Do you have a problem with necromancers?

Chapter 112 2000 Gold Crown Coins

The savages did not leave the Serpent Mountain Range, so the River Bend Province Allied Forces could only guard Eagle Fortress, communicating with Great Eagle Fortress and Small Eagle Fortress at least three times a day to ensure they were always aware of the specific movements inside the mountain range.

Grand Duke Malorne's attitude towards Renn remained unchanged; he was still a kind and approachable elder. Even after the arrival of the Riverlands allied forces, he warmly introduced these nobles to Renn.

Compared to the Fertile Lands, the Riverlands nobles were noticeably colder towards Renn.

After all, even if the savages turn the Fertile Land into ruins, they can't possibly affect the Riverlands in the slightest, since the two are separated by the Long River and High Rock City!
The reason I came to help was simply to fulfill my duty as a vassal.

With the addition of the Riverlands nobles, the morale of the Reach coalition forces was greatly boosted. Some nobles even proposed to "take the initiative to invade the Serpent Mountains and recapture Ravencrest," but this was rejected by Grand Duke Malorne.

The Legion of Wraiths is not an enemy that can be defeated by ordinary military force.

With early spring arriving and the weather gradually warming up, the Allied Forces of River Bend Province finally received the experts sent by the Inquisition.

Murak Solomon.

Old Murak is a veteran witcher in his fifties who has been hunting monsters for over thirty years. He has dealt with countless undead and hell creatures, and the number of necromancers and heretics who have died at his hands is in the hundreds.

Upon learning that this heretical expert had traveled a great distance to Eagle's Keep with the nobles of the Riverlands, Grand Duke Malorne, Legion Commander Claudius, and Rein Fahre personally went to the city gate to greet him.

The old man, riding his horse, circled the city gate, looking around, and suddenly asked:

"The city gates are just left open like this?"

“That’s how it is,” one of the nobles explained. “There are a large number of knights and militiamen in the city. Opening the city gates is to facilitate the daily distribution of supplies. Moreover, the surrounding area is all plains, so if the enemy approaches, we can immediately close the city gates and defend ourselves.”

"What I mean is, why are there no measures to detect undead at the city gates?" Murak said in a deep voice. "Don't you know that powerful undead creatures can disguise themselves as normal people?"

The crowd exchanged bewildered glances, and one nobleman asked, puzzled:

"Disguising oneself as a normal person? That's unheard of..."

“False humans,” Old Murak interrupted him. “Stitched corpses, phantoms, and strange ghosts all possess the ability to disguise themselves as normal humans, making them almost undetectable to non-professionals.”

He looked again toward the city gate, where a group of laborers from the Fahre family were pushing carts full of hay into the city.

Old Murak dismounted swiftly, rushed to the cart, drew his sword, and repeatedly stabbed inside the hay, saying:
"Wheels, barrels, crates—all places where corpses might be hidden must be carefully inspected to confirm their contents—corpses are the currency of necromancers, and must be guarded against at all costs to completely eliminate them."

He then took out a bottle of holy water from his robes and gestured for the laborers to come and wash their hands:
"High-purity purified holy water must be consecrated by priests in the Temple of Death for at least 6 hours. Marquis Faher! Please go to Searock City immediately to summon the Death Priests. The entire Eagle Fortress will need a large amount of purified holy water. Ensure that everyone undergoes a holy water check daily!"

Renn bowed slightly and said:
"I'll arrange it. By the way, what is the specific purpose of this purifying holy water?"

"The purifying holy water has an extremely strong restraining effect on the undead," Old Murak said coldly. "Living creatures bathing in the holy water will not be affected at all. If it is an ordinary corpse, it cannot be transformed into an undead creature after purification; if it is already an undead creature, the low-level ones will be killed directly, while the high-level ones will be severely restrained. It's like a creature suddenly suffering a painful stimulus, which will inevitably cause it to show abnormalities!"

"Every day at noon, arrange for everyone to receive the holy water baptism! We must find all the undead spies hiding in Eagle Fortress!"

The nobles frowned upon hearing this. Queuing up to wash their hands every noon? It wasn't that they had anything to hide; they just thought it was too much trouble.

"Don't think that daily identity checks are enough!" old Murak roared. "There's also food, water, and ventilation! Now, take me to the kitchen right now, immediately!"

Ryan nodded almost imperceptibly, and then Daryl gestured for old Murak to be led into the kitchen.

“He’s quite the decisive and experienced expert,” Grand Duke Malorne chuckled. “Raine, do you think it’s necessary to do as he says?”

“There’s no harm in it,” Ryan said slowly. “If the enemy is really hiding among us, it’s better to go through all the trouble of catching them in advance than to be stabbed in the back when we’re completely unprepared.”

“That’s what I think too,” Claudius chuckled. “The soldiers of the Imperial Legion are never afraid of identity verification. But the nobles…”

“No need for you to trouble yourself,” Grand Duke Malorne replied calmly. “The nobles of the Reach will not easily tarnish their honor.”

------------

The daily noon verification of whether someone had been replaced by an undead caused a great uproar among the nobles, especially those from the Riverlands.

They have never seen the Legion of Wraiths with their own eyes. They only know that we traveled thousands of miles to the Land of Fertiles to provide military support in order to fulfill our duties as vassals, and yet you suspect us of being the undead.

However, everyone quickly fell silent again.

Because the Grand Duke of Malorne has announced that he will be the first to be examined by the dead at noon every day.

Even the esteemed Grand Duke had to cooperate with the inspection, which rendered the disgruntled nobles below unable to protest any longer, otherwise they would surely be criticized: Is your honor more important than the Grand Duke's?

A tense and solemn atmosphere permeated everyone in Raine's study.

The heroes never expected that, having come to help fight the savages, the battle would turn against them before the savages were even defeated.

"Say something, Raine!" Dia urged anxiously. "Tomorrow at noon, everyone will be doused with holy water! They say that when the undead come into contact with holy water, it's like being scalded with boiling water; they'll scream in agony under the sun and evaporate on the spot!"

“What if you were wearing gloves?” Renn calmly countered.

“You mean…” Dia was slightly confused.

“The bodies that house our souls are alive,” Fatin said with a sudden realization. “So we’re not afraid of contact with holy water, right? But our souls are still undead, and that old man obviously won’t just use physical detection as a method. For example, what if he brings the Death Priests into Eagle Hold and uses undead detection spells on everyone in turn? Sooner or later, we’ll be exposed.”

"Why don't we assassinate this person?" Bersalia quickly employed her dark elf racial talent, making a throat-slitting gesture.

“You can leave the assassination work to me,” Aurora said seriously.

“Assassination?” Ellina said coldly. “As long as old Murak dies, no matter what the reason for his death, everyone will agree that he was killed by an undead spy lurking in Eagle Hold. The next witcher expert who comes will only be more ruthless.”

"At least it can buy us some time; the next leader can't just fly over directly," Bersalia said with a shrug.

“That’s right,” Aurora agreed. “If you leave it to me, I can pretend it was an accidental arrow killing.”

“If the problems caused by the person cannot be solved, it is certainly more appropriate to deal with the person themselves,” Fatin said expressionlessly.

Ellina was completely speechless. Looking at the three people opposite her, Bersalia was a veteran of political assassination, Aurora was good at long-range sniping, and Fatin not only didn't get along with her, but was also proficient in various close-range assassination techniques... In other words, all three of them were thorough radical militants who didn't care about any aristocratic ethics, making her feel quite isolated and alone.

She turned to Dia for help, but the little maid, unusually, did not speak up for her this time.

“Ellina,” Dia said hesitantly, “if it’s discovered that you are undead creatures, the entire River Bend Province… no, the entire Empire will not tolerate you. We will have no other choice.”

“The assassination isn’t urgent,” Raine finally spoke. “My Great Resurrection spell isn’t so easily seen through. On the contrary, we need the help of this veteran Witcher in our primary task of fighting the savages.”

The heroes were disheartened upon hearing this. When it came to understanding the undead, perhaps no one in the world could surpass Raine, but he couldn't reveal his identity as a necromancer. Therefore, he had to let old Murak act as the "mouthpiece," and everyone else had no choice but to continue bearing the risk.

With Raine's support, Ellina immediately gained confidence and calmly said:
"Yes. Assassination is the last resort. Who plays their trump card right from the start? If we kill this old Murak, there will be old Modi, old Muloto... In the end, only the River Bend Province coalition itself will suffer."

"You simply think that old Murak was doing his duty and couldn't bear to see him killed, right?" Bersalia said incisively.

“I don’t deny that I have this idea,” Ellina said seriously, “but the reasons I gave are also true. There is currently no evidence that old Murak is capable of discovering our identities, but we do need him to help the Allied Forces fight the Wraith Legion.”

“Alright,” Bersalia said, shrugging. “Since you’re confident you can stay out of the spotlight, then there’s no need for anyone to worry. But I’m actually quite curious about how you plan to guard against him.”

“It’s simple,” Renn said calmly. “A stubborn and prejudiced old fellow like him is bound to be disliked by many nobles…”

The news of the strategic stalemate between the Reach coalition and the Savage army on Eagle's Fort Plains gradually spread throughout the Empire.

Minister of State Helgen, who cannot tolerate fools, brought up the matter again at a court meeting, advocating that the Empire must send troops to support the River Bend Province as soon as possible, for example, by mobilizing the 19th Raven Legion in the South to provide military assistance to the Land of Plenty.

“As far as I know, Grand Duke Malorne has already conscripted the nobles of the Riverlands,” Chancellor Brown objected. “At the same time, the Nightmare Legion stationed in the Reach has also been mobilized. Almost the entire military force of the Reach province is now stationed in the northern part of the Serpent Mountains, and there is no evidence that they are no match for the Wildlings… if the so-called Wildling army really exists.”

"Are you accusing Grand Duke Malorne of lying to the court?" Helgen said angrily. "Should I ask the Grand Duke to write again and confront you in the letter?"

“Of course not,” Brown said with a smile. “I’m not doubting the Grand Duke’s statement; after all, it’s common knowledge that there are savages in the Serpent Mountains. Of course, ten thousand men are still an army, and a thousand men are still an army. Whether the River Bend Province’s strength is sufficient to fight these enemies requires further investigation and evidence gathering, rather than rashly spending a large amount of gold crown coins to make inter-provincial mobilizations of the Imperial Legion based solely on the Grand Duke’s word…”

He spoke eloquently and incessantly, as if mobilizing the imperial army in the southern border would bankrupt the imperial treasury the next second. But everyone knew that the fundamental reason Brown opposed supporting the River Bend Province was that he was the spokesperson for the nobles of the capital and even the nobles of the four borders, and therefore naturally had a tendency to suppress the nobles on the border.

Helgen knew he couldn't persuade the finance minister, so he turned his attention to Emperor Nilocas.

But the emperor's performance disappointed him once again.

“If the situation in the River Bend Province were truly urgent, Grand Duke Malorne would have sent a letter to the Royal Court requesting assistance,” Nilocas said calmly. “But he merely sent a note to the court requesting the Imperial Inquisition to send experts. Does that mean the situation hasn’t yet escalated to the point where the Imperial Legion is needed?”

“Your Majesty, your wisdom is beyond my reach,” Brown immediately flattered.

Helgen was furious. He realized that the reason Emperor Nilocas was unwilling to send troops to support the Reach Province was because the Grand Duke had not proactively sought help from the royal family, making the emperor feel disrespected.

But is that the problem? Of course, the Grand Duke of Malorne was unwilling to ask the royal family for help, because he would love for the royal family to stand idly by throughout the whole process. That way, after the barbarian invasion was quelled, all the nobles would only support the Grand Duke's leadership even more, and the empire's influence in the River Bend Province would inevitably be further weakened.

Unfortunately, Emperor Nilocas was not unaware of this principle. He simply didn't care about the empire's influence over the border provinces, focusing solely on strengthening his own authority as emperor.

Back at the mansion, a troubled Hergen picked up the newspaper the butler had placed on the desk in his study and began to read to dispel his boredom.

The election season is over, and the seats in the House of Representatives have been reshuffled once again. The Royalists gained 3% more seats, a considerable victory that made Helgen somewhat smug.

But he was very dissatisfied with the newly elected Ms. Florence.

The nobles of the capital were well aware that the Florentine councilor was the spokesperson for Queen Virtue, and that Queen Virtue was... to be precise, almost entirely useless except for her achievements in philanthropy, a field that required no brains, vision, or experience.

Therefore, the Republicans adored the Empress, since the enemy's worst ally was their best friend. Hergen, a royalist, was eager to tie the Empress's hands and feet and gag her so she would cause less trouble.

Florentine MP, a close confidant of the Queen, has recently dominated the front pages of major newspapers, constantly publishing radical articles on Amazonian issues, which makes traditional nobles like Helgen extremely uncomfortable.

He skipped over the “voices of the Amazons” and focused his gaze on a corner of the page.

Ok?
Marquis Fahel of the River Bend Province has offered 2000 gold crown coins to solicit outstanding academic achievements in spellcasting from around the world, promising to reward and fund them...

What Helgen noticed first was "2000 Gold Crown Coins". This was an enormous sum of money; even many prestigious chambers of commerce in the capital might not be able to come up with 2000 Gold Crown Coins for operating expenses.

Secondly, there's the second half of the statement. Marquis Fahel's recruitment wasn't limited to within the empire; he boldly extended it directly to the entire world. Of course, the 2000 gold crown coins also gave him the confidence to say that.

As is well known, besides the human empire, there are three other countries with a large number of spellcasters: the High Elf Kingdom with its exceptional racial talent, the Red Soil Plateau ruled by the Temple of Light, and the Fjordlands with its High Tower Wizards.

The High Elves are out of the question, and the Dark Elves may not be willing to leave the Red Soil Plateau either. So, Marquis Fahl is planning to poach people from the High Tower Wizards.

Helgen could sense something was amiss, because Renn Fahr possessed the dual attributes of "River Bend nobleman" and "Queen's confidant," which meant that within the royalist faction, he was almost certainly an enemy of traditionalists like Helgen.

However, if Helgen had to choose between Marquis Fahel and Grand Duke Marorne, he would certainly prefer Marquis Fahel to gain prestige through this war, since the Grand Dukes on the border were regional powers and posed a great threat to the power of the central government of the empire.

“Go and inform Thereso.” He called the butler to his study and instructed him, “Send this message to the Fjordlands… no, not to the Fjordlands’ embassy in the Empire, but to have the merchants’ association in the East pass it on through the lower levels.”

The Fjordlands are an alliance of city-states, with major merchant guilds holding ruling power, and they would certainly not allow the High Tower Wizards to leave. However, Helgen did not believe that the Fjordlands authorities could stop this.

After all, that's 2000 gold crown coins.

In fact, Helgen underestimated the allure of the money.

The first to go crazy were the spellcasters' guilds in the capital. Many archmages had stopped their apprentices' research projects and instead sent them to try "more adventurous, bolder, and more innovative" research directions. They were required to submit daily reports and hold weekly group meetings, just like academic slave owners who had wielded the whip to get the bonus.

Meanwhile, due to the frequent exchanges between the mages of the capital and the wizards of the tower, some wizards in the Fjord also received the message brought by the raven within a few days.

After the High Tower Wizarding Association learned of this, many wizards applied for overseas assignments under the guise of "academic exchange," bringing their families to the capital, all in order to get the latest information on this selection event as soon as possible.

"We absolutely cannot let the Empire use these gold coins to poach our wizards!" an association elder shouted emotionally in the council meeting. "Immediately halt all wizards' overseas academic exchange programs! Those who have not yet left the Fjordlands must be forcibly recalled!"

“Wait a minute, do you think it’s too radical to halt all foreign visits?” His colleague disagreed, saying, “You know, Marquis Fahel isn’t hiring wizards, he’s just funding outstanding academic work. Our wizards can go, collect the money, and come back – that’s 2000 gold crown coins.”

The association elders, who were initially very emotional, felt their spirits plummet when they saw their colleagues nodding in agreement.

These guys... they're not actually unconcerned about brain drain, they're just as tempted by the funding! It's just 2000 Gold Crown Coins! Not even enough for my Soul Crystal research project...

Hmm, my research funding shortfall this year is also quite large. The merchants in the trading city-states are also ambiguous about adjusting next year's funding budget. Surely they're not trying to make things difficult for me later.

"Alright." Thinking of his research project, which was practically a bottomless pit of funds, he finally put down his airs as an elder of the association and began to show the agility of a mature wizard. "I take back what I said earlier, but the academic exchanges of the Tower Wizards represent the dignity and face of the Tower Wizards. We absolutely cannot allow some wizards who are not academically proficient to sneak in."

"I suggest that, starting today, the entry review mechanism for international exchange programs be strictly strengthened, requiring parliamentary approval and a stamp before departure!"

This suggestion was unanimously approved by his colleagues. After all, they were academic cliques; using administrative power to monopolize academic resources was a skill they were born with, and they didn't need to hesitate at all.

Soon after, the High Tower Wizarding Council announced a strict review and approval system for all wizards' academic visit programs, and also prohibited High Tower wizards from leaving the country without approval, effective immediately.

It would have been better if this official announcement hadn't been made; instead, its release aroused suspicion among many uninformed Tower Wizards: Why is the Council restricting our academic exchanges with the outside world? Has something happened on the Empire's side?
Some people with a keen eye went out and inquired through various channels, eventually learning about the "2000 gold crown coins" from the Empire...

Enough said. Since leaving the country is not allowed at will, I'll just board a trading city-state's fleet to conduct research in the open sea. You can't stop me from doing that, can you? You can command us, but can you control the trading city-state?

Then something quite ironic happened. The Wizarding Council's public ban only made more Tower Wizards aware of the matter, and they internally announced that they would go into seclusion and not accept visitors. They then disguised themselves and boarded a trading fleet bound for the eastern border of the Empire.

Unbeknownst to Raine, almost all the high-rise wizards in the Fjordlands were in an uproar over these 2000 gold crown coins.

He was currently receiving Richard "Red Beard," a renowned southern mage and representative of the Spellcasters' Guild from Highrock City. It was said that Richard had suffered an accident while researching fire magic in his younger days, causing all his body hair to turn red, and a solution had yet to be found.

“Foolish, Your Excellency Marquis!” Archmage Richard exchanged a few pleasantries with Renn before stating his purpose with a bitter expression. “If you wish to fund the academic research of outstanding mages, our River Bend Province Spellcasters Guild has many exceptionally talented mages! Why go to such lengths, searching worldwide?”

“Haha, I’m not doubting the academic abilities of the mages in our River Bend Province,” Raine said with a smile. “It’s just that I plan to make this funding a long-term, regular program. It’s impossible to keep this a secret. When the time comes, mages from other places will definitely flock to River Bend to register for this money, which will only cause more unnecessary trouble.”

The words "long-term" and "normalized" stunned Master Richard, his face turning as red as if it were on fire.

"2000 gold crown coins every year?" he asked incredulously.

“Yes, possibly more,” Renn said slowly. “I plan to establish a foundation specifically to manage this fund and open up public donation channels to the imperial nobility. If all goes well, the total prize money will only increase in the future, because the imperial family is very generous in this regard, and Her Majesty the Empress is known for her enthusiasm for charity. I think she wouldn't hesitate to invest a small amount to enhance the prestige of the imperial family…”

Master Richard was utterly awestruck.

(End of this chapter)