142 Ominous Clouds and Changes (1/2)

”For menial labor, household chores, construction, and even dangerous mining jobs, there’s nothing that it can’t do! What can be more suitable and trustworthy than an indefatigable zombie worker as your assistant? Not only do they not need rest, they also don’t need a wage! It only costs ten gold coins for one, and you only need to pay two gold coins every year to charge up the Power of Death in it. You will benefit your entire life with this purchase!”

”Don’t listen to the nonsense of that fellow, zombies easily become smelly! It might still be acceptable in winter, but when spring and summer come, that stench will stink you to death! Hey, uncle. Why don’t you take a look at my mummy maid? Not only will it never rot, its insides are filled with top-notch fragrant spices that give you an aromatic scent even when you hug it to sleep at night. You should know that only those of noble standing can be mummified after their death. This cutie of mine used to be a noble princess before her departure.”

”He is just spouting bullshit! Do you think that he would dare to dig the graves of royalty given his appearance? That is most probably just a normal female villager with fat thighs.”

”...A Goblin princess should still be considered a princess. Furthermore, she is the princess of a massive tribe with a population exceeding three hundred!”

Even when the battle between these two Necromancers quickly elevated from a verbal one to a physical one, not a single customer had the intention of patronizing their stall. Instead, they chose the Skeleton Worker not too far away. That’s because Skeleton Workers are cheap and hygienic. Furthermore, even when the Power of Death dissipated in them, they could be treated as a clothes hanger or be fed to the dogs.

”Undead War Mounts for sale! It knows not of weariness and is eternally loyal!”

”You have to think of your weight before riding on a Skeleton Horse which falls apart easily. I have a Skeleton Beast that can be used to pull carriages! Feel free to choose among a variety of them!”

This was Diffindor’s 7th Market as well as the newly-established Undead Worker Trading Center. Necromancers had finally found their livelihood aside from slaughter in here.

When the news of the Sinless City spread across the entire continent, the most delighted group was probably the Necromancers.

In this cruel world, the weak never fared well. Most people already had an instinctive desire to pursue strength, even if the strength was taboo. However, it could give them better lives, and at the very least, they wouldn’t die ludicrously by being caught up in a fight. No matter what, it was a risk worth taking.

By training step by step, not every single existence who practiced the depraved demonic arts would become demented. But the Holy Church didn’t consider what the Undead, ”whose existence is a sin,” had done. They persisted in cleansing every single Undead. Necromancers who were capable of creating them were absolute heretics they had to destroy.

Some of them were coincidentally compatible with Necromancy; some of them fortuitously happened to inherit it. Even so, it mattered not. When their true identities were revealed, they were still outlawed in the same way as heretics and villains. Such prejudice made every single Necromancer go all-out to conceal their existence. If they were revealed, they might even resort to silencing the witnesses directly. In another sense, it caused them to fall into a deeper nightmare.

In the eyes of the world, it was impossible for Necromancers to be the cheerful neighbor boy whose face was full of acne. Necromancers must have a gloomy face and savagery must be reflected in their eyes as they planned their vile schemes to destroy the world in the demented Xiluo Empire. The truth was that it was a misunderstanding.

Xiluo was a country for the deceased. Their nobles and fief lords were all Undead. On the other hand, no matter how bizarre Necromancers were to the eyes of the world, they were still living beings, and in a certain sense, living beings were equivalent to slaves in Xiluo. This made the identities of the living Necromancers in Xiluo awkward.

Unless they were willing to give up on their physical body and convert into a Lich or if they possessed incredible talent that allowed them to become an apprentice of a Lich, their lives would most likely be difficult there. At the very least, their sustenance, accommodation, and numerous other living conditions were not what they deserved. If a bloodthirsty member of the Blood Tribe was enticed by the scent of their blood; a bellicose Death Knight found a sudden urge to use them as his practice target; or perhaps their Lich mentor wanted to use them as his new experimental subject… Actually, as long as they did not reveal their own magic, most Necromancers were able to blend into the crowd. Furthermore, they were still able to use their own abilities to better their living conditions.

All along, Necromancers and Warlocks were the favored mercenaries of the nobles. After all, they were figures who were unable to come to the surface and they struck quickly and ruthlessly. Even if some secret were leaked to them accidentally, they were unlikely to spread it.

As such, the reputation of the Necromancers worsened. It didn’t help that Necromancers required corpses to improve their skills. They could only murder others personally or rob graves. This gave rise to numerous bizarre city sightings and ghost stories.

As such, the graves of every city were under the surveillance of a watchman dispatched by the Church of Holy Light. It was natural to leave some traces behind in the midst of robbing corpses as well.

Even if they reached Silver-rank or Gold-rank by sheer luck, allowing them to earn big bucks with their strength by serving as mercenaries, if they were to accidentally slip up, they would still be exposed. Even a beggar by the roadside might report you in the blink of an eye for the sake of ten silver coins.

The moment a Necromancer was exposed, no matter how many good deeds one did in the past, the Church of Holy Light would instantly send their forces over to surround the Necromancer. Even if one escaped from their encirclement, due to the worldwide arrest warrant, one could only wander around the world aimlessly to avoid pursuit. Less than ten percent of these people were lucky enough to escape to a rural countryside village or Xiluo Empire.

When Wumianzhe’s declaration resounded across the entire world, these hidden Necromancers were taken aback. Uncontrollable, frenzied joy followed.

”Undead do not represent evil? Perhaps I’ll be able to live with dignity from now on. Maybe I might even be respected and revered!”

As such, half a month after the declaration was made, numerous disguised Necromancers entered the city before disappearing abruptly. There were even more of them who chose to sneak into the city by scaling the city walls.

These days, there were always people trying to fly across the wall. Some of them were of the Blood Tribes. Some of them were Gargoyles. Most of the time, a person would be hanging beneath them. Their appearances made the city guards wary as well as hesitant about whether they should shoot them down or not.

Did they really have to shoot them down? However, something was obviously wrong. Soon, the guards understood what was going on, but why did those people avoid the city gates?

Most of those who flew in, upon landing, would find themselves surrounded by Knights.

”Are you a Necromancer?”

”No, I’m just a fanatic of extreme sports. Today, I saw a passing Gargoyle and wanted to experience the sensation of flying in midair. Thus, I grabbed its legs and happened to fly in here.”

Even a fool wouldn’t fall for these kinds of crappy lies. However, the ones speaking them never got sick of it.

The Knight Order in charge of defending Diffindor eventually succumbed to these slippery Necromancers. As a result, they pasted a notice on the city gates.

”Gate 7 of the city’s west side will be specially allocated for the usage of Necromancers. It will only take half an hour for the numerous administrative paperwork and identification verification. Furthermore, it comes with three job recommendations. Necromancers who enter the city through any others means will be fined 300 gold coins upon revelation, and stripped of their job permit for two months.

Note: Please station your Gargoyles and all Undead beings of middle-scale and larger outside the city. Alternatively, you can pay a fee at Gate 7 for it to be kept there. Of course, you have the freedom to infringe the rules written above. However, Diffindor’s airspace is guarded by Bone Dragon Rider Lord Timier. You can try to play cat and mouse with him, but if he and his mount strike too heavily against you, your remains may become a popular auction item for your peers the next day. Presently, Skeleton Mages and Undead Sorcerers are expensive commodities in the city.”

This was already utmost sincerity on our part. At the very least, we didn’t hunt them down and instead, we expressed kind intentions to them.

After someone led the way and confirmed the passage was safe, even my Undead Knights were surprised by the number of Necromancers entering.

After entering the city, while rejoicing over finding so many comrades, a new problem appeared.

Just when they were treading into a new life, they found themselves jobless.

The newly established Diffindor Life Medical School (School of Necromancy) needed many lecturers and teachers, but that was for the elites. Most of the Necromancers were self-taught and their standards were only slightly better than apprentices. Rather than teaching others, they wanted to find a teacher to guide them along.

”Doing what we did previously? Do you mean an assassin or a mercenary?” There were quite a few bloodthirsty ones among the Necromancers, so they naturally thought of resorting to how they made a living in the past.

I had to admit that there was no lower limit to the foolishness of the humans. They actually dared to commit such severe crimes in the Sinless City, a phenomenon created by the God of Law. When their corpses were hanged on flagpoles to be dried, it served as a warning to the others, and explained the Judgement Spell and Sinless City.