Do you have a problem with necromancers?

Chapter 92 Curse
Of the four major guilds, Snake Nest is the most secretive.

After all, human lives are being traded. Even disregarding the attitude of the rulers, one must be wary of the victim's relatives and friends seeking revenge. Therefore, one must not be easily found by anyone other than the client.

Fortunately, there is a place in the capital where you can buy anything as long as you have money, and the contact information for the Snake Nest is also there.

That was the rat's nest.

Renn brought Berthalia to the underground black market for the second time. The same old man greeted them once again.

Last time, they bought a lot of dead cats from the black market, and then Duke Darkros was embroiled in a scandal involving animal abuse. The black market had clearly guessed what was going on, and the old man looked at Raine with considerable awe.

This commander in the golden robes is either a fearless madman or a foolish idiot to dare to deal with an evil necromancer.

In either case, it means you shouldn't easily offend this person, otherwise they could simply find another necromancer and cast a curse on the black market, causing everyone to die without knowing why.

"You're looking for the Snake Nest?" The old man pondered for a moment before replying, "I can call the Snake Nest's contact person for you, free of charge... It's not that I don't want to do this business, but the Snake Nest originally entrusted us to find clients here, and they've already paid us in advance."

"Aren't you worried that we've come to seek revenge on the snake's nest?" Bersalia asked with a smile.

"If we rats don't even have the sense of smell to judge our clients, how could we possibly be trusted and entrusted by the snake's nest?" the old man said casually. "Please wait here for a moment, the venomous snake we're meeting will be here soon."

The retired black market boss left, leaning on his cane. Bersalia watched his faltering figure and whispered to Renn:

“His leg injury is fake; he is not lame.”

“That’s normal,” Raine said lazily. “Believe it or not, this old man is actually a top-notch assassin. Even if he wasn’t trained in the Snake Nest, he probably has close ties to it.”

"Oh!" Bersalia's eyes widened. "Wow, I didn't think of that. I was prejudiced and assumed he was a rat."

The air in the sewer was damp and stuffy, and although there was a ventilated skylight above the reception room, it couldn't mask the musty smell.

As Raine was intently studying the moss in the corner, he suddenly heard Berthalia ask:

"If the White Walkers are completely defeated, what will you do next?"

"Hmm." Ryan hesitated for a moment, "I guess I'll find a scenic place with a pleasant climate to retire in."

"Retire?" Bersalia laughed. "I thought you had bigger ambitions, like conquering the world?"

“Boring,” Raine said. “After conquest, you have to follow up with governance and management, otherwise it’s just a meaningless war. Do you know how troublesome it is to govern a world? I’d rather spend my time enjoying life than be a slave to power.”

Berthalia fell silent. The Rose Queen instinctively wanted to retort, saying that she only saw the flaws of power, but could not even imagine its virtues.

On second thought, given that he ultimately died in court intrigue and assassination, it's hardly convincing to say such a thing.

Moreover, has Rein never been involved with power before? Whether as the lord of Salt Island or the Marquis of Faher, he was used to accepting only the title and leaving the actual administrative power to others—he wasn't even afraid of their rebellion, because this necromancer possessed absolute power and could eliminate any rebellious subordinates.

"And you?" Renn interrupted the dark elf's thoughts. "What will you do after you achieve your long-cherished wish?"

After I take my revenge on the Temple of Light...

Bersalia suddenly felt a pang of despondency, for her Rose family had long since died out. Even if she were to rebuild the theocratic kingdom into a feudal dynasty, who would inherit everything she had reclaimed from the Oracle?

“Hmm…” Bersalia asked tentatively, “Raine, my body…”

"...Are you capable of having children?"

"I think so." This question stumped Renn.

In order to research the forbidden art of body reconstruction, he once served as a life priest for a period of time. In this fantasy world, the body undoubtedly comes from both parents, but the origin of the soul is unknown. Or more accurately, it suddenly appears in the body as the fetus develops to a certain stage.

Berthalia's body is alive, but her soul belongs to the dead. Therefore, she should be able to conceive a new body, but whether the fetus's soul will be affected by the mother's soul... Judging from some cases related to curses, it is most likely so, but the real answer can only be known through practice.

Rein snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the corner at the same time as Berthalia—the secret door in the wall opened, and a masked man in a bodysuit walked out, his face and hair completely covered.

“The officer in the gold robe, Rein Fahre,” the man said in a hoarse voice, “hopefully he’s not here to arrest us assassins.”

“We arrest criminals based on evidence,” Ryan said calmly. “Unless you kill someone in front of my men… In short, let’s make a deal.”

"The person I want you to assassinate is the secretary to the Minister of Law—Grand Grenfell."

"Hmm, interesting." The man was silent for half a minute. "Assassinating such a high-ranking civil servant would cost a lot."

“You don’t need to worry about the price,” Ryan said. “Also, I have one more request.”

“Don’t actually kill him, but send him a message saying, ‘The Amazons will never forget.’ I can pay double.”

“It sounds like you’re planning to frame the Amazon Association.” The man quickly realized, “But unfortunately… we can’t take on this mission.”

"Can't accept it?" Renn asked in surprise. "The secretary to the Minister of Law doesn't have a strong security force. With your abilities, it shouldn't be difficult for you to handle it."

"I can't disclose the specific reasons, but in short, we can't accept this mission." The man shook his head and refused again. "You can find another target."

"Minister of Law, what about Harvey Markjohn?" Ryan had indeed changed his target. "The demand remains the same: keep him alive and deliver a message to him."

“That won’t work either,” the man said. “It seems our deal can’t continue.”

“Yes, I’m sorry.” Ryan stood up. “Then we won’t waste any more time here.”

As the two left the capital's sewers, Bersalia frowned and asked:

"Snake Nest is unwilling to accept your mission? Is it because those two are too difficult to kill?"

She had no experience dealing with snake nests, so she could only guess without any clues.

“No,” Renn said calmly. “There’s only one reason why the Snake Nest isn’t accepting missions: someone has already assigned missions to these two people—you can’t accept two missions at the same time: kill the target and release the target.”

“Hmm, someone else is trying to frame us…” Bersalia quickly realized, “No, they’re trying to kill these two people!”

“That’s right,” Raine said. “The Minister of Law and his secretary are organizing the entire Imperial Court faction to fight against the Amazon Association. Once they both die in an ‘accident,’ the factions below will immediately fall into chaos, and the Association will be able to take this opportunity to launch a fierce offensive.”

“But even so, the Amazon Association has absolutely no chance of succeeding. On the contrary, they will be targeted and suppressed afterward because of suspicion.” Bersalia said with a frown, “This assassination method is too radical and brutal, not inferior even to our dark elves… Queen?”

“I suspect so,” Raine sneered. “Besides Her Majesty, who else would dare to assassinate a court minister and a high-ranking civil servant? And I reckon she’s probably already decided to protect the Amazon Association afterward.”

“That would be tantamount to making enemies of both the noble and civil servant factions at the same time.” Bersalia disagreed. “Even the most foolish dark elf wouldn’t do something so suicidal. It seems I overestimated her intelligence.”

"So, what do you plan to do? If these two weren't in front of you, your Golden Robe crew would have to directly withstand the Amazon Association's offensive, right?"

Ryan didn't answer, but silently walked through the dappled shadows of the trees in the sunlight. He looked up to the side and saw many families leisurely camping and picnicking on the grassy areas on both sides of the tree-lined avenue.

“Let me guess.” Seeing that he remained silent, Berthalia began to analyze on her own. “The real problem now is that the Minister of Law and his secretary don’t really take the Amazon Association seriously. They just find it troublesome to be targeted and intend to distance themselves from the incident rather than retaliate against the Amazon Association.”

"This is completely contrary to your goal, because you want to prevent anyone from stepping on you to boost their reputation in the Amazon Association in the future, so you have to make them suffer a severe blow and a heavy blow... Because of the Queen, you can't do it yourself, so you can only instigate the Minister of Law and the Secretary to do it, which is why you chose to hire the Viper of the Capital to intensify the conflict between the two sides."

"But now the Empress has sent someone to hire the Viper of the Capital in advance to kill the Minister of Law and his secretary. So, in addition to escalating the conflict, you also have to protect these two people from being actually killed."

“Mostly right,” Ryan sighed. “It’s getting more and more troublesome, and I hate trouble the most.”

“Then let’s get rid of the Queen, the root of all evil,” Bersalia joked.

Renn simply shook his head.

Without the Empress causing trouble everywhere, the Empire wouldn't have collapsed so quickly. And the current Emperor lacks the strong-arm tactics to unite all forces, which objectively only makes the time to fight the White Walkers even more distant.

The Second Human Empire today is like an incredibly rigid and decaying mountain of excrement. Trying to repair it with painstaking effort is less effective than simply blowing it up.

"Let's go." Renn had already sorted out his thoughts.

"Where to?" Bersalia asked curiously.

“The Amazon Association,” Ryan replied.

The two arrived at the entrance of the Amazon Memorial Museum. The guard watched Ryan warily and pointed to a notice on the wall:
Private property, accessible only to Amazons.

"How do you feel now that the museum that invested 200 gold crown coins is now turning you away?" Bersalia asked with a smile.

"It feels like standing in front of a cesspool, then being driven back by the swarms of flies," Renn replied. "Besalia, go to the association and arrange to meet a villain." "A villain?"

"Morally corrupt, aggressive, and takes pleasure in witnessing the misfortunes of others. Are there any such people in the association?"

“Then I’ll have to think about it carefully.” Bersalia pretended to ponder for a moment, then sighed and said, “There are too many people like that in the association. I don’t even know which one is the worst, hahaha! What about Olivia? She was the one who instigated and encouraged everyone to attack the Imperial Capital’s guards this time.”

"Then let's go with her," Renn said impatiently. "Go and bring her out quickly."

Bersalia immediately became excited and rushed into the association.

After a while, she did indeed bring Olivia out, only to find that Raine had disappeared for some reason.

"So what exactly did you call me out here for?" Olivia asked impatiently, arms crossed. "You're not here to plead for your lover, are you?"

"Where did your manners and refinement as a nobleman go?" Bersalia was also somewhat annoyed. "Neither he nor I have offended you!"

“How naive, Bersalia,” Olivia sneered. “Are you really a dark elf? In a place like the capital, if you want to climb higher, you have to step on other people’s heads. If you can’t adapt to that, you should slink back to your Red Soil Plateau as soon as possible!”

Berthalia also lost patience with her and, regardless of where Rein was, simply walked away without looking back.

Back in the commander's office of the Imperial Guard camp, she found Rein sitting at his desk handling official business, Aurora standing by the window vigilantly watching outside, and Ellina holding a book, giving Dia some complex knowledge about identifying noble coats of arms.

"You're really something else," Bersalia said bluntly, plopping down on the desk. "I arranged for you to meet them, and you just slipped away beforehand. Were you deliberately playing me for a fool?"

“The curse ritual is complete,” Raine said without looking up.

"A curse?" Bersalia's eyes lit up. "What curse? Tell me quickly!"

“Just wait and see,” Ryan instructed. “The Amazon Association should be organizing a street offensive soon. Keep a close eye on things within the association and let me know the time and location of their marches.”

“They kicked me out last time,” Bersalia complained, feigning grievance. “I’m not going back…unless you tell me what the curse is.”

“You wouldn’t understand even if I told you,” Ryan shook his head again. “Just do it.”

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Olivia Crosos was born into the Crosos family in the East and was raised by her father alone from a young age.

Shortly after she came of age, her father lost power in the family competition and was expelled from the clan. He had no choice but to abandon his aristocratic pride and go into business to make money, but he lost all his capital in no time.

Olivia then severed ties with her father, who was no longer able to support her, and moved to the capital to work as a socialite. For a time, she worked as a courtesan, moving among nobles and wealthy merchants, relying on her suitors' money to maintain her extravagant lifestyle.

But she soon discovered that being a socialite in the capital was too competitive, with more beautiful and younger socialites emerging every year, and her experience in the industry was worthless compared to her age.

Therefore, when the Amazon Society came into being, Olivia joined it as a serious job. She needed to climb to a high enough position within the society and build camaraderie with enough noble ladies and young women to ensure that she would still be supported when she grew old and faded, instead of starving to death on a cold, deserted street.

In order to win the favor of the VIPs as soon as possible, she had the ability and determination to create a big enough news story to prove her outstanding value to the association's elders.

She keenly seized this opportunity when the imperial guards searched thieves.

In Beijing during election season, numerous campaign teams march daily. As Berthalia said, citizens don't care about the demands of your march, whether it's for campaigning or protesting something... There are just too many teams on the streets; who has time to look at them so closely?

These ubiquitous campaign teams naturally capture public attention. Therefore, in order to attract attention, more radical methods must be adopted.

Olivia not only fully mobilized the militants within the association, but also paid many vote-buying thugs to gather early in the morning and block the entrance to the Imperial Court, demanding that the Minister of Law give an explanation to the "indignant masses."

Upon learning of this, Law Minister Harvey immediately instructed his secretary Grand to issue a notice as soon as possible: the Imperial Court would be closed for the day, and no one should be foolish enough to go to work at the court and get caught and severely humiliated by these mobs.

By noon, the courthouse remained closed, and Olivia guessed that the other side was going to use a defensive tactic.

It's okay, I have plenty of time and energy to waste on you guys.

She directed the crowd to block the intersection, erecting wooden signs covered with slogans, completely sealing off the intersection.

This was a major thoroughfare, and soon a large number of carriages were stuck nearby, unable to move. The minister's secretary, Grand, quickly sent someone to inform Renn, asking the man in the golden robe to come and "evacuate the crowd" and "restore traffic."

Raine sent two teams of men in golden robes, but instructed Magus, who was leading them, to "maintain a strict distance from those mobs and absolutely not allow any violent suppression."

The man in the golden robe was absolutely loyal to the commander, so he simply stood with the blocked carriages and watched from afar as the Amazons and vote-rigging shouted slogans.

The Imperial Capital Guards' complete lack of discipline undoubtedly emboldened the opposing side, who then shouted, "We will sit here as long as the Minister of Law doesn't come," and threw various stones and filth at the gates of the Imperial Capital Court, displaying an utterly arrogant and overbearing attitude.

Law Minister Harvey, of course, refused to show himself. He feared that if he were surrounded by a mob and punched, it would be impossible to find out who did it afterwards. Therefore, he continued to urge his secretary, Grand, to arrange for calming the crowd.

Grand was also at a loss, so he arranged for his subordinates to deliver water to the people. "Aren't you thirsty under the sun? Have some water and calm down."

As for why we don't deliver food, it's because once the other person is full, they're even less willing to leave. Drinking water can also help empty their stomach and intestines, making them feel hungry faster.

At this stage, the contest comes down to the strategic resolve of both sides.

Olivia bets that the other side cannot afford the negative consequences of continuing to drag things out, while Harvey and Grand bet that Olivia's funds or patience will not hold up.

As evening approached, the royal family finally issued an order requiring Law Minister Harvey and Secretary Grand to resolve the road blockage in front of the courthouse as soon as possible.

Left with no other option, the two had to send their subordinates to contact Olivia, hoping to negotiate the matter in a private setting.

Olivia won her gamble. She spent a fortune in inciting and hiring so many people, and now she has finally succeeded in winning the opportunity to meet with the Minister of Justice.

She had already figured it out: revisiting past cases was neither realistic nor meaningful; the other side would definitely refuse to negotiate outright. Therefore, she only demanded that the guards in the capital be held accountable this time, that unreasonable legal provisions be amended to allow for better interpretation, and most importantly—that the rights of the vulnerable Amazonian people be given special consideration, and that henceforth, minor offenses be shelved and addressed primarily through education and criticism, without arrest, detention, or punishment.

This is extremely difficult. Because the Minister of Justice will most likely feel that they cannot give the public the impression that "as long as there is trouble, the minister will give in," so they will stubbornly refuse to open this door.

But Olivia didn't care. From the moment she forced the minister to the negotiating table on behalf of the Amazons, she had already won; the final outcome was simply a matter of a moderate win, a major win, or a super-major win. Even if the negotiations didn't reach any agreements, she could explain to the association that they were "arrogant and rude imperial hegemons who refused to give up their brutal oppression of the Amazons," urging the Amazons to "never stop speaking out," thereby increasing her own profile within the association.

In a building near the courthouse, Olivia was led to the doorway, where court guards informed her that she needed to be searched to ensure she was not carrying any weapons that could threaten the Minister of Justice.

"A body search?" Olivia chuckled. "Guess what exactly caused this situation?"

“No need for a body search.” Secretary Grand emerged from the inner room. “Since she chose to come to negotiate alone, she obviously wouldn’t be so careless as to not consider her own future and do anything unwise. Isn’t that right, Miss Crossos?”

“I enjoy talking to intelligent men,” Olivia said with a smile. “I only carry a dagger for self-defense. Would you like me to take it out and show it to you?”

“Please leave it with our guards for now.” Grand gestured gracefully. “Trust me, no one here can threaten your safety.”

“Alright.” Olivia took out a dagger, intending to hand it to the guard at the gate.

Her consciousness suddenly became somewhat confused. The face of Grand, the middle-aged man with a gentle smile, seemed to have merged with the face of her father, whom she hadn't seen for a long time, in a strange way.

"I'm sorry, Oni, we're out of money."

"Why did you leave me, Oni?"

"I'm leaving, Oni. Take care of yourself, and from now on, live a good life on your own..."

“You should have died long ago,” Olivia suddenly murmured.

"What?" Grand didn't hear clearly.

“I’ll talk,” Olivia said, her eyes glazed over, but her expression suddenly hardening, “since you can’t give me any more money…”

"Then you can go die!"

With a kind of cathartic, severing of the past, Olivia lunged forward and plunged a dagger into the chest of Grand, the secretary to the Minister of Justice, before the court guards could stop her.

In the Imperial Capital Garrison Commander's office, Bersalia continued to pester Renn, pressing him about the curse:
"So what exactly is the curse? If you don't answer me, I'll keep asking you until you're willing to talk to me! Even if you go to the bathroom or go to sleep, I'll keep asking you..."

“It’s a delirium curse,” Raine replied helplessly. “Instead of bothering me, you should go brush up on your half-baked knowledge of witchcraft.”

"Then will you teach me?"

"Not really."

(End of this chapter)