Lich for Hire

[Mute: Faith? I genuinely hadn't considered that.]

The Silent Sea Pirates were formidable, but relatively small in number. Their members respected Aige, but certainly didn't worship her.

Occasionally, some soul out in the sea would develop a kind of reverence for the company, and a few had even made offerings, but the numbers were too small to amount to anything meaningful.

Ambrose's suggestion piqued her interest.

Since the Unholy Kingdom's disappearance, the entire continent had been given a renewed understanding of what diviners could do.

Maneuvering between two lords of Hell, playing them against each other, and relocating an entire kingdom along with tens of millions of people to another plane—that was a miracle by any measure.

No other miracle in recorded history had come close to this scale.

If the kingdom had been dropped onto another nation rather than ascending... Well. Even the so-called eleventh-tier Move Mountain spell seemed modest by comparison.

Aige had previously thought of Ambrose as a resourceful lich with interesting tricks, but since what had happened to the Unholy Kingdom, her view of him had changed entirely.

She wasn't particularly shallow. This was simply how the world worked. One earned the right to be taken seriously by being capable of serious things.

[Mute: I'm not sure whether faith would actually benefit me, but it seems to be worth a try. What do you have in mind? Where would the faith come from?]

[Megaman Tiga: I think it's worth thinking about bringing the merfolk under your banner. There are kingdoms on land and kingdoms underground, but no kingdom beneath the sea. Why not?]

If those merfolk ended up fighting the githarks, it would also slow the dragon clans' return. And if Aige could ascend to godhood in the process, Ambrose stood to gain considerably.

The God of Alchemy, the Lady of Mists, Aige, and the elven pantheon—he was developing quite the backing. The Spider Queen was welcome to seek revenge once she was ready.

[Mute: I'm not sure how to go about acquiring worshipers.]

[Megaman Tiga: That depends on what kind of god you want to be.]

Aige went quiet for a long moment, then ended the conversation with a single line. [Mute: Come to me. Let's sit down and talk it through properly.]

She had no interest in discussing something this significant, nor this personal, in the group chat.

Ambrose agreed readily. The ocean voyage was necessary anyway. With Aige's help, dealing with the githarks and the red dragons from the astral plane would be much more manageable.

[Megaman Tiga: We'll talk in person then. I have to warn you, this is just an idea. I can't promise it will work.]

[Mute: Modesty doesn't suit you. The whole world now knows what a diviner's miracle looks like. If you say it can be done, I believe you.]

Ambrose felt a flicker of something uncomfortable. Vladimir was the one who had actually pulled off that feat. His own contribution had been rather more marginal.

He was composing a modest disclaimer when Heki Stone jumped in. [Human-Hater: What are you all talking about? What miracle? What diviner?]

[Dullahan's Crown: You don't know about something this big?]

[Human-Hater: I genuinely don't. I've been in seclusion writing a book. I just finished the prologue. What has this lich done now?]

Ambrose summarized, [Megaman Tiga: I outmaneuvered Tiamat and Sariel, rescued several tens of millions of tiflings, and relocated the entire Unholy Kingdom to the chaos realm. I have a friend there who can look after them.]

[Human-Hater: Relocated an entire kingdom, land and all inhabitants included?]

[Megaman Tiga: Yes.]

[Human-Hater: Ha. Very impressive. So now you're feeding us tall tales and even the veterans are swallowing them.]

Ambrose stared at the Codex. The dwarf never believed him. Ambrose was one of the most honest people he knew, and he hadn't exaggerated even a single detail.

Before he could respond, the others came to his defense unprompted.

[Dullahan's Crown: It's true, Heki. Face reality. When has he ever made up something that didn't actually happen?]

[Black Rose: Not only that, he caused Lyon considerable losses in the process. I'm still thinking about how to thank him properly.]

[Pale Little Skeleton: And on top of all that, the dragon clans have put him on their blacklist. His mess made quite the impression on them.]

Heki Stone fell into a customary silence. When he finally responded, it had the air of a man accepting defeat. [Human-Hater: I was wrong. I won't doubt another word he says.]

[Megaman Tiga: Really? As it happens, I have an investment opportunity with annual returns of twenty percent. I'm only asking for ten million gold per investor as the initial investment. Interested?]

[Human-Hater: Get out. Do you think I've never heard that particular scheme before? You're insulting my intelligence.]

Ambrose sighed. He had been planning to offer the dwarf a stake in his international logistics operation. After all, he had personally turned the dwarven king into a vampire, a useful connection Ambrose could draw on. But apparently, the grudge between them ran too deep.

His attention shifted to what Alabastra had said.

[Megaman Tiga: Alabastra, what's this about me being on the dragon clans' blacklist? I haven't done anything to them. I was hoping to do business with you all.]

[Pale Little Skeleton: You exiled an entire kingdom. You destroyed the astral passage the githarks used. Allen Watson permanently crippled several red dragons, and the word going around is that you supplied him with weapons specifically designed to target dragons, custom-built for puncturing dragon eyes.]

How had that gotten out? Had Allen deliberately let it slip to cause trouble?

Was Allen Watson a true traitor, after all?

[Megaman Tiga: Rumors, I say, all rumors! I've never manufactured anything of the sort. That was Allen's own doing.]

[Pale Little Skeleton: Say what you like. The dragon clans don't believe it. They've decided you're the single greatest obstacle to their return to the continent.]

[Megaman Tiga: On what grounds? I haven't done anything. I'm just an unremarkable, perfectly ordinary lich.]

[Pale Little Skeleton: The entire world knows you at this point. You resolved the Alkhemia crisis. You prevented the war between the dwarves and the elves. You saved the elven race. The details are unclear, but they even sent you their queen.

[You traveled to the Ragetide Kingdom to free the founding emperor's heroic spirit and ended the Silent Sea Pirates' raids on that kingdom. You blocked Lyon's invasion and saved the Unholy Kingdom from the lords of Hell. And you're telling me you're unremarkable? You're a lich who saves the world. You are the greatest obstacle to the dragons' return.]

[Dullahan's Crown: My wife's right. You're something else, bro. You've even got a community of humans living in your territory, and I hear you only charge them sixty percent tax. You've gone soft.]

Ambrose: "..."

They made a disturbingly coherent case. He couldn't immediately find a flaw in their reasoning.

That said, if his reputation was this good and his list of achievements this long, perhaps he could take advantage of it.

For example, what if he offered a prayer to the Lord of Dawn and became an undead paladin?