the council seems to have shifted things around a little. The leader spoke to me in private and admitted that he used the current shift in leadership to make some much needed changes. Basically, a lot of people that were dragging things down and who had only been in place because of the sect were now booted out. Some representatives of the throne were kicked out of their seats, and a lot of old legislation had been removed.

Without having to pay taxes to the sect or the throne, the city is suddenly a lot richer. Or at least, its expenses are down by a lot, which I guess is the same thing as being rich.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

In any case, he wanted to know how this money should be spent, and was very happy when I suggested that it be used for infrastructure and education.

I think that's the answer that would please Master the most. Making the city prettier, better organised, and getting the people within it to be smarter seems like it's a good idea all around.

I've opened up the sect's library as well. It's the biggest in the city, and with the sect mostly empty now... well, why not turn it into a centre for education?

I don't think we can teach people magic, but giving every studious citizen access to the basic techniques of cultivation can only be a good thing, right?

I might have to go through things and limit access to the more dangerous stuff, but for now, I want to see the city I'm in charge of grow stronger!

Which is where the trouble is coming in.

The city warned me that some of the people they've kicked out are in league with the Jade Throne. Only distantly, because a backwater like Yu Xiang hardly deserves more than some high-functionary's seventh son, but still, there were people who have something to earn from reporting the change in leadership and the downfall of the sect. Plus, with merchants coming and going, news will travel.

They're expecting some cultivator-ish trouble to show up soon.

I... don't know what I'm going to do about that.

If a gaggle of cultivators show up at the gates, what can I do? Well, other than kill them all, I suppose.

If they're weak, then the undead might be enough to scare them or kill them off. But that was only if they were weaker cultivators. What would the Jade Throne send to put down an uprising of undead?

I came back to our camp and the fortress in the early evening and tried to practice my magic, but I was so worried that I barely got any work done at all.

I wish I had a way to contact Master. He'd know what to do.

Then again... Master not leaving me with a way to communicate must have been on purpose! He must believe in me!

That's right! I can handle a few measly cultivators! I'm Master's Limpet! And I won't go down without a fight. If I do... then Master might bring me back as a zombie or something, and I don't want to spend the rest of eternity smelling like a bad bowel movement.

So I need to do something.

Note

Master might have left me with the right tools, actually. I have the army of the undead, sure, but more than that, I have a whole city.

The general consensus, as far as I can tell, is that the Jade Throne left this place to rot under the care of a sect that really didn't like the locals and treated them poorly.

I think I could use that.

Note end.

I... I have an idea!

I'm going to start this tomorrow, and it will start with posters.

First, I need to recruit as much help as I can from the city. Master hasn't said it outright, but with Seventeen as proof, well, I think that undead can become stronger through practice, the same way a cultivator can. I'm going to recruit locals and have them spar with the undead. I need siege weapons too, maybe. Those in that big battle were super useful, even against the weaker cultivators, and I bet the locals can make better ones.

The walls around the city are a mess. The infrastructure of the whole place is a bit of a mess, really. With the undead as a labour pool and some money backing it up, I bet I can convince the council to let me fix them up.

Then we need other army things. Standard clothes and banners (banners are important and cool!)

Yes!

I'm certain that given a couple of weeks, I can prepare Yu Xiang to take on a mortal army. I'm not sure if it'll help against a few strong cultivators, but maybe it won't need to.

If I was a fancy-robes cultivator, and I came upon Yu Xiang, with mended walls, cool banners, and an army of the undead parked around the city, I'd think twice about attacking, because such a place would certainly have a lot of strong cultivators backing the mortals within!

It's... well, maybe not a good plan, but it is a plan!

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