Great Harvest

The hag lay on the ground, laughing so hard she could barely breathe, yet she was completely unable to break free from the effects of the Laughing Spell. Only after the Druids bound her tightly with vines did Amber Xiu dispel the spell.

It had not lasted long, but it had already inflicted extremely serious damage on the hag's body. She had nearly laughed her lungs out just now, and her mouth was now filled with the taste of blood. She could not even speak.

The Druids of the Golden Vine Tribe stood warily in the distance. They did not dare approach the powerful lich Amber Xiu, so they merely pulled Naomi over and questioned her carefully about what had happened.

Naomi naturally hid nothing. She told them how she had met Amber Xiu in the tavern and then worked with him to come to the sewers and rescue them.

Every Druid found it unbelievable. A Druid working with the undead was practically unheard of. According to Sylvanus's doctrine, undead beings who overturned the balance of nature should have been purified immediately.

But the Druids had all witnessed Amber Xiu's power. If they attacked now, they would definitely be the ones to die.

For Amber Xiu's sake, since he had saved them, they would let the divine teachings go unenforced this time.

That was how the Druids convinced themselves.

Van Jones had a very hard time accepting the fact that he had been saved by the undead. Then he immediately began lecturing Naomi.

Working with the undead could perhaps be excused, and venturing into the sewers could be explained as Naomi's concern for everyone. But appearing with the Sylvanus Statue was an act of outright blasphemy.

Van Jones said furiously, "Naomi, how dare you steal the statue and bring it out! Do you know what the consequences will be? Even if every one of us died here, it would still be nothing compared to the importance of the statue. If anything happens to this divine artifact, the entire Golden Vine Tribe will be destroyed!"

Naomi said excitedly, "It was the High Elder's order! He told me to take the statue away!"

Van Jones asked in shock, "How is that possible? Has the High Elder gone mad?"

Naomi said, "The High Elder must have seen the future again. Wasn't it also on his orders that we carried out this operation?!"

Van Jones had originally wanted to ask a few more questions, but the Druid beside him quickly grabbed his arm and glanced toward Amber Xiu.

Van Jones immediately shut his mouth. Matters involving the tribe's secrets were not suitable for arguing about right now.

Amber Xiu, however, had not spared these Druids a thought. He had just taken several pieces of Magic Equipment from these clients: an Enchanted Ring, leather armor imbued with nature spells, and a Magic Shortbow... Together, these things were worth nearly ten thousand gold coins.

Once he had been paid, Amber Xiu had no further interest in the Druids.

He was now standing in front of the Ranger Second Husky and said, "Look, you were saved just now entirely because of me. By any reasonable standard, I'm your lifesaver, right?"

Second Husky nodded repeatedly. He had wanted to cheat Amber Xiu and take advantage of him before, but who could have imagined that this lich would be so formidable? He had truly been blinded by greed to target someone like this.

Second Husky said excitedly, "Thank you for saving me, Lord Lich. I am truly grateful."

"I'm a lich. What do I want with a human's gratitude? Give me something practical."

Amber Xiu held up two fingers and gently rubbed them together.

Second Husky understood the gesture perfectly, but he said with a bitter smile, "Lord Lich, I'm poor. I really can't produce much money."

"How much do you have?" Amber Xiu asked.

Second Husky took out his shriveled money pouch. This was certainly no Space Pouch. When he opened it, there were only two gold coins and some loose copper coins inside.

"That's all?" Amber Xiu said, deeply dissatisfied.

Second Husky said awkwardly, "Lord Lich, my brother and I are poor. We truly can't come up with anything more."

"Is that so?" Amber Xiu said helplessly. "All right, you have an extraordinary skeleton. You might be somewhat useful as a skeleton."

Second Husky's legs went weak with fright. He hurriedly said, "No, no! We do have money. We just didn't bring it with us. My brother and I can't afford a Space Pouch, but we have money at home. If you send us back, Lord Lich, we'll definitely bring it to you."

Only then was Amber Xiu somewhat satisfied. He said to Second Husky, "Look, I'm not an unreasonable person. I collected ten thousand gold coins for saving six Druids. For the two of you brothers, I'll charge each of you a two-thousand-gold thank-you fee. That's not excessive, is it?"

Second Husky counted on his fingers before saying, "Lord, isn't something wrong with the numbers? Ten thousand gold coins for six Druids comes to less than two thousand each."

"You've never heard of rounding?" Amber Xiu asked in return.

The Soul Fire in the skeleton's eye sockets blazed fiercely, as if he might turn Second Husky into a skeleton the very next moment. Second Husky hurriedly said, "I have, I have. Your mathematics are excellent, Lord."

"Mm, good. You're a clever one. Come, sign this promissory note."

Amber Xiu took out a sheet of parchment and wrote down the debts owed by Big Black and Second Husky in painstaking detail. He even listed the interest that would accrue if payment was delayed, setting the rate just a hair below the usury limit stipulated by Alchemy City.

Second Husky signed his name miserably. Then he looked back at his unconscious brother and said to Amber Xiu, "Lord Lich, my brother is still unconscious. Let me sign for him."

Amber Xiu said, "Why make things so complicated?"

A flash of magical light fell on Big Black, and the thief, whose face still wore an expression of lingering delight, quickly woke up.

Big Black was still groggy, and he shouted, "Goddess? Goddess, where are you?"

But as the effects of the illusion faded, Big Black began to stare blankly. When he saw the hag bound tightly in vines, he immediately vomited until the world seemed to spin.

Seeing how much pain Big Black was in, Amber Xiu suggested, "I know the Forgetfulness Spell. Three hundred gold coins per use. I can precisely remove the designated memories without causing any adverse effects. Want one?"

Big Black decisively signed the contract. Forget three hundred—he would have to sell everything he owned to scrape together even three thousand gold coins. Otherwise, this would haunt him for the rest of his life, and he might even suffer permanent functional impairment.

Amber Xiu contentedly put away all the contracts. He was not worried that Big Black and Second Husky would refuse to pay. He had plenty of ways to squeeze these two adventurers who preyed on others until there was nothing left of them.

Next, Amber Xiu took out another sheet of parchment and had Naomi draw the location of the slime gathering place. The girl had now reunited with her clansmen and was unlikely to continue traveling with Amber Xiu. Naturally, Naomi did not dare violate the contract. She carefully drew the slime gathering places she knew of, then left with her clansmen.

After putting away everything of value, Amber Xiu finally turned his gaze toward the dying hag.

The most valuable thing in this trip to the sewers was not the Magic Equipment or the tens of thousands of gold coins. It was the ugly monster before him.

Amber Xiu walked up to the hag and said very seriously, "Now we have time to chat. Tell me more about the prophecy of the sewer deity, in detail."

(The End of This Chapter)