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“I wish we could do this as quickly as possible, but we had a lot of time restrains, and I was being constantly pestered with documents and paperwork I had to do to complete various transactions. I have begun to buy a lot of stone and pay constructors to repair the walls of the duchy, which have been torn apart and damaged after my uncle’s passing from monsters that had been trying to attack it, if it wasn’t for those last adventurers that had stayed in here protecting their home, I don’t know if the knights would had been able to stop these monster waves…” Sighed Julia.
“The dungeon had suddenly begun acting once more after being dormant for months, and it has begun to spawn monsters that have started to roam outside, so the forests are not the most securest… And the graveyard… Well, there are Undead showing up every day by now, the miasma emanated from the dungeon is making them spawn, the priests of the church are working hard to exorcise them and cover the graves with holy runes, but they ask for way too much money sometimes, the very capital I am trying to build is fading away…”
“Hm… I see. There’s certainly a lot of problems going on.” I said. “Have you considered on stopping investing in the graveyard and just incinerate the corpses of the people into ashes? Cremation is a thing, you know? I’ve always wondered why people doesn’t want this when there can be risks for undead to show up eventually in big graveyards like that place (My birthplace).”.
“Cremation? Certainly, I had considered it a lot, but the noble families doesn’t want that because they say that the bodies of their family members that had passed away would be desecrated and destroyed, something that many people find horrendous. I was also taught that it was horribly, but I have begun to realize that it is a good option, however, those nobles are the source of the income of this decaying duchy, if I go against them so much, they’ll begin to dislike me more and more… Ah, what a pain.” Julia sighed; she was really stressed. I wonder if she had slept at all? She had big black bags below her eyes which she was barely able to hide with makeup.
“How can they be so stupid? The Undead are already decimating their corpses, also I am sure that when they get purified most undead turn into ashes anyways, without even anything left unlike cremation…” I sighed. “You gotta find a way to convince them or… Well, there’s another way I guess. I can go to the graveyard and use my Necromancy to tame the undead.”
“Eh?! You can do that? I thought that Necromancers were only able to control the Undead they had risen, how come you can tame already risen Undead?” Wondered Julia in surprise. “That one Adventurer that is a Necromancer cannot tame wild Undead, but he had been seen to be able to reanimate dead bodies into Undead, or summon Undead like a person summon familiars as well… Because most people find it unsightly if he uses human undead, he mostly uses monsters and animal undead instead.”
“Yeah it is possible, it is part of my abilities, as long as the Undead are weaker than me, and even if they resist, I can use some sorts of ways to convince them.” I said. “However, will people be alright with me owning undead that used to be their family members?” I sighed.
“Maybe you can ask them to turn back into their graves?” Wondered Julia.
“I remember you were able to take away their souls, can’t you?” Asked Lucifer.
“She can do that?!” Asked Julia.
“Yeah, I am capable of forcefully taking the souls out of a body, Undead is easier… The stronger the person, the harder it is. This often results in… an instant death.” I said with a wicked smile, Julia began to sweat quickly and nervously, I wasn’t going to kill her or something.
“Hahaha! I am joking, I cannot really do it to living people.” I said. I decided to lie to not make my existence so threatening.
“Phew… You really scared me there, wouldn’t you be in the level of an S-Rank Adventurer if you can just one-shot people like that?” She wondered.
“As I said, it would be very difficult and I have not tried it yet, so it is just theory, it only works better with undead… Actually I lied, I did use it against monsters now that I remember…” I said.
“Huh… You’re really insanely strong. I wonder if I will be able to pay you well…” Said Julia. “C-Can you wait a bit for your pay? I would love to pay you upfront, but I am really trying to make my little capital grow a bit more.”
“I understand, don’t worry about it.” I said. “By the way, how do you usually make money?”
“Taxes.” Said Julia. “People pay taxes, all commoners. I can invest in business that people is starting, or those of nobles as well, gain actions from their business and share part of their revenue, their taxes also increase if they earn a lot as well, this is a good method to increase my capital, but that often takes months to see any results, if not years.”
“Well, that’s a long time that you want me to wait, but I can receive payment in items and products as well. After all I came here because I need money to buy resources and food for my people, we are a small town and the cold temperatures there are really hell on earth. We are in a project to build a greenhouse and plant our crops, but it’s taking a long time…” I sighed. “We need a lot of fresh veggies and fruits more than anything, and a lot of seeds.”
“Seeds, alright, I think I can find you veggies, fruits, and all of that, I’ll gather things up through the week and deliver it to you at the end of the week, is that acceptable?” She asked.
“Yep, all good to me.”
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