This Lich is a Better Landlord

Chapter 129: A Massive Profit

The contract wasn't long, just a single page, but the contents were astonishing.

The first clause stated that the Elves would pay a ransom of twenty million gold coins for *each* Elf captive. This was originally something Ambrose had said casually—promising the Dwarves a "refund one, compensate three" deal—never thinking he could actually sell an Elf for twenty million. In reality, selling an Elf for two million was already more valuable than a Paladin.

Yet, Withered Rose had actually negotiated this astronomical price. The income from this alone amounted to several hundred million. Ambrose's soul fire burned fiercely, almost reaching the point of explosive combustion from excitement. He couldn't dare imagine what the Golden Throne would look like after integrating these hundreds of millions of gold coins. Would it turn directly into a flying golden palace?

The second clause was also super value: Every year, Ambrose could demand magical materials from the Elves worth no more than ten million gold coins, calculated at seventy percent of the market price at the time. This freebie clause lasted for a hundred years.

Withered Rose said, "The Elves' gold reserves are limited too. They also need gold to stabilize prices, so subsequent payments can only be made in magical materials."

Ambrose said with great satisfaction, "That's already very good. Sometimes magical materials are more valuable than gold coins."

Reading on, if the peace talks were successful this time, the Elves would gift all the Spell-Breaking Weapons they had accumulated to Ambrose, and would open up the supply of various magical equipment in the future, offering the lowest discounts.

Withered Rose said without hesitation, "I asked for this clause. You have no objections, right?"

"How could I have an objection? We agreed from the start; this is our business."

Ambrose knew that Withered Rose's lifelong goal was to destroy the Ryan Empire. These Spell-Breaking Weapons were the most important strategic resources for her. This was also agreed upon when they collaborated—taking what they each needed from the Elves.

Ambrose got a massive amount of gold coins and the hardest currency, magical materials. Withered Rose got the Spell-Breaking Weapons and future cooperation orders, just negotiating the cooperation in Ambrose's name.

The above could only be said to be the Elves bleeding heavily, not quite hollowing out the family fortune.

But the next clause was a bit ridiculous.

"The Elves will 'lend' three artifacts to me for use? What is this situation?"

Ambrose expressed confusion. Can artifacts be lent? Lending Elf artifacts to a Lich... desecrating the gods like this might really get him struck by lightning from the Elven gods.

Artifacts were, to some extent, the highest grade of enchanted weapons, but this "high grade" carried a lot of weight.

Take the continent's most famous artifact, the Ryan Empire's Demon Dragon Set. Wearing this set made one equivalent to a god—albeit the weakest kind of god—but able to freely wield divine power in the mortal realm, making one practically invincible.

This was equipment crafted from the corpse of the Demon Dragon Tyrant by Ryan's founding emperor after overthrowing him. Also, because of his feat of driving away the dragons, he received the blessing of The Lord of Dawn, making this Demon Dragon Set truly the strongest artifact on the continent.

The Elves weren't bad either; they were the race most favored by the gods, so how could they lack artifacts?

Perhaps not as famous as the Demon Dragon Set, but likely not inferior in power. These things were truly used to anchor fate and luck. Lending three to Ambrose? Had the Elves gone mad? Their inventory of artifacts might not even reach double digits.

Gold coins could be saved up again if lost. Magical materials could be cultivated. Spell-Breaking Weapons and such could be forged anew. But artifacts weren't something you could just save up for; without divine blessing, mortals could almost never craft artifacts.

This wasn't just bloodletting; this was a total seizure of assets.

It would be a lie to say he wasn't tempted, but Ambrose calmed down quickly and said to Withered Rose, "Elf artifacts... how did it come to this? It'd be better to ask for a few hundred million more."

It wasn't that Ambrose was picky; no matter how good the artifacts were, he couldn't use them.

Although the Elven gods wouldn't go so far as to smite an undead on sight, they were ultimately gods of Light and Nature, completely opposite to an undead like Ambrose who only used dark mana. Even if the Elf artifacts were placed in front of Ambrose, holding them would only burn his hands—literally burn, making his hand bones smoke.

Withered Rose, however, said, "The Elves aren't truly fools. I wanted more, but they weren't willing to give it. Losing too much gold will severely impact the economy of the Silvermoon High Court. Magic Addiction is fatal, but economic collapse is also fatal. This price is already pressing their bottom line."

Ambrose laughed and said, "Not really. They just don't want to lower their quality of life too much. The daily expenses of a low-tier High Elf are ten times that of an ordinary human. Even the poorest Elf lives a life comparable to a human noble."

Withered Rose agreed with Ambrose's assessment. The Elves had lived the good life for too long and couldn't accept becoming poor overnight.

"Catherine understood this, so she didn't back down further. She preferred to use herself as a bargaining chip."

Ambrose felt like he heard something extraordinary and quickly asked, "What do you mean?"

Withered Rose smiled and said, "Those three artifacts are on Catherine. After this negotiation, barring any accidents, she will resign from her position as Elf Queen. As the price of the contract, she will 'lend' herself to you for a period of time. Working for you is the greatest compensation the Elves are paying you."

Ambrose: ...

Withered Rose carefully sensed Ambrose's reaction. A Lich had no micro-expressions, but soul fluctuations existed. She really wanted to know how Ambrose would react to obtaining such a charming Elf Queen.

Holding it in for a long time, Ambrose squeezed out a sentence: "Then I have to fucking pay for her meals!"

Is this Elf Queen insane?

He was a Lich aloof from worldly strife; what did he need an Elf Queen for? To slow down his experiments?

The other party was just coming to work, not selling herself into slavery. Ambrose couldn't resell her to anyone else, and he had to support Her Majesty who had been pampered for many years. This cost was unusually high.

Thinking for a moment, Ambrose reached a conclusion: "This little Elf girl has too much guilt and wants to atone in this way?"

Withered Rose nodded and said, "Obviously, Catherine feels she caused the Elves to suffer heavy losses, so she wants to torture herself in this boring way."

"Living people are creatures driven by emotions; they always do irrational things. Sacrificing oneself in exchange for the rebirth of the whole race to make one's heart feel better. Tsk, just the thoughts of a childish little girl."

Sacrificing oneself seemed noble, but in reality, it was still an escape. Catherine had no confidence in continuing to hide the secret, no confidence in facing public opinion after the secret was revealed, and even less confidence in continuing to be a good Elf Queen in such an environment. Therefore, selling herself to atone was the best way to escape.

If the Elves didn't forbid suicide, she probably would have ended herself long ago.

Withered Rose agreed with Ambrose's evaluation. Catherine was indeed a naive little girl, probably because her talent was too good and she was protected too well from a young age. But it didn't seem wrong; with Catherine's talent and beauty, if she traveled the continent, she might trigger wars between nations. She must have been raised with care by all the Elves.

Not turning into a selfish pervert under such circumstances, and only being a bit naive and childish while still willing to sacrifice for the Elves—her nature was already considered very good.

From this aspect, the Elves had quite good taste in choosing a queen.

"Working for a Lich counts as atonement. These High Elves are as arrogant as ever," Ambrose sighed. "However, Lady Rose, since you agreed to this condition, you must have other plans for this Elf Queen, right?"

"How about I sublease this Elf Queen to you?" Ambrose suggested.

Withered Rose's smile remained unchanged, but she was happy inside. Ambrose was actually willing to transfer this stunning beauty to her. This time, it couldn't be said that the undead ignored the temptation of beauty; the Elf Queen's charm made even Withered Rose struggle to parry. Several times during the negotiation, she almost succumbed to her tears.

Fortunately, every time Withered Rose's heart softened, she reminded herself that this was preparation for destroying Ryan, instantly restoring her state of having a heart of stone.

Ambrose rejected this amazing gift without hesitation, which made Withered Rose even more certain that Ambrose had developed true feelings for her. This was definitely because he was worried she would misunderstand, so he was so decisive.

"You seem to really understand me," Withered Rose said with some emotion. "Catherine is indeed a very useful card. We undead can barely resist her charm, but humans can't. Used well, she might cause the Ryan Empire to collapse from within."

Ambrose rubbed his hands together and said excitedly, "So, you mean, you accept the sublease?"

How much should he charge for this sublease? With the Elf Queen's value, surely he should charge by the second?

Withered Rose, however, said, "Don't rush to discuss this. You forgot that we also have to pay a price. Your sealing technique needs to be handed over completely to the Elves. This is a buyout; there's no way to continuously bleed the Elves."

"I was mentally prepared for this long ago. This is a matter of life and death. Even if I kept the technology in my hands, they would do everything to crack it once they got a sample. The Elves' overall magical strength is much stronger than mine; cracking it is only a matter of time. Better to make a quick buck."

It wasn't that Ambrose hadn't thought about relying on copyright to continuously fleece the Elves, but thinking about it carefully, it was impossible.

The Elves weren't incompetent; they just hadn't thought in the direction of the Magic Web. This was the most likely solution Ambrose found among countless options relying on his powerful intuition, theoretically saving hundreds of years of research time.

Then there was knowledge related to the Magic Web—the Elves couldn't get their hands on this, and wouldn't know where to start researching.

But Ambrose had already made the finished product, reducing the difficulty of reverse engineering by a hundred times.

Just like the internet in his previous life, hackers couldn't make good games themselves, but even the best game companies couldn't stop hackers from cracking them. Free "learning versions" would be out three days after a game's release.

And this wasn't just an entertainment tool, but a life-saving medicine.

In the face of such a crisis of extinction, the Elves would do anything and wouldn't care about copyright. Even if Ambrose encrypted and re-encrypted to delay their cracking speed, the result would only be the outbreak of Magic Addiction, and then the Elves would vent all their anger on him.

At that point, there would be no talk of right or wrong, cause and effect; they would just need a target to vent their anger.

It was just business; there was no need to fight to the death with the Elves, so a one-time buyout was best.

Seeing that Ambrose didn't mind, Withered Rose continued, "One more point. All these clauses will only be transacted after the peace talks succeed."

Ambrose said, "According to our previous plan, the Dwarves want most of the land of the City of Alchemy, and the Elves want those industrial alchemy cities with established systems. These cities will mass-produce the sealing scrolls to cure Magic Addiction. This is the perfect ending. I hope no accidents happen in this peace talk."

Although he said this, Ambrose felt a vague sense of unease.

When premonitions were bad, bad things were bound to happen. And the most torturous part was that Ambrose could only wait for this accident to befall him.

Thinking for a moment, Ambrose said to Withered Rose, "There are still a few days before the negotiation. Let's make some more preparations."

Fate tells you bad luck is coming, but it's unclear if it's a scraped knee or a lost life. In that case, let's prepare for a fatal injury.