Lich for Hire

Chapter 218: Choices Offered by Fate

Although Ambrose claimed they were close to success, Catherine sensed something was wrong. "Is something the matter?" she asked. "You look like you're under a lot of pressure."

Ambrose sounded surprised. "You can tell?"

A lich wasn't supposed to have expressions. Whether in his skeletal or mechanical body, his features should have remained completely impassive. Even though Ambrose had taken on a human form, he hadn't changed his expression at all. How had she noticed?

Catherine said, "You don't usually talk like this. I can't really explain it, but I can feel that your mood isn't right."

Ambrose sighed with admiration. "Impressive, Catherine. You've grown. You can even read other people's emotions now."

The once naïve elven queen was slowly rounding out her education. As expected, those who spent enough time around Ambrose tended to grow smarter.

The same could be said for both Harvey and Catherine.

Ambrose, for his part, could only hope that everyone around him would continue to grow more intelligent. It would make things far easier.

"So what exactly is going on?" Catherine asked.

Ambrose explained, "Up to this point, our plan has gone too smoothly. I have a bad feeling about it.""Smoothly? After all the detours we took, you still call this smooth?"

Catherine looked baffled. How could their journey back to the past possibly have counted as smooth?

At first, they had been trapped in a subterranean ruin with no way out. Then they ran into a swarm of disgusting toads. After finally finding an exit, it led straight to the dumping ground where the gods cast away unwanted entities. Who knew how much effort Ambrose had spent before they finally made it back to the desert?

And he considered this smooth?

Just what did a rough plan look like, then?

Ambrose said, "At the very least, we haven't encountered any problem we couldn't solve. You have to understand that we're exploiting a loophole in fate itself. And from what I know of the goddess, she's not exactly generous. There's no way she'll let me get away with this so easily."

"Maybe you're overthinking it," Catherine said gently, though what she really meant was that Ambrose was far too pessimistic.

Ever since she had met this lich, Catherine had felt that he was not only greedy but also obsessively paranoid. He was always assuming the worst possible outcome.

She didn't really understand lich habits, but she couldn't agree with that way of living.

"It's not overthinking," Ambrose replied. "I can already feel that something big is about to happen. Unfortunately, I still don't know what."

"Can't you use your divination to check?" Catherine asked.

Ambrose shook his head. "Not yet. The true key is creating a false prophecy for Harvey. I haven't finished that yet, so the subsequent consequences haven't appeared. Divination would be meaningless. This warning is actually Fate giving me a choice. If I stick to the original plan, a major disaster will definitely occur. But if I turn back now and abandon Harvey, the misfortune will never arrive."

Ambrose had dealt with the Goddess of Fate for quite a long time. He understood her "personality" very well.

Though she often seemed like a petty schemer, in certain ways, the Goddess of Fate was actually quite fair. Since Ambrose had figured out a way to manipulate the prophecy and exploit a loophole, she would allow him the opportunity, but deceiving fate always required paying an appropriate price.

What that price would be was still unclear, but it certainly wouldn't be something Ambrose could pay easily.

Still, since they had already come this far, there was no way he would back down now.

"Prepare yourself," Ambrose said. "If things go wrong this time, we might really die."

Catherine felt a bit tense at his words, but she didn't panic. Ever since leaving the Court of the Silver Moon, she had seen far more of the world. Adventure after adventure had left her much more mature than before. No matter what danger came, she believed she could face it.

"Unless a god intervenes directly," Catherine said, "what danger could possibly threaten both of us together?"

Ambrose had to admit she had a point. With the power of the Golden Throne supporting him, he was already among the most formidable of legendary figures. Add Catherine, an elven queen equipped with a collection of divine artifacts, and the chances of losing a fight were impossibly slim. And even if they couldn't win, they could still run.

Still, that didn't mean they could skip their preparation.

"For the next few days, don't follow me around," Ambrose said. "Focus on making your own preparations. Try praying to the elven gods."

Catherine looked confused. "The gods haven't responded to me in a long time. I assume they still haven't forgiven my mistakes."

Her expression dimmed, the pitiful look on her face so evocative that even Ambrose almost wanted to comfort her. "Time is an interesting thing," he said. "The elven gods may not even know you've returned to the past. If you pray to them now, it might pique their curiosity."

Aside from Aion, no god was truly omniscient or omnipotent. Some gods possessed powers close to that, but their authority was limited to their domains.

Take the Goddess of Magic, for example. Her omniscience was limited to magic itself. Oguma, the Lord of Knowledge, was closer to the realm of creativity and ideas. Among the elven gods, none seemed to hold authority over time. They likely couldn't sense that Catherine had traveled to the past.

Which meant that if Catherine were to pray now, the gods would sense the existence of two Catherines.

If the gods were curious, they would naturally reach out.

As long as there was communication between deity and devotee, everything became negotiable. Perhaps Catherine might even regain the favor of the gods.

Ambrose explained this reasoning, but Catherine shook her head. "To pray with that kind of mindset would be true blasphemy," she said. "The gods gave the elves everything beautiful in the world. All elves can offer in return is sincere gratitude. How could I use tricks like this to scheme against the gods? If I did that, they would only be even more disappointed in me."

Ambrose: "…"

As a lich with little faith, he hadn't even considered that perspective. But since belief was not his area of expertise, he decided to defer to her judgment.

What he hadn't expected, however, was that the moment Catherine finished rejecting his idea, she suddenly froze.

"What's wrong?" Ambrose asked with concern. Had she somehow offended the gods and been punished?

A layer of silver-white radiance suddenly appeared around Catherine, bathing her in moonlight.

Fortunately, the two of them had already returned to the inn. Otherwise, the people of Sweetdew City would have gathered to stare at the sight.

After a long moment, the silver moonlight flowed into Catherine's body like liquid. Then the elven queen slowly opened her eyes.

"Catherine, what just happened?" Ambrose asked.

Excited, Catherine said, "It was the Goddess of the Moon! She said the gods have forgiven my mistakes. She granted me the Blessing of Moonlight. As long as I stand beneath moonlight, I will no longer suffer any harm."

"Ah… well… Congratulations," Ambrose said through gritted teeth.

Jealousy surged wildly through his soul. Wasn't this blessing a bit outrageous? Catherine had made a major mistake. Even if her earlier words had pleased the gods, not only had they forgiven her, they had even granted her a new blessing!

Watching Catherine's joyful expression, Ambrose couldn't help asking, "Could you ask the goddess if I can become her follower too?"

Catherine rolled her eyes at him. "Are you trying to make me blaspheme? Do you honestly believe in the gods? Don't you have any self-awareness?"

Ambrose: "…"

What was wrong with being a casual believer? If the elven gods offered enough benefits, he wouldn't mind believing in them a bit more.

He was genuinely jealous. The gods he had encountered before all talked about making him their chosen, yet they had never given him anything. The elven gods were far too generous!

With a sigh, Ambrose said, "Go get some rest. I'm tired."

Returning to his room, Ambrose pushed aside the irritation he felt and began preparing for whatever unexpected trouble might lie ahead. Even though he still didn't know what it would be, it would certainly require his full effort to overcome.

Naomi had been sleeping in his extradimensional space for a long time by now, and should have recovered. And there were all those raw ingredients he had collected—it was time to organize and perhaps craft something useful out of them.

While Ambrose busied himself, Harvey finished up as well.

Harvey lay on the bed with a lifeless expression. Sitting beside him, Sawtooth Blade looked very satisfied. "I didn't expect someone as skinny as you to last that long," she said. "It's obvious you don't have much experience, but don't worry. I'll teach you slowly."

Harvey sighed. He didn't even know whether he should feel resentful.

At first he had resisted, but on closer inspection, the female orc was actually quite beautiful.

Her dark skin had the sheen of satin, and the faint scars across it didn't look ugly at all. Rather, they added a touch of wild charm. Though she had the tusks of an orc, her facial features were actually closer to those of an elf, aside from her slightly thicker lips.

Harvey wasn't exactly an innocent boy either. Thinking about it carefully, he hadn't really lost out.

But no matter how beautiful she was, he couldn't spend his entire life as this orc's kept man.

He still needed to find a way to escape. But this time he would have to choose the right moment to do so and conceal his intentions properly. He couldn't foolishly tell her he planned to run again.

A vague plan slowly took shape in Harvey's mind.

He turned to Sawtooth Blade and asked, "How much gold does your tribe still need? Didn't you say you wanted to replace everyone's weapons?"

"I'm probably still four or five hundred gold short. I want to get some enchanted weapons this time. Why do you ask?"

"I was thinking… we should go back to the tavern tomorrow," Harvey said cautiously. "Let's win all that gold in one go."

"Right, it's better to win everything at once, isn't it? Multiple visits just makes it more likely that we'll run into trouble." Sawtooth Blade happily cupped Harvey's face in her hands. "How about we go another round right now?"

Harvey smiled wryly. His waist felt like it was about to snap.

Still, to lower her guard… "Sure," Harvey said with a strained grin. "Just let me drink a vitality potion first."