This Lich is a Better Landlord

Chapter 125: The Lich and the Queens

The two talked for the better part of an hour, yet neither got what they wanted.

Catherine was not adept at negotiation.

In the past, whenever she needed to argue something, she only had to speak a few gentle words, and the vast majority of her opponents would yield.

If she frowned and showed a troubled expression, the concession would be even greater.

Catherine was well aware that this advantage came from her beauty, but she had grown accustomed to it over the years—accustomed to facing people who were easily "persuaded."

And now, she had met Ambrose.

Clearly, this lich had been affected by her charm when they first met, so why was it having no effect now?

Ambrose maintained a polite smile on the surface, his eyes looking straight at Catherine. In reality, he was trying his best to retract his external perception, only listening to her speak and trying not to "look" at her.

Ambrose thought he was a skilled negotiator. Having mastered the ability to read micro-expressions, he could easily see through the inner feelings of the living with ninety percent accuracy.

But meeting Catherine this time, Ambrose found this trick only had side effects.

Catherine was indeed easy to read; the Elf Queen wasn't good at hiding her thoughts.

But when Ambrose saw her distress and unease, he actually began to soften, almost blurting out a discount.

This Elf Queen was too outrageous; she could even charm a lich.

This made Ambrose realize he had met a true opponent. When Queen Catherine sat at the negotiation table, she was like a talented player who could defeat all techniques with raw power. It didn't matter if she knew negotiation skills or not; as long as she sat there and smiled faintly or frowned slightly, her opponent couldn't handle it at all.

Ambrose, a technical player, was suppressed by the opponent's raw stats. He had no choice but to retract his perception. Outwardly looking at Catherine, he actually focused only on her voice, constantly reminding himself that gold coins were his true love.

Without the means of reading micro-expressions and relying only on listening to chat with the other party, the effect was naturally much worse.

The result was a deadlock in the negotiation, with neither side getting what they wanted.

Catherine didn't care how much the ransom was; she just wanted to get the principle of the magical seal without arousing Ambrose's attention.

Ambrose played dumb, frantically pushing the ransom plan. How could the cure for Magic Addiction be sold so cheaply? The prisoner ransom was essentially just a down payment.

Ambrose couldn't hold on much longer, so he said to Catherine, "It seems we can't reach a consensus for the time being. Dawn is approaching; Your Majesty should go rest. The formal negotiation will arrive soon. I hope we can smoothly reach an agreement then."

Catherine was indeed a bit tired. She hadn't expected this lich to be so stubborn. Coupled with the fierce battle last night, her exhaustion wasn't light, so she could only nod in agreement.

The result was that she slept for a whole day. When Catherine opened her eyes, several elves with worried expressions were standing beside her.

Seeing Catherine wake up, they asked with concern, "Your Majesty, are you alright?"

Catherine said confusedly, "I'm fine."

"But, Your Majesty, you slept for a whole day."

Catherine stretched and suddenly found herself refreshed.

"Amazing," Catherine said in surprise. "I haven't had such a comfortable sleep in a long time."

In recent years, due to the pressure of Magic Addiction, Catherine had hardly slept peacefully for a single day, always plagued by nightmares filled with terrifying scenes of the elven race's destruction.

But today was different. It was as if the accumulated pressure had evaporated during this sleep, giving Catherine a feeling of rebirth.

The elves looked at each other in dismay. Many of them hadn't slept well last night. This was a lich's castle, after all; who knew if severed hands or rotting spiders would crawl onto their beds at night?

They hadn't expected the Queen to sleep for a whole day, completely unaffected by the environment. Was this a legendary powerhouse? Compared to Her Majesty, they really were far behind.

Catherine looked at the sun, which was about to set outside the window, feeling full of energy. She casually ate some dry rations she had brought and prepared to find Ambrose to talk about the prisoners again. Catherine summarized the mistakes from yesterday's negotiation and felt she would definitely find a breakthrough today.

However, when she found Ambrose again, Catherine discovered an extra person.

In Ambrose's laboratory, besides the lich disguised as a black-haired youth, there was another beautiful woman with skin as white as snow. This woman had a temperament similar to Catherine's; Catherine could tell at a glance that this lady was also a high-ranking ruler.

"Your Majesty Catherine, you're finally awake." Ambrose greeted her warmly, then introduced her, "Let me introduce you. This is Lady Rose, the Queen of the Underdark."

Withered Rose gave Catherine a polite smile, but there was no mirth in her eyes.

Catherine also tried hard to show her politeness, but she was shocked inside.

Withered Rose, the Undead Queen of the Underdark. Although Catherine had never met her, she had long heard her name.

Because Withered Rose's kingdom was built next to the underground Sea of Quicksilver, she also had the title of Silver Queen. The power and cruelty of Withered Rose were rumored throughout the Nine Great Kingdoms.

What did the lich mean by inviting Queen Rose here?

Withered Rose had been specially invited by Ambrose to help.

Catherine's charm ability was too powerful; it seriously affected even a money-grubber like him. Presumably, his soul was still male, so the charm effect he endured was particularly strong. Continuing the negotiation would likely lead to mistakes. Failing to earn money he could have earned was equivalent to losing money, which for Ambrose was like death by a thousand cuts.

Because he didn't want to regret it, he specifically invited Withered Rose.

She was also a lich, and her soul was female, so her resistance to Catherine's charm was definitely higher than his. Anyway, he couldn't eat all the benefits from the elves by himself; he definitely had to share the cake with the members of The Elegy Society. He might as well let Withered Rose negotiate on his behalf. Ambrose had already revealed his bottom line to Withered Rose, and he trusted this Undead Queen wouldn't cheat one of her own.

Catherine said very politely to Withered Rose, "So it is Sister Rose. I have long heard of your name. Establishing an undead kingdom from scratch—I admire such an achievement greatly."

Withered Rose also said politely, "Sister Catherine is too polite. You are the Queen admired by all women."

"Is Sister Rose friends with Master Ultraman? It seems my visit has disturbed your gathering."

"No, precisely because of your arrival, Sister, he asked me to come help with a small matter. Regarding the elven prisoners, I can make the decisions. Sister, you can just talk to me."

Catherine glanced at Withered Rose, thinking, *The old King's intelligence was indeed correct; these two are members of the same organization. Otherwise, for just a few elven prisoners, how could this Undead Queen come personally to negotiate with me?*

Catherine didn't want to negotiate with this Queen Rose. She had clearly figured out how to deal with Ambrose; suddenly switching people wasted all her preparation.

"Master Ultraman, by doing this, do you feel I was rude yesterday, so you gave the lead of the negotiation to someone else?"

Ambrose smiled and said, "Lady Rose isn't 'someone else.' I am completely at ease leaving it to her. Of course, it's not because of any conflict in yesterday's communication either. It's just that I have some private matters today and cannot stay in the castle, so I asked Lady Rose to help. She has full authority to represent me. Her decision is my decision."

Although Catherine didn't believe Ambrose's excuse, she couldn't find another reason to refuse.

Time was getting tighter. She couldn't say she would wait until Ambrose was free to talk; who knew how long he would delay?

Catherine said, "In that case, I hope I can reach a consensus with Sister Rose today."

"Of course, provided the price is right. Sister, you heard what he said too. This time, I represent the interests of both of us. The price you discussed yesterday... I think we can adjust it again."

"Correction, we did not reach an agreement yesterday, so naturally, there is no 'discussed price.' A ransom of twenty million gold coins per prisoner is absolutely impossible; there is no sincerity in that price."

"The Elven race wouldn't care about a mere few tens of millions of gold coins. It is known to everyone on the continent that the wealth accumulated by the elves could buy all Nine Great Kingdoms. For you to say this, Sister, is a bit insincere."

"Having money doesn't mean we can spend it recklessly. This is wealth accumulated by generations of elves. I am only looking after it; I have no right to agree to such an unreasonable price on behalf of the entire elven race."

"But dragging this out is even more disadvantageous for you. After all, we undead don't raise the living. The daily meals for these elves require extra preparation, and the cost is constantly increasing. If we delay further, the price will only be higher."

...

The only two Queens on the continent sat opposite each other. Smiles on their lips, voices calm, but the content of their chat was heading more and more toward a breakdown.

However, just as the talks were about to collapse, both sides would tacitly take a step back, chat about state governance or clothing and fashion, and once the atmosphere softened, start a new round of confrontation.

Ambrose listened for only a short while before decisively leaving the small room. Withered Rose's performance was excellent; she seemed completely unaffected by Catherine.

If Ambrose listened any longer, he might not be able to stop himself from speaking up for Catherine again, and then Withered Rose would probably cut ties with him.

Leaving professional matters to professionals, Ambrose indeed had matters to deal with today.

The dwarves had sent news that traces of Hellish demons had appeared again near the ruins of the City of Alchemy. If the dwarves hadn't already built a temporary camp, these demons would likely have chosen to attack directly.

This situation wasn't right. The frequent appearance of Hellish demons shouldn't be just someone opening a Hellgate; it likely meant a certain Lord of Hell was preparing to invade. Without solving this culprit, the demon invasion couldn't be completely resolved.

But Lords of Hell possessed power close to gods, and their main bodies hid in Hell. If they were that easy to eliminate, the gods would have slaughtered them long ago.

Relying on Ambrose alone definitely wouldn't be enough to deal with a Lord of Hell; he had to borrow more powerful forces.

"If I declare to the outside world that a Lord of Hell is slaughtering humans, will the Ryan Empire send troops? Moral kidnapping should work very well on ethical Paladins..."

With various scheming plans swirling in his mind, Ambrose flew toward the ruins of the City of Alchemy. regardless, he had to catch a few demons first and find out which Lord of Hell was causing trouble.