Do you have a problem with necromancers?

Chapter 114 Assassination
Haiyan City was a fairly ordinary city, inhabited by a large number of artisans, sailors, and merchant families. Many farmers were also scattered throughout the surrounding villages, regularly traveling to the city to purchase supplies.

Now, the city is filled with a large number of foreign mages from all over the country, making the residents of Haiyan City somewhat uncomfortable.

Wizards' attire is generally bizarre. In early spring, before the temperature has risen, many wizards walk around in a robe, revealing their hairy thighs—the inside of the robe is adorned with cheap gems imbued with temperature-stabilizing magic, requiring re-infusion of magic every few hours, far less convenient than adding a layer of clothing, but many wizards prefer to "solve problems with magic."

The tavern, once filled with family knights without fiefdoms, exuded a boisterous and boisterous atmosphere of casual conversation. But now, with Eagle Hold about to go to war with the savages, the knights have been conscripted, and the tavern's regulars have become mages.

Unlike the knights who preferred strong liquor, the mages favored low-alcohol fruit wines, so much so that the tavern owner had to clear out all the stock in the cellar and place a large new order with a caravan from the bountiful lands.

After drinking too much and being surrounded by academic colleagues, the conversation naturally flowed.

Most of the mages came to Searock City with a simple purpose: to obtain firsthand information about this enormous prize money. In this world without the internet, much information passed down by word of mouth or in letters is easily distorted; they had to go there in person to confirm it.

Of course, as the number of mages gathered in Haiyan City increased, a corresponding clustering effect also began to emerge:
To everyone's surprise, there were so many academic peers around that "you could mention any topic and someone would immediately say they had done it before." As a result, academic discussions quickly broke out in the tavern, with many people arguing heatedly with their peers, their faces flushed and their eyes bulging, wishing they could find an open space to demonstrate their magic skills.

The Archmage Richard, who had not yet left, sat quietly to the side, sipping his wine, secretly astonished.

The common perception of monks is that they are socially awkward because they don't have much in common with most people. They might think, "You don't understand my field of study, and I have absolutely no interest in the things you chat about, so I'd rather stay home and do academic work."

However, mages are a profession that greatly benefits from mutual exchange; working in isolation can easily lead to a lack of inspiration. Within the same guild, things are manageable, but those in different locations can only rely on ravens that take days or even weeks to travel back and forth to communicate. How can that compare to having so many mages gathered here, able to meet directly and discuss their knowledge?

Richard even saw several senior Tower Wizards he knew, all of whom were usually very busy people, but he never expected them to come to the River Bend Province of the Empire.

He quickly grabbed his wine glass and went over to greet the other person warmly.

Similar things happened in various places. Many monks realized that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for exchange, and no one else would have the prestige to gather so many monks together.

As a result, the academic discussion atmosphere in Haiyan City became increasingly intense, reaching an unprecedented level.

Some merchant guilds that specialize in serving mages, such as those that sell spellcasting materials, buy scrolls, and rent ravens, have also flocked to Searock City to do big business with so many mages.

These merchant guilds originally had exclusive supply agreements with the spellcasters' guild, and the two sides had basically never negotiated or argued about prices. Now that the sellers have gathered in the city to compete and compare prices, they have driven the prices down to a level even more favorable than the guild prices, much to the delight of many mages, who then went on a shopping spree during their spare time.

Diamond, who was originally in charge of collecting taxes on Salt Island, also began to take charge of the tax collection work for the entire Fahel territory after Rein was promoted to Marquis of Fahel. He keenly noticed that the gathering of these mages was greatly stimulating the Fahel family's economy, so he quickly wrote to Rein of Eagle Hold to ask whether he should take advantage of the situation to raise taxes and let these mages and merchants make a fortune in gold coins.

After all, once the Fahre Prize is over, these mages will all go back to their own homes, so they might as well use their loot.

The raven flew out in the morning and returned to Gullburg that evening. Unexpectedly, Raine rejected his proposal in a letter and told him that the Fahre Prize would be awarded annually thereafter, and that Diamond "must ensure that during the award period, the market price of relevant goods in Searock City is sold at a discounted price lower than usual."

Diamond fell into deep thought.

Promotional activities certainly exist in this world, but there aren't any large-scale promotions like "Double 11" held at a fixed time. After all, without a rapidly developing industrial powerhouse to support it, the limited quantity of goods, the handful of buyers, and the inefficient distribution channels make it difficult to support large-scale marketing activities.

However, the smuggling trade between the Faher family and the Gem Islands makes it easy for Searock City to obtain various spellcasting materials and components from the High Elves; if they could also take advantage of the low prices of goods to attract mage sellers to Searock City every year…

Who knows, it might actually create an even more lucrative source of income than smuggling?

Now that Raine had given the order, Diamond summoned his tax collectors and told them to relax their tax inspections for the time being, tacitly allowing some shops to reduce costs by evading taxes, but anyone who dared to take the opportunity to raise prices to make money... hmph.

The mages gathered in Haiyan City were having a great time, exchanging ideas with their fellow mages and shopping. They were so engrossed in their activities that they didn't even know that a large army of savages was gathering strength in the Snake and Insect Mountains to the south, ready to invade Haiyan City at any moment.

Several days later, the details of the Fahre Prize were finally posted on the pillars in the square in front of Gullburg Gate.

The Fahel Prize is divided into six categories, five of which correspond to the five major schools of magic and are awarded to the "most innovative and influential academic achievements." The judging committee comprises imperial court mages, high-ranking officials from various guilds, and elders of the High Tower Wizarding Association—all influential figures in academia. Therefore, no one dared to question the fairness of the selection process.

If we disregard innovation, the title of "most influential academic achievement" would already eliminate 99% of ordinary mages; only senior figures in academia would have a chance to compete.

On the contrary, the sixth item, the "Spell Contribution Award," which specifically targets the vengeful spirit army that is plotting to invade the Reach, has many mages eager to try their hand at it.

Because of the existence of the Inquisition in the capital, no one would admit to having any knowledge of vengeful spirits. However... given the generally strong thirst for knowledge among mages, even if they don't study the specific techniques of necromancy, most will secretly hide some forbidden books at home to study theoretical knowledge, hoping to make use of what they have learned from others.

In terms of in-depth expertise in a professional field, we are certainly not as good as those academic giants, but what if my inspiration suddenly explodes when it comes to this kind of award that relies purely on whimsy?

Therefore, during the selection process, Oubao receives a large number of submissions and nominations every day.

The second-floor lobby of Gullburg has been transformed into the workplace of the Fahre Prize jury.

The committee, composed of Byrd, Richard, and others, not only had to review the nominations for the five major awards, but also had to sift through the submissions to send those seemingly feasible yet far-fetched proposals to Eagle Hold—the number of submissions for the Spell Contribution Award was more than all the nominations for the other awards combined.

Renn sat upright in the lord's study of Eagle Hold, flipping through the submissions from the mages.

It has to be said that those who can become mages in this world are similar to modern-day Olympiad winners—all incredibly intelligent individuals. Many of the solutions proposed were beyond even the necromancer master, Renn's, imagination.

Some sorcerers have pointed out that the difference between vengeful spirits and ghosts lies in the different structures of their spiritual essence. A disruptive barrier can be designed using Claude Nabina's spell balancing formula to target vengeful spirits. When a vengeful spirit disguised as a human enters the barrier, the imbalance of necromantic energy on its body causes a severe optical distortion in its human-like appearance, thus rendering its disguise ineffective.

Good method, I'll copy it! However, Master Nabinain switched to being a necromancer in his later years. Although the Imperial Spellcasters' Guild did not declare his research materials as forbidden books, ordinary mages could not possibly get their hands on them to read. You wouldn't happen to be a necromancer too, would you?!

Raine picked up the next document. The mage had devised a powerful dispelling spell that could continuously banish undead creatures within its range. While the undead were immune to mind illusions, this spell cleverly borrowed a small amount of the River Styx's aura—all undead instinctively fear the River Styx, a reaction of awakened souls against eternal slumber.

This idea is absolutely brilliant, but it's not very friendly to necromancers. If the spell gets widespread, my ancient heroes will all be affected.

Raine decided to dismiss the suggestion outright. He also used this idea to improve his Caged Bird Spell, ensuring the heroes could focus more intently on fighting the White Walkers.

Everything is for the sake of saving the world.

On the other side, the Witcher Old Murak and the Death Priest Nisk, who had just arrived at Eagle Hold, were on the stairs leading to the Lord's study on the top floor.

“Why are you still so radical?” Niske pleaded with his friend. “These people aren’t ordinary commoners; they’re nobles from the Reach! How can you apply your methods to nobles?”

"Will vengeful spirits show mercy to nobles?" Murak countered.

“The vengeful spirits will not forgive the nobles, and the nobles will not forgive you either,” Nisk sighed. “The vengeful spirit army hasn’t even arrived yet, and I think you’re about to be killed by the nobles.”

Old Murak ignored this and simply pulled Niske up the castle steps, through the knight guards' inspection, and finally arrived at the door of Renn's study.

When Raine received news that old Murak had come to visit again, he was somewhat speechless. The old man's stubborn and inflexible personality was perfect for dealing with the army of wraiths and White Walkers, so why was he always thinking of making trouble for my people on my turf?

“My lord, I have brought him here.” Murak entered the lord’s study and said in a deep voice, “This is High Death Priest Nisk Prich, who served in the Temple of Death in the South for more than ten years, purified more than ten thousand corpses of commoners, knights and nobles, and has rich experience in fighting the undead.”

“Not that many,” Nisk said modestly, “around seven or eight thousand.” “Anyway,” Murak said curtly, “please grant Nisk the authority to use undead detection spells on everyone in Eagle Hold…”

“Don’t rush to detect the undead.” Renn gestured for the two to sit down and tossed the mages’ submissions onto the table. “In Searock City, I publicly solicited methods from mages worldwide for dealing with the vengeful spirit army. These are their submissions; take a look first.”

A mage? To deal with the vengeful spirit army?

Old Murak and Nisk, a witcher and a death priest respectively, both possessed extensive experience dealing with necromancers and undead creatures, and were quite dismissive of the unrealistic fantasies of laymen. However, since the lord had given the order, they couldn't simply refuse him, so they could only sit down at the desk and begin to read carefully.

“Extraspiratory matter…” Murak looked at the paper in his hand and asked doubtfully, “Is there a difference between the extraspiratory matter of vengeful spirits and that of ghosts?”

“Of course there is,” Nisk exclaimed in amazement. “Exospheres are the shells used by ghost-like creatures to contain the souls of the dead. Different souls inside will naturally have different shells. But the author actually thought of measuring the specific vibration frequency of the exosphere, which is a direction I never thought of at all.”

"In other words, the author of this paper is very likely a heretic who has dabbled in necromancy." Murak's eyes turned fierce.

“Witcher, I have to remind you,” Raine said slowly, sitting behind his desk. “Our immediate priority is to find a way to deal with the Legion of Wraiths as soon as possible, not to investigate whether an unidentified mage has ever dabbled in necromancy.”

"Even if we did get involved, so what? Does this mage have the ability to unleash a calamity of the dead that will affect the entire Reach? Gentlemen, what we are facing now is an army of vengeful spirits transformed from savages. They are numerous, have no respect for the empire or authority, and yearn to drag countless living beings into their hellish abyss."

“That’s right,” Nisk agreed. “Murak, can you focus on the important matter at hand? I came all the way from the Riverlands not to help you investigate whether the author of a paper with no evidence of wrongdoing is a necromancer.”

Murak was speechless and could only silently memorize the authors' names, saying aloud:
“I’m not a professional, but based on the description in this paper, it is indeed necessary to set up this so-called ‘nabinaine interference barrier’ within the Eagle Fortress area.”

“I agree,” Nisk nodded and said. “No matter how powerful the Wraith Legion is, it can’t expand as quickly as the Scourge. The noble knights and the Imperial Legion can still handle it. This is probably why the Savage Army has always been holed up in the mountains and has not dared to go out and fight the Reach Alliance head-on.”

"But if they infiltrate Eagle Keep, they can easily cause even more serious damage to the army. Therefore, of all the manuscripts, this paper should be the most worthy of winning an award."

"All the manuscripts?" Ryan asked in surprise. "Gentlemen, we haven't even read a tenth of the submissions yet."

He clapped his hands lightly, and two servants appeared outside the door, carrying in a mountain of manuscripts.

Even though Murak was already used to all kinds of high-intensity overtime and work, he couldn't help but stare blankly when he saw so many stacks of parchment.

After handing over the reviewing work to the two men, Renn leisurely left the lord's study, and Dia, who had been waiting outside the door, immediately followed him.

“Raine.” As they walked down the long corridor, Dia finally couldn’t help but ask, “Was this also within your expectations? From the moment you came up with the Fahre Prize, did you already plan to use this method to avoid the Witcher’s scrutiny?”

“Since they enjoy doing things, let’s give them something to do.” Renn looked out the window with his hands behind his back. The plains surrounding Eagle Fortress and the Raging Tide River in the distance were all visible from this height. “Ellina is right. Since they are just doing their duty, there is no need to kill them directly.”

"What if that witcher insists on doing things his own way and keeps casting undead detection spells all over Eagle Hold?" Dia asked.

Ryan just glanced at her sideways:
What do you think will happen?

Need I say more? They'll definitely use those disgruntled nobles to get rid of this old witcher.

A sudden surge of joy rose in Dia's heart, not only because Rein had not harmed any innocent people this time, but also because she realized that she could now keep up with Rein's logical thinking, and was no longer as bewildered and naive as she had been when they first met.

“But I don’t think it’s necessary to actually kill him.” She quickly followed behind Raine. “Just get rid of him. When the White Walkers start invading the Imperial territory, the Inquisition will inevitably be at the forefront of the fight against them. Having an experienced witcher will be beneficial to us.”

“That makes sense.” Renn nodded approvingly. “Dia, you’re starting to get your brain working.”

"I have a brain!" Dia was so angry that she wanted to kick him, but when she saw Grand Duke Malone standing across the corridor, she quickly restrained herself in front of outsiders and humbly retreated behind Renn.

"Your Excellency the Duke?" Renn asked casually.

"I need to speak with you," Grand Duke Malorne said in a deep voice. "Come with me."

“Hmm.” Renn walked to the Grand Duke’s side and suddenly reached out a hand and pressed it on his shoulder.

Grand Duke Malorne's body twisted violently in an instant. It emitted a high-decibel shriek, as if it were enduring some extremely cruel punishment, but the sound quickly stopped, and its body suddenly collapsed, turning into a pool of thick liquid on the ground.

Dia finally realized what was happening and quickly stepped in front of Renn, asking in a startled voice:

"This is……"

“A vengeful spirit.” Renn stroked his chin with interest. “I originally intended to seize control of this vengeful spirit, but I didn’t expect it to actually commit suicide under my command… Oh, since it disguised itself as the Grand Duke to approach me, it was probably aiming to assassinate me at the cost of its life, so it’s not surprising that it would resort to such methods. Tsk, why didn’t I think of that before?”

"It's going to assassinate you?" Dia suddenly realized. "That means..."

Before he finished speaking, a commotion arose below, accompanied by the knights' muffled groans, shouts of battle, and roars.

Enemy forces have invaded Eagle Fortress!
"I wonder if the Grand Duke and the Legion Commander are dead or not." Renn didn't seem surprised, and simply ordered, "Go and check first."

The two descended the castle stairs to the lower level and saw Grand Duke Malorne clutching his chest, his face already a deep blue, clearly poisoned by some deadly toxin, blood gushing from his mouth and nose.

The perpetrator was a vengeful assassin who had disguised himself as a nobleman to attend the party. He had already been hacked down by the guarding knights, the swords sliding off his soft, ethereal surface.

"Damn vengeful spirit!" Murak and Niske, who had also rushed downstairs upon hearing the noise, immediately took action.

Murak hurled a bottle at the ceiling, causing highly concentrated purifying holy water to explode and spray onto the vengeful assassin, instantly melting into him like concentrated sulfuric acid. Nisk seized the opportunity to cast a purification spell, attempting to completely capture the vengeful spirit, but its body quickly twisted, shrank, and collapsed, leaving behind only a pool of translucent spiritual matter.

The Marorne family's magical advisor also rushed over from downstairs in a fit of rage. His duty was the same as the knights' guards: to protect His Excellency the Duke from magical and sword assassinations. Unfortunately, the Grand Duke Marorne had just been discussing important matters with his trusted nobles and wouldn't allow him, a hired mage, to be present, so he had been sent downstairs to drink.

Now that the Grand Duke has been assassinated, the Marlowe family cannot verify whether it was on the Grand Duke's orders, and they will inevitably hold him accountable for not being present at the time!
The surrounding knights and guards were also utterly devastated. With their lord assassinated, their futures were completely bleak. The nobles present huddled in a corner, their faces pale, warily eyeing everyone around them, fearing that they too might be vengeful spirits in disguise.

"Please order a citywide curfew immediately!" Murak glanced at the corpse before turning to Rein and saying, "The Wraith Legion is infiltrating Eagle Keep on a massive scale; everyone must be gathered together!"

“Dia?” Raine turned and gave the order.

"Okay, I'll go right away." Dia hurriedly turned and left.

Nisk began casting a necromancy detection spell. A faint light fell upon everyone, revealing nothing unusual, except for the lingering spirits left behind by the assassin on the ground, which quickly turned a deep rose-red, resembling extremely thick blood plasma.

“It seems there are no more vengeful assassins here,” Raine said expressionlessly. “Everyone, please take good care of the Grand Duke. I still need to check on the Legion Commander’s situation.”

After saying that, he turned and left without hesitation, leaving the nobles and knights in the room looking at each other, staring at the Grand Duke whose body had already turned cold, and for a moment they were completely silent.

(End of this chapter)