Do you have a problem with necromancers?

Chapter 76 Family Tombs
Human lords favored tall, sturdy castles, while elven lords preferred beautiful manors. For example, Berthalia planted roses all over the Radiant Court during her lifetime, hence she was also known as the Rose Queen.

Wood elves are even more passionate about gardening.

The Lord's Manor in Blacksend City was originally the Florella family's Flower Manor, where professional gardeners tended more than 200 varieties of flowers, including many rare and precious species, creating a vibrant display of blooms throughout the year.

After the Talas family took over, because the sacred green covenant forbade harming plant life, it was impossible to completely eradicate these flowers. They could only wait for their natural life to end and then replace them in batches with other plants.

The plant they chose was the holly, a type of evergreen shrub that doesn't change much throughout the year.

Wood elves believe that lords should choose plants that match their own character to plant near their dwellings.

The current chieftain of the Talas, Connell, was undoubtedly a dull and uninteresting middle-aged man, as sparse and uninteresting as a holly tree. He ignored the flattery of the Bounty Hunters Guild President, Roller, and simply scrutinized Rein and the others with a serious expression.

“A combination of humans, high elves, and dark elves.” Chieftain Cornelius stared at Raine and said slowly, “Very rare, very… suspicious.”

"Judging by appearances is a flaw unique to the lower class," Renn retorted sarcastically, making Chairman Basil, who was trying to smooth things over, break out in a cold sweat. "Pretending to know what you don't know in an unfamiliar field only highlights your ignorance and arrogance."

Connell wasn't angry after hearing this; instead, he chuckled.
"A bounty hunter with a temper? Do you know that just for these few offensive words, I could order my guards to drag you out and hang you?"

“Then you’ll never find another hunter squad that can solve your problems,” Renn retorted with a sneer.

These words struck a chord with Connell. If he truly valued aristocratic etiquette and wouldn't tolerate being offended, he would have already kicked Rein and the others out.

However, resolving the problems deep within the cemetery is far more important than upholding the dignity of the nobility. If the former cannot be resolved, it will directly shake the prestige and foundation of the Talas family.

"I hope your skills are as sharp as your words." Connell gestured, leading the group deeper into the manor, and said, "You are not the first batch of hunters that Chairman Basil introduced to me. However, those who came before you never came out after entering the cemetery—in a way, that means I don't have to worry about leaks, hehe."

“Since the end of last year, strange noises have been frequently heard from deep within our family cemetery. The steward once sent servants down to investigate, but they found nothing unusual.”

“Until three months ago, these strange noises started to appear more and more frequently, even affecting our daily rest. And none of those who went in to explore again came out alive.”

“There are even some bad rumors circulating outside that the Talas family is secretly conducting research on necromancy. I must point out that this is nonsense, because none of our family members in any generation have ever had the talent of a spellcaster. It's just that we can't stand the gossip in the city, so we have to dismiss a large number of servants and keep only the absolutely loyal old servants to prevent more bizarre and vicious rumors from spreading from the family to the outside world.”

“Bounty hunter, you guessed right. As long as you can solve the trouble deep in the cemetery and keep quiet about it for the rest of your life, I will pay you the reward you deserve as promised, and I will not care about any issues with your attitude.”

"Of course, if you fail and disappear completely inside, then I won't bother arguing with a dead man, haha."

Connell laughed heartily, seemingly quite pleased with his dark humor.

No one cares about him.

The group arrived at the entrance to the family cemetery of Talas, a standard underground tomb with an old tree with gnarled roots growing at the top. The wood elves believed that digging a family tomb under an old tree would allow the soul of the deceased to be protected by the tree spirit and spared from attacks by evil creatures.

From this vantage point, one can indeed hear the strange noises that Conner described as coming from "deep within the cemetery," like the labored whimpers of someone suffering from some kind of illness; it sounds rather eerie and unsettling.

Whether it was Ellina, Bersalia, or Dia, they all turned their gazes toward Renn without prior agreement.

Although we didn't quite understand, this necromancer could definitely glean something from those voices. Raine first wore a thoughtful expression, then realized what was happening, and his expression turned into an undisguised sneer.

“It’s right here,” Chief Kangnai sighed. “There used to be guards at the entrance to the tomb. But ever since those strange noises became more and more unrestrained, no one has been willing to stand guard here anymore. Fortunately, the monsters inside seem to only devour those who go in to explore, and they don’t rush out and kill us all.”

“It’s not a monster,” Renn said calmly. “Judging from the voice, it should be a newly born lich.”

"A lich?" Connell's eyes widened instinctively. "Our Talas family could never have a lich! We..."

"Don't get agitated. This lich may not have originated from here," Raine said slowly. "Perhaps it just happened to be passing by and took a liking to this place, wanting to rent your family's burial grounds to carry out some nefarious scheme..."

“That’s right, that’s it!” Connell said through gritted teeth as if grasping at a straw. “It must be a hateful evil lich that has taken over our family tomb! The reputation of the Talas family cannot be tarnished! Hunters, you must go deep into the tomb and kill that damned lich! I will double your reward from the original mission reward to 70 gold crowns!”

President Basil, standing nearby, was also deeply moved, because 70 gold crown coins was already a huge sum of money—Raine had previously donated 200 gold crown coins to the Amazon Memorial Association, which even allowed Her Majesty Queen Margarina to condescend to meet her. 70 gold crown coins could probably get one-third of Margarina to meet her.

If this task can be completed successfully, it will be almost equivalent to Black Forest City winning the largest order in the entire Jungle Sea this year, and as the president, her promotion and salary increase will be a sure thing!

“Alright, let’s go.” Renn lit a torch and led the three of them down the stone steps into the cold, damp family cemetery.

President Basil was still lost in his dream of promotion and a raise, but he didn't notice that the clan chief Connery gave a wink to the two guards behind him, one of whom quickly turned and left.

Upon entering the family cemetery, they found themselves surrounded by protruding tree roots, some of which blocked the path, forcing them to squeeze through sideways.

“Raine,” Dia suddenly asked, “is it really a lich inside?”

“Of course.” Raine led the way, holding the torch. “Not the kind of failed attempt that Berthalia made to transform herself before she died, but a genuine lich.”

Berthalia snorted in protest.

“The lich’s rapid spellcasting is difficult to deal with,” Ellina said calmly. “It’s important to strike first and launch a fierce attack; we can’t give it the opportunity to calmly cast spells and divide the battlefield.”

“Instead of that, it’s better to worry about the clan leader.” Bersalia narrowed her eyes. “After he heard that there might be liches deep in the tomb, his expression immediately became extremely unnatural. There must be some secret he doesn’t want to tell us.”

“I suspect that the sentence he kept emphasizing was just a word game,” Ellina analyzed. “No member of the Taros family has ever had the talent of a spellcaster. In other words, if an evil necromancer were to appear, the Taros family could simply expel him from the family and erase all traces of him, and he would no longer belong to the Taros family.”

“Just like they did to the Florella family,” Berthalia agreed wholeheartedly. “So what we’re dealing with might be an evil ancestor that the Talos family doesn’t acknowledge.”

“If it lived long enough, it might know where Aurora’s remains are hidden,” Dia thought to herself.

Elrina frowned slightly, just as Bersalia leaned closer and said in a voice only she could hear:
“If the lich hidden here really knows where Aurora’s remains are, then this amazing coincidence can only be explained by the gods supporting Raine in his fight against the White Walkers and guiding him to resurrect all the ancient heroes of our time… We can fight against necromancers, but we cannot fight against the fate that has already been written by the gods, Eileen.”

Ellina paused for a moment, then replied:
“I don’t believe in fate, Bertha.”

"I will make my own judgment."

(End of this chapter)