This necromancer is going to seduce the beautiful girls who are already dead.

"Come on, we still have plenty of time. I'll take you to see some fun places in the city first. After lying in a coffin for over forty years, I want to see what changes have occurred in Golden Griffin City!"

Leona didn't care about the official at all. She casually pointed ahead, grabbed Flora's wrist, and led her forward.

"Huh? What are these soldiers doing?" Leona's gaze was drawn to them before she had run more than a few steps.

Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Love-Hate Relationship Between the Papacy and the Emperor

"I've said it countless times: if a priest from the Vatican wants to preach in the city, he must get permission from the city guard!"

"We have received approval!"

The three looked toward the source of the sound. A small circle of people had already gathered there, and a squad of well-equipped soldiers were surrounding an old man and a young man. Judging from their attire, the two people being surrounded were likely a priest from the Papacy and his deacon.

Flora was very concerned about the affairs of the Papacy, and she immediately stopped, watching curiously as things unfolded on the street. Abyss was equally unhurried; barring any unforeseen circumstances, a week, let alone a month, would be enough for him to resolve all the issues. Next, he would help Leona fulfill her wish. Although Abyss hadn't asked yet, a princess as pampered and naive as her probably wouldn't have any troublesome wishes—most likely just wanting to go somewhere happy.

People seemed unfazed by the situation; most passersby walked past the troublesome place with blank expressions. The believers who had been listening to the sermons also mostly dispersed, with only a few busybodies remaining nearby, but they dared not get too close under the control of the soldiers.

“You say you have approval, so where is your approval document?” A soldier who looked like a squad leader immediately held out his hand to the priest. “We can only allow you to continue giving your useless speech here after we have seen it.”

“This isn’t a speech! This is our monthly sermon! We must convey the latest will of the Nine Gods to all believers!” The priest seemed uncooperative, his eyes revealing anger and humiliation. “And just this morning, another group of guards asked me to show them my approval documents. Do I have to show them again now?”

"What are you talking about? They are them, and we are us. Of course, the patrol guards will change shifts. We don't know if you actually showed us the approval documents, right, old man?" The squad leader shook his head with a cold smile, pressing him aggressively. The other soldiers beside him also took a step forward at the same time, closing in, their faces unfriendly.

The priest seemed to have encountered this situation many times before, and he angrily shouted, "I want to see your commander! I want to speak to him directly!"

"Oh no, you don't want to." The squad leader's smile vanished completely. He gripped the hilt of his sword at his waist with his left hand and pulled it out slightly. "Be good, let me see!"

"Father, let's listen to them..." The deacon beside him was a young man who was frightened by the scene and hurriedly pleaded with the angry priest.

“The Nine Gods will eventually bring down punishment…” the priest muttered unwillingly, but in the end he still pulled out a document from his pocket.

The squad leader smugly took the document, glanced at it casually, and tossed it back: "That's right. As long as you cooperate, there won't be any trouble. Why don't you understand? Let's go patrol somewhere else!"

The soldiers marched off in formation to other places, while the priest, who remained behind, took a long time to calm himself down before continuing his sermon with the deacon.

"Is the Vatican in such a sorry state now?" Abyss asked, somewhat surprised. "Even preaching a sermon requires them to be mindful of the city guards' attitude. That soldier clearly didn't care whether the documents the priest presented were valid or not; he was just trying to bully him, wasn't he?"

“But the Papacy’s influence was still quite strong in our previous city; they could even directly enter the hotel to search it.” Flora was also a little puzzled. “That place might actually be under the Papacy’s control, while Golden Griffin City is under the Emperor’s control—are the Emperor and the Papacy not on good terms now?”

“It must have been approved by the higher-ups.” Leona waved her hand dismissively. “The soldiers of Golden Griffin City are all elites, and their discipline is very strict. They wouldn’t just act like hooligans on the street.”

"How strange. The Vatican has indeed recorded several disagreements with the Emperor, but such obvious oppression as here has never occurred before." Flora sighed. She was no longer a member of the Vatican and naturally couldn't go up to help, but she still felt a little sad.

The Western Empire and the Papacy have always had a cooperative relationship, with both sides adopting mutually beneficial policies in politics and economics. The emperor wanted his country to develop steadily, while the Papacy wanted to ensure the smooth spread of faith on the continent. Their interests were not in conflict. If one had to say, some cities in the Western Empire were more obedient to the Papacy, while others were more obedient to the emperor. However, the Papacy did not have actual control; the main power was still in the hands of the emperor.

The emperor didn't actually have a sufficient reason to deal with the Papacy, which was something Flora couldn't understand.

"The current emperor is Beos, this kid is ten years younger than me, the eldest son of Queen Sian, oh, which is also the current Empress Dowager," Leona speculated. "I know that kid very well, he's a complete mama's boy, always following the Empress around. His current conflict with the Papacy is probably his mother's idea, it's a pity he's become someone else's puppet. Also, it's not surprising that his daughter looks like me. When he was little, he often told me how beautiful I was and wanted to marry me, and later he definitely married a queen who resembled me. I died when he was eight, I was so lucky to have avoided his adolescence."

"Aren't you his half-sister?" Abyss exclaimed in surprise. "Shouldn't you break his legs?"

“Our royal family is different. On the continent, ordinary people’s marriages are subject to the supervision of the Holy See, and only marriages recognized by the Holy See are considered formal. Close relatives are absolutely not allowed to marry,” Leona said softly. “But sometimes, in order to maintain the purity of our bloodline, our royal family will arrange a marriage within the family. In this case, the Holy See will not only not prohibit it, but will also offer its blessings.”

Flora nodded: "I've heard of such things too. The Vatican refers to marriages between close relatives of the royal family as marriages of destiny."

"Aren't you falsely claiming to be acting on the orders of the Nine Gods?" Abyss mocked. "Aren't you afraid of the Nine Gods' punishment?"

Flora looked at the Abyss and couldn't help but laugh: "Just as you said, aren't the Nine Gods just nine people working for the Creator God? Thinking about it that way, there's really nothing to be afraid of. The rest of the Church probably saw through it long ago."

Abyss couldn't help but lament that he had corrupted Flora, who was wholeheartedly devoted to the gods.

“What’s the point of discussing this? Come on, I’m taking you to my favorite place.” Leona patted Abyss on the back impatiently. “It’s a tavern run by dwarves. The wine there is amazing, and they even have female dwarves doing striptease! You have to see how hilarious those bearded ladies are when they dance!”

Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Tavern and the Madman

The Western Empire's thriving economy has given its capital, Golden Griffin City, a level of prosperity that most cities on the continent can only dream of. The streets are wide, bustling with commerce, and numerous shops line both sides of the road. The throngs of pedestrians make even winter seem less cold.

"The changes here are really significant; it has developed considerably in the past forty years."

Leona stood with her hands behind her back, looking at the shops and pedestrians on both sides, like a general inspecting his soldiers. She had now fully accepted her status as an undead and was quite at ease with it. Although her mental age was not even eighteen, she spoke like an old man who had left home young and returned home old.

“Hmm, compared to when I last came here, the commercial sector here seems much more developed,” Flora said. “However, the streets aren’t as clean as they were back then.”

“The population may have more than doubled,” Leona exclaimed. “I’m increasingly missing the wine at that dwarf tavern; you all have to try it.”

"I don't drink alcohol..." Flora said shyly.

“I don’t know either,” Abyss added.

"What?! My God, you two, one is the Holy See's mascot and the other is a fearless wild mage, and you can't drink alcohol? This is the funniest joke I've ever heard in this era!" Leona became even more excited upon hearing their words. She grabbed Abyss and Flora's hands at the same time, quickened her pace, and walked forward with practiced ease.

Abyss, of course, wouldn't say it outright; the three of them were currently acting like parents being led around by their mischievous children.

As a princess, Leona probably didn't have the freedom to go out drinking whenever she wanted; the tavern she mentioned was likely where she would sneak out of the palace. Leona, with a cheerful smile, led Abyss and Leona at a brisk pace, turning left and right, through alleys, and over steps, finally arriving at a small tavern. A very old shield hung above the tavern as its sign, with magically etched words: "The Ugly Dwarf and His Wife's Tavern."

The tavern looked somewhat dilapidated from the outside, and there were no customers coming or going, making the atmosphere rather deserted.

"What happened? This tavern used to be so popular, how did it become like this?" Leona said dejectedly when she saw the tavern's state. "Did the owner change careers?"

“It’s been over forty years since you died, it’s quite remarkable that it’s been open for so long.” Abis shrugged. “Instead of feeling down here, why don’t you go in and see what’s changed?”

"Let's go, let's go!" Leona nodded and strode straight towards the door. "I want to taste if the wine here has changed. If it has, I, the princess, will really be angry."

As soon as they pushed open the tavern door, an enticing aroma of alcohol wafted into their nostrils.

The tavern, though somewhat old, was clean. Only two tables were occupied, with customers leisurely playing cards and drinking. In the center of the tavern was a small circular stage, about two meters in diameter, but no one was dancing on it. Only a female dwarf sat on a chair, holding a lute, occasionally plucking the strings with her short, stubby fingers, producing a pleasant but languid melody. Behind the counter sat a drowsy male dwarf, his beard twitching, chewing tobacco, lazily watching the three people who entered the tavern.

"You've arrived! What would you like to drink?" The dwarf casually spat out the tobacco from his mouth.

"Huh? Where did Obik go?" Leona walked straight to the counter, pulled up a stool, sat down, and asked the dwarf behind the counter.

“Oh, with Sgar’s hammer above you, do you know my father?” the dwarf asked incredulously. “My father has been dead for over twenty years, and you look to be only a little over ten years old.”

“Oh, that old man has passed away. What a pity. But don’t worry about it. Bring me a cup of Fiery Deer with a crushed mint leaf in it,” Leona said. “No, three cups. All three of us will drink them.”

The dwarf behind the counter immediately set off to mix the drinks, while glancing at Leona with interest: "I've seen brats like you come to drink before, but I've never seen a brat order this kind of drink. Fiery Deer is a drink that only the most discerning customers would order, not to mention adding a mint leaf, which is my father's secret recipe."

“I do know your father, but that’s not important.” Leona sat at the counter. “What’s important is that I’m craving it so badly! Bring me the wine quickly, let me taste it and see if your cooking has gotten any worse than your old father’s! Just bring the wine, this pale-faced, kidney-deficient man next to me has plenty of money!”

The dwarf shook his head, assuming Leona was some descendant of a long-lived species. These days, humans held absolute dominance over the entire continent, and many races had interbreeding with humans.

He deftly mixed three glasses of wine and placed them in front of the three men: "Try it, your Fiery Deer."

The wine was served in a clear glass, displaying a beautiful fiery red color. The strong aromas of various fruits and herbs mingled with the rich fragrance of alcohol wafted through the air. Even Flora, who had never drunk wine before, couldn't help but feel her mouth water at the smell.

"Is it alright if we drink?" she asked Abis cautiously, turning her head slightly. "Won't it have any negative consequences?"

"You can trust my abilities. No one knows that spell better than me. Enjoy yourself." Abyss winked at Flora, then picked up his glass and took a sip. "Hmm, I really like this aroma."

Flora took a small sip with a touch of excitement from her first experience. The strong smell of the wine made her blink, but she swallowed it without hesitation.

"Great! Your technique is just as good as your dad's!" Leona had already taken a big gulp and praised loudly, while also patting Abyss on the shoulder. "I knew you guys would like this drink! Look, ABC, you look quite good with a bit of blush on your face."

At this moment, Abyss clearly felt some changes in his body, as if his power had increased. Undoubtedly, his Supreme Necromancer spell had taken effect, and he had gained a portion of Leona's power.

Why does Leona seem like a dwarf, possessing the attribute of increasing affection with anyone who drinks with her?

"Oh, right."

After downing half a glass of wine, Leona squinted contentedly and asked the dwarf behind the counter.

"Since your bartending skills are no worse than your father's, how come your business is doing so badly? I see that other bars in town are doing much better than yours."

Hearing Leona's question, the dwarf sighed heavily: "Actually, it's not my fault. I inherited this tavern from my parents. Because I learned the bartending techniques well, business was actually quite good at first, but later people stopped coming—because of those damn lunatics."

"Who would have thought that my tavern, which was doing so well, would suddenly become a murder scene? A few drunken customers were singing hymns praising the Nine Gods when a bunch of madmen rushed in, shouting something like 'For the Lord of the Fallen,' and pinned them to the ground like spearfish with slender, conical daggers. Then, the guards who arrived at the scene broke down the door and beheaded the madmen on the spot, leaving only two alive. From then on, even though my floors are scrubbed so clean they reflect your image and my wine smells so good it could bring the dead back to life, hardly anyone wants to come here to drink."

“Wow, that’s such a shame. Aren’t you planning to open a tavern somewhere else?” Leona asked.

"Alas, this is the inheritance my parents left me. I intend to keep it until I can no longer make a living." The dwarf sighed, then pulled a few more tobacco leaves from his pocket and began to chew them.

Leona was not particularly sensitive to what had happened in the tavern in the past, but Abyss and Flora were both paying close attention.

“Boss, would you mind telling me more about those madmen?” Abyss raised a hand. “I’m very curious about that ‘Lord of the Fall’.”

Chapter Thirty: The Tavern Tragedy

"Hey, give me another drink." Leona had already finished her drink. The dwarf was quite impressed by how she drank it without blushing or skipping a beat.

...In fact, Leona's heart didn't beat at all.

“I can tell you the story, but would you like me to tell you the whole thing, or just the key points?” The dwarf mixed Leona another drink and looked at Abyss. “You’re not very old. If you want to hear the full story, it might make you unable to drink. It’s a bit too gory.”

Abyss laughed when he heard this: "Your worries are as unnecessary as a ghoul's liver. Tell me, I want to hear the whole story."

Since it was difficult for new customers to come in anyway, and the dwarf had nothing better to do, he cleared his throat, spat out the tobacco from his mouth, and began to recount what had happened at that time.

The incident that caused the tavern's business to plummet occurred five years ago. Before that, "The Ugly Dwarf and His Wife's Tavern" was a favorite haunt of drunkards in Golden Griffin City. Besides Leona's favorite "Fiery Deer," this dwarf named Dahl also possessed many cocktail recipes passed down from his father. This unique flavor could not be found anywhere else on the continent. As a result, his tavern was always packed. He employed a quick-witted dwarf as a waiter, and as one of his specialties, he also hired two dwarf strippers. In this bustling metropolis, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he made a fortune every day.

However, on an ordinary evening, Dahl, as usual, entertained the joyful drunks in the tavern, serving them drinks of all kinds, from fine to cheap. The alcohol made the guests forget the weariness and unpleasantness of daily life, letting loose and not caring whether they knew each other or not. They put their arms around each other's shoulders, forming a circle, and loudly sang folk songs praising the Nine Gods. The cheerful singing was so loud that one wanted to cover their ears.

This is usually Dahl's favorite time, because at such times, the guests are in high spirits and few people will be stingy with their money during the celebration.

Just as the song reached its climax, the tavern door was suddenly and violently kicked open.

Dahl was about to greet them when he noticed that the person who came in looked rather strange.

These people appeared to be human, both men and women, all dressed in dark blue robes. Their exposed faces were aged and somewhat deformed. While largely human by a stricter standard, their faces bore subtle differences: their eyes appeared larger than human's, and despite their supposed elven lineage, they lacked the characteristic almond-shaped eyes of elves, instead possessing round, almost sea-like features. Furthermore, they seemed older than their years, their faces covered in wrinkles, their hair gray and balding. It was difficult to imagine what a group of elderly people in matching robes would intend to do upon entering a tavern late at night.

The waiter and the dancer also sensed that something was wrong, and they immediately ran behind the counter to see what these strange people who had come in without saying a word were planning to do.

Some of the drunkards noticed the group of people who had just entered and invited them over to drink together.

However, the response he received was that these elderly people who had barged in collectively pulled out long, thin, cone-shaped daggers from their sleeves.

"For the Lord of Depravity!" an old man roared hoarsely, and the other old men joined him in shouting.

Before these slow-witted drunks could even figure out what was going on, the strange men who had burst in raised their daggers high and pounced on them in unison.

"Ah!" A scream rang out, followed by a chorus of screams echoing through the tavern. The old men, with a speed and strength far beyond their years, frantically plunged daggers into the bodies of the drunkards, one after another. The blood flowing from the guests' bodies immediately stained their clothes red. Some even had their eyes pierced by the daggers, the blades going in through their eye sockets and protruding from the back of their heads, killing them instantly.