Kind liches have always been a tale found only within stories, and even then, they seem more like fabrications conjured by storytellers to draw attention, given the preponderance of evil liches.
The race characteristics of liches mean they're inherently unable to be accepted by human society. Seventy percent of humans openly discriminate against liches, and to the liches, it feels like they are being discriminated against by dogs.
No matter how much humanity remains, the undead body subtly influences the liches' senses and thoughts, until they gradually lose their human perspective entirely, becoming a different species.
To the eternally-lived liches who possess immense magical power, mortals really are like dogs to them, belonging to an inferior class of beings.
Don't get it wrong—most liches discriminate equally against every living race, including other lower undead. Skeleton servants are but tools to liches, hardly better than dogs.
Only those whose wisdom or power is on par with their own can gain a lich's respect.
Due to a lack of worldly desires, a lich's thoughts tend towards absolute rationality, and only certain extremely intense emotions from life can be retained. These emotions are like the "white moonlight" of one's life, the "cinnabar mole" within dreams, or the only kind of chocolate one can still taste.
In any case, when remembered, they mostly taste bitter.
Thus, many liches are rational ninety percent of the time, but in critical moments, they go crazy.
Amberser hasn't been a lich for long, so there's more humanity left in him, and his most intense emotion is a hatred for poverty.
It's not a love of money, but a hatred of the state of being poor.
Amberser became a lich because of poverty; he hated the feeling of having a way to prolong life but not enough money.
What he quests for is to buy whatever he wants, not to amass a lot of gold coins and wait for adventurers to plunder them.
That's why, even though Withered Rose's demands were outrageous, because they paid real money, Amberser agreed without hesitation.
Extra payment, no shortage of funds, and a down payment in advance... These phrases were like targeted spells on Amberser, any one of them capable of shaking his soul.
Isabel, however, was unaware of these details, and could only hope for the best, wishing that the stories in fairy tales weren't entirely lies.
Amberser could sense Isabel's emotional changes, but he didn't take them to heart, as he was already fully in work mode. The first order of business was studying the documents sent by Withered Rose, which immediately made Amberser sense that something was amiss.
It wasn't that the content of the documents was scant; on the contrary, they were excessively detailed, so much so that they didn't seem gathered by outsiders, but more like the Laine Empire had a spy planted deep within, and this spy held a very high position.
The documents nearly catalogued over three hundred defensive magics, not only marking their locations and ranges of coverage but even listing the personnel responsible for maintaining the magic arrays.
If all that was recorded was true, just this document alone could be worth a million gold coins if reported to the Laine Empire.
"Truly lavish," Amberser remarked.
Even though the intelligence was valuable, he had no intention of betraying Withered Rose.
Because the consequences would most likely include being silenced himself first; the Laine Empire won't believe that Amberser hadn't made a copy.
And indeed, he would make a copy.
Perhaps in the future, there might be an opportunity to sell it to the Highland Dwarves of Thunderhold, who absolutely despise their neighbor, the Laine Empire.
Amberser meticulously read through the details of these magic arrays, the more he read, the more he felt this deal was a big win; many of the magic structures amazed him, unveiling new ways to play with defense magic arrays. Once he saved enough money, he could completely upgrade the magic traps of the ancient castle.
Engrossed in the documents, Amberser momentarily lost track of time until a carriage arrived at the gates of the castle near dawn.
Amberser, addressing a drowsy Isabel, said, "Your brother is back."
Isabel was instantly awake. After taking a Tranquility Potion last night, her emotions had calmed down. Bored into the late night, she had unknowingly fallen asleep with her head on the table.
Falling asleep in the presence of a lich, Isabel was astonished at her own courage.
Now that she had heard news of her brother, Isabel asked anxiously, "Lich Lord, could you let me see Raul?"
"That's exactly why I woke you up, if not to see him. Wait, what is this situation?"
Amberser traced his finger through the air, and layers of halos burst from his fingertips, transforming into the scene at the castle's entrance.
There, Raul's face was weary, but he still managed to open the carriage door and moved a bloody corpse out from inside.
Unable to contain herself, Isabel let out a scream before quickly covering her mouth.
She had never seen such a horrific sight, the carriage was packed tight with corpses. Some had their bellies slit open, others were decapitated or had their throats cut, presenting a grisly tableau of death.
Raul appeared numb as he moved the bodies, as if he had grown desensitized.
"Raul..."
Isabel couldn't believe this was the work of her brother; how could he have killed so many people?
Amberser was more surprised than Isabel, and with a single teleportation spell, he brought them to the entrance of the castle.
Raul was still moving bodies when suddenly, seeing Amberser and Isabel appear, he paused before saying excitedly, "I have brought back the bodies, twelve in total—more than the number you asked for! Please hold true to your promise and release my sister."
Isabel was inconsolable, finally understanding that Raul had committed these killings for her, trading twelve lives for her slim chance of survival.
She knew she shouldn't blame Raul, but faced with those corpses, she couldn't utter a single word of gratitude.
Raul held tightly onto the gemstone controller; if Amberser went back on his word, he would use the Alien Skeleton to attack. Although the hope was faint, he was ready to fight for their lives.
However, what the siblings hadn't anticipated was Amberser saying oddly, "I asked you to bring back living people, what am I supposed to do with a carriage full of corpses? Raul, I told you to bring the refugees seeking sanctuary into my territory to live, not to collect materials for me."
"What did you say?!"
The controller fell from Raul's hands onto the ground.
Amberser shook his head and said, "What on earth were you imagining? Didn't I make it clear? I told you to bring the refugees seeking sanctuary back here. I even had your sister prepare Tranquility Potions, so they wouldn't be too agitated to listen to me."
Raul, agitated, said, "But... but... you gave me tools for killing!"
Amberser said as if it were obvious, "What else? Without my Skeletons' protection, wouldn't you have been captured by the Lord by now? To rescue the other free citizens from the Lord's grasp, without tools for killing, did you expect to do it with just your words?"
This time, Raul could only open his mouth, but no words came out.
Amberser continued, "You intruded into my territory, and I healed you despite our past conflict, granting you the power to save your kin. Yet in your eyes, I am still a monster that slaughters humans; you didn't even bother to clarify, because you felt no misunderstanding. Oh humans, racism is your original sin."
Reflecting on everything that had happened, it was indeed as Amberser said. From the beginning, he had done no harm to humans, and he had never been instructed to kill... How did everything seem like his own fault?
Could it be that all of this was due to his own racism?
Seeking reassurance, Raul turned to his sister and asked with a quiver, "Is this true?"
Isabel felt something was amiss, but she could only nod and say, "Lich Lord, you indeed had me prepare a lot of Tranquility Potions, this... this was meant for living people."
Undead Creatures had no use for Tranquility Potions, so what Amberser said was not wrong.
"Lich Lord, do you truly welcome us, the refugees? Can we live within your territory?" Raul asked.
Amberser nodded and said, "Of course, as long as you pay taxes."