Do you have a problem with necromancers?

Chapter 26 The Old Maid

Like Ellina, Bersalia is also a powerful ancient hero.

She is skilled in swordsmanship, has a deep understanding of poisons, and has mastered many powerful fire spells.

She herself claims to have some knowledge of necromancy. However, Raine personally tested her level of knowledge in this area.

It was identified as a water lily.

Necromancy is a profound and complex discipline. Take, for example, Raine's Great Resurrection spell, which involves complex knowledge from numerous interdisciplinary fields such as flesh and blood reshaping, soul manipulation, and underworld interference.

If Bersalia had a sufficiently high level of sorcery, she wouldn't even need to prepare for the lich transformation in the cabin and silently wait to die. She could simply extract the essence of flesh and blood from the corpses of the assassins at the scene and easily repair her severe injuries.

Master-level necromancers are often also master-level healers. In their hands, the flesh and blood of life are nothing more than clay that can be kneaded and shaped at will.

Having resolved Bersalia's matter, Renn encountered another problem.

How to explain Poirot Fahre's death to his family.

"Why don't we pretend to be pirates and kill him?" Bersalia suggested. "Since he dared to sail out to sea alone, it's only natural that he would be attacked by passing pirates."

“What pirates would dare to come to the vicinity of Salt Island to plunder?” Renn rejected this excuse. “The places where pirates appear must first be areas with dense fleet routes, and secondly, there cannot be ports controlled by noble forces nearby. The Fahre fleet is stationed on Iron Harbor Island, so pirates will not come here.”

“It was my oversight,” Bersalia said with a smile.

The dark elves live on the sun-drenched red soil plateau, where there is no ocean around them, so it's normal that the Rose Queen doesn't understand the habits of pirates.

Renn looked at Ellina, who stood with her arms crossed, saying nothing and offering no suggestions.

"Why do I need to explain?" Dia asked cautiously. "Salt Island is your territory, Renn. He came here without informing you beforehand, so why should you be held responsible for his disappearance?"

All three of them were slightly taken aback.

That seems to make some sense?
Raine turned to look at the drowned ghosts floating on the sea. One of their faces had beady eyes, a bulbous nose, and was fat and swollen... It was Poirot Fahre's face.

When he left his family, Poirot was just a little kid, and the two didn't have much interaction. They could only recognize each other when they met.

Forget it, I’m too lazy to care.

"Then let's destroy the evidence." Renn snapped his fingers.

The undead creatures around them immediately exploded one after another.

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After returning to Blood Fortress, Raine began to handle territory affairs.

First, there were the people's living quarters.

Considering that Ellina and Bersalia were old friends, Rein thoughtfully arranged for them to stay in adjacent rooms.

As for Dia, her term as a maid was not yet over, so she was allowed to live in the maid's room next to the master's bedroom, so that she could come and serve her master in time every morning.

Secondly, there are taxation and population statistics.

There are about three hundred people in Iron Harbor City, and with all the fishing villages on Salt Island, the total population is at most five hundred.

In addition, there are many craftsmen and sailors in the shipyards and fleet bases, but they are all subjects directly under the Fahre family and do not pay taxes or serve in service on Salt Island, so they cannot be counted in the total population.

To sum it up in one word: remote and impoverished, with very few people.

Ryan continued reviewing the documents and discovered an even more serious problem.

Salt Island does not have its own armed forces.

The absence of noble knights and full-time soldiers is understandable. But the lack of even basic city guards raises the question: who will take charge if disputes or crimes occur on the island?

The answer is self-determination by the residents.

This "self-determination" is a euphemism; in reality, it means no one is taking care of you.

Without guards, taxes obviously can't be collected. The iron mines and boxwood forests on the island were all forcibly conscripted from the citizens of Haiyan City by the family, and the resources produced were also taken away by the family. No wonder even a dog wouldn't want this fiefdom. "Write this down," Rein instructed Dia. "First: When I meet with Father next time, I want to take back all the mines and forests."

"Huh?" Dia was immediately dumbfounded. "Although these resources should rightfully belong to us, the old Marquis won't agree to just asking for them directly! Besides, you're all family, why are you fighting over ownership?"

"Managing territory! You think this is child's play?" Renn tapped her on the head. "How's your vocabulary learning with Ellina going? Can you write and read it all yet?"

“Yes, I’ve already learned over 1000 words.” Dia handed him the parchment in her hand to look at.

Although the handwriting is crooked and there are many grammatical errors, it is still barely readable.

"Second," Renn continued, "I will recruit knights in Searock City."

"Are you planning to choose from the existing knight families?" Dia asked casually as she quickly wrote on the paper.

“Being born into a knightly family means long-term leave from work for military training, which is of course the top priority,” Renn said calmly. “But among these people, there are probably not many who are willing to come to the Salt Island fiefdom.”

"If the number is insufficient, we will consider selecting from healthy and positive adult leaders to make up the difference."

"Are you planning to promote knights from among the commoners?" Dia asked in surprise. "Won't that cause resentment among the knightly community?"

“Whatever,” Renn sneered. “I’ll give the family knights a chance first. If they don’t appreciate it, then let them know: if you won’t do it, there are plenty of others who will!”

Dia pursed her lips almost imperceptibly.

Given Ryan's personality, if he really takes a liking to someone, he will definitely stop at nothing to force them to pledge allegiance to him.

Aren't I, Ellina, and Bersalia the best examples?
If Renn intends to promote knights from among the commoners, it must be because he looks down on the strength of the family knights; there is no other possibility.

After finishing writing the memo, Dia took it to her room next door to formally copy it several times and carefully check and correct any grammatical errors—this was also a "Chinese homework" assigned to her by Ellina.

Renn, on the other hand, started reading the astrologer's newspaper.

This fantasy world does have newspapers. The largest one is probably the "Mage Weekly," sponsored by the Continental Spellcasters' Association. It publishes academic papers on various fields of magic, and is collectively funded by mages from all over the world.

Raine also subscribed to a copy. Although his major, necromancy, was rather taboo and unlikely to be openly discussed in the *Mage Weekly*, it was still good to see new discoveries in other disciplines. After all, one can learn from others' experiences.

Secondly, you can subscribe to some specialized newspapers and magazines based on your actual needs.

For example, the "Star News" newspaper, although almost the entire article discusses the latest astrological discoveries, has a section at the end dedicated to weather forecasts for various parts of mainland China.

Raine found the information he was most interested in: the rainforest peninsula officially entered the rainy season this Wednesday.

In other words, once the rainy season arrives and the River Mad rises, the White Walkers' activities on the surface will cease.

Let those lizardmen suffer a little longer.

As I closed the Star Gazette, I suddenly heard a knock on the door.

"Who?"

“It’s me,” Bersalia said.

“Come in,” Renn said.

Bersalia pushed open the door and came in. She seemed to have just taken a shower, as she was wearing a loose bathrobe that revealed large expanses of her sexy, caramel-colored skin.

Even though Renn had no feelings for the dark-skinned woman, he had to admit that the Dark Elf Queen's words, actions, and every smile were indeed captivating to the core—the enhancement from her racial talent was terrifying.

"What do you want?" Renn asked.

"Can't I come to see you if there's nothing wrong?" Bersalia gave him a flirtatious wink, hooking her fingers around the collar of her bathrobe and deliberately pulling it down a little.

“Ha.” Renn sneered, “Old maid.”

Berthalia's expression froze for a moment, then quickly became contorted with barely suppressed rage.

(End of this chapter)