Chapter 39: The Lich Lord of Ixia

"It's been a while, Lord Klein."

Lindley reclined in his throne, watching me with those ethereal eyes of his. I said eyes, but they were burning fires in dark sockets. As usual, his skeletal face was unnerving, but I had long gotten used to his demonic appearance.

I inclined my head, taking note of the way he addressed me. His tone was neutral, and while he called me lord to display some modicum of respect, he had clearly refrained from outright acknowledging me as the new Demonic Emperor. It wasn't that he didn't know. Those fires that now served as his eyes were fixated on the magic crest on my right hand. Despite seeing the crest clearly, he had not risen from his throne to greet me. He obviously had no intention of being subservient or supportive, at least not in the same manner as Claude or Silvia.

From our previous encounter, I had judged him a pragmatic person. Lindley would not ally himself with me if he thought there was no benefits. Conversely, that meant he had no reason to oppose me if there was no benefits in doing so too.

So all I needed to do was to provide him benefits. A reason to ally himself to me.

"It has been indeed."

"So…what reason do you have for intruding upon my island?"

"Come on," I protested mildly. "Intruding? I am simply paying you a visit."

"Fine then." Lindley was in no mood to argue. But the fact that he didn't harp on the point indicated that he was at least not outright hostile. "I suppose you have a reason for this visit, Lord Klein?"

"Yes, I do," I affirmed. There was a low rattle as Lindley appeared to exhale. That made no sense, given that he no longer possessed lungs or a requirement to breathe, but whatever floated his boat. Or bones. "I wish to enlist your assistance."

"You are requesting for my help?" Lindley tilted his skull-head curiously. Then he nodded. "Ah. I guess it was inevitable. I heard that Silvia Winters has decided to serve under you. So you intend to take the throne after all. You must be here to request the loyalty of my legion."

"Actually, no. Today I'm here to hire a lich."

For a moment, everyone was stunned into silence. Cooke and his crew looked at me as if I was crazy. Stella's jaw dropped and she gaped at me, as if not believing what I had just said. Lindley…well, his expression was a lot harder to read, given that he didn't actually have a face of flesh. His lack of facial features and emotionless tone made him all the more difficult to read.

Not that I needed to read his expression. Lindley threw his hooded head back and laughed. His voice rattled across the hall of his palace, devoid of humor and cold as ice. Even an ice mage like me felt my blood freeze at the chilling sound. Honestly, it sounded more like an ominous gust of wind than a display of amusement.

"I must admit, I never expected that." Lindley shook his head and calmed down after his bout of laughter. He leaned forward, his bones creaking audibly. "How curious."

I pushed my glasses up my nose and smiled.

"Of course, when I said hire, I literally mean hire. I will be providing you some form of payment in exchange. I doubt you are interested in money, though, but I believe I have something that you might want."

I snapped my fingers and conjured a magical screen featuring a tome.

"Oh?" As I suspected, I had captured Lindley's attention. His eyes were boring straight into the tome. "What is this?"

"An alchemy tome. To be more precise, it's a grimoire that is said to contain the secrets to manufacturing homunculus." My smile widened. "If I'm not mistaken, it's a subject you're interested in. You've been searching for ways to improve your legion of the undead. Perhaps the study of homunculus will greatly aid you in your research."

"You have this grimoire in your possession?" Lindley's voice was sharp and eager, despite its usual wheezing, rattling tone. I could almost hear the hunger in his words.

"I'm afraid not." I shook my head. "But I do know where it is. And that is why I have come to you. If you could lend me a lich, I will help you acquire this grimoire. You can have it…as well as all the research data pertaining to the creation of homunculi by the current owner of this tome."

Lindley's head jerked up excitedly. "Who is the current owner of the tome?"

"Oh, you know her well. She is part of the Hero party who slew the former Demonic Emperor."

For a moment, the lenses of my enchanted glasses gleamed, seeming to hide my eyes from the view of the lich lord.

"Miranda Miller, the multi-mage."

"…ah. I have indeed heard of her."

Lindley nodded. There was no hatred in his voice or resentment, just detached curiosity. Evidently he didn't feel the need to avenge his previous emperor. The lich lord didn't think in the same way as most sentient, emotional beings. He was a pragmatic person who was invested only in his research and interests. His loyalty to the Demonic Emperor went as far as only what benefits it could bring him, and not out of any personal attachment. Or perhaps he had been subjugated through strength and forced to bend his knee.

Either way, it didn't matter.

"She did not strike me as an alchemist."

"To be honest, I didn't know that she was interested in alchemy too," I admitted. I only discovered about this when I did my research after my return to the Havan Kingdom. "But she is a genius who dabbles in a broad range of magical fields. It is not unusual that she would eventually try her hand at alchemy. And from what I've heard, she is pretty successful in it too."

"The rumors," Stella murmured. Lindley glanced at her, but she turned to me and I nodded.

"My aide is correct. Shortly after the humans declared that they won the war against the demons, Miranda retired from the frontlines and withdrew to a remote region in the west of the human kingdom, where she was appointed as chairwoman of the research committee of a mage corps stationed there. She then began doing what seems awfully like forbidden research. Human towns and villages around the western area have become strangely depopulated, their residents vanishing overnight."

"Ho? Forbidden research?" As expected, Lindley was drawn by the prospect of taboo experiments and data.

"Yeah. I wasn't able to find much, but…during my investigations, I managed to unearth this tome and her keen interest in alchemy." I adjusted my glasses. "I suspect the missing residents of the towns have been used for experiments on creating homunculi. They would have provided the perfect raw material."

"I concur," Lindley said. "I may not be an expert on the subject, but from what limited knowledge I possess, the manufacture of homunculi requires vast amounts of organic material."

He then clasped his hands together.

"I want the data. I want to see what kind of research this Miranda is conducting."

"And you will have it. But I need your help to acquire the data and the grimoire." I raised my head and stared firmly at Lindley. "For this mission, I will require the unique skills of a lich."

"Very well!" Lindley boomed. "And you shall have it. However…"

He paused and glowered at me, those unholy fires in his sockets blazing.

"What do you get out of this? While you certainly strike me as a fellow intellectual, I do not believe you are a scientist or an alchemist. You seem more like a scholar in the literary arts."

And how the fuck did he come to that conclusion?

Lindley must have sensed my surprise and annoyance, for he chuckled and held up his hand.

"I am sensitive to the disposition of living beings. Your essence…forgive me, it emanates a specific sort of aura. I'm not sure how to describe it to you, who cannot sense it, but it resembles a book. If you were of the same field as me or that multi-mage, it would have taken on a different shape. Like a beaker, a test tube or some sort of tool. Your soul speaks of prose, of history and idealism. It is very different from the soul of a scientist."

He turned to Stella.

"Your aide over there…her soul is the shape of a sword. It indicates that she is a warrior. And then the mercenaries you hire…I can sense the money drifting across their souls, surrounding various forms of weapons. They are a different breed of warriors from your knight."

"That's quite the interesting ability." I wasn't sure how to react to it. So Lindley could interpret a person's character through the shape of his or her soul.

"His majesty, the gods bless his soul, had a bright soul too. But his was a politician's soul." Lindley sighed. "It is a pity, what happened to him. With his demise, the empire is slowly falling apart, torn apart by inner strife and civil war. If the humans do not destroy us, then we will end up terminating ourselves."

"I wish to stop that from happening."

"Yes, you do. You have a kind soul. As I said, idealistic." Lindley studied me. "Which brings me back to my question. What do you get out of this? What benefits do you receive? From what you've said, you will be giving me everything – from the data research to the relevant tomes. But what do you gain in return?"

I grinned. "Revenge."

"Revenge? Did this multi-mage do something to you?" Lindley sounded puzzled. I nodded.

"She betrayed me. The Hero party betrayed me. Were you not there when I successfully turned? You were all aware that I was the one who slew Vincent Lucard. But I only did that out of desperation. The Hero Party, they cut off my legs and abandoned me to face the lord of vampires alone with the intention of leaving me to die. They even laughed at my face as they made their escape and sealed me in the castle with Vincent."

"I did hear something to that effect. So you were formerly part of their party until their treachery, huh?" Lindley nodded sympathetically. "I can understand your rage. Your resentment. It is the same maelstrom of emotions held by many of my undead. Even beyond death, they continue to stubbornly hold into lingering grudges. It often drives them to achieve near miraculous feats against the right enemy."

"Vengeful spirits?" I asked. Lindley nodded.

"That's right. I allow those with grudges so powerful to transcend the physical bodies of zombies and skeletons and become vengeful spirits…angry ghosts. However…I don't usually do that because they are too difficult to control. Too unpredictable. Often they are so obsessed with their grudges that they disobey my commands. That is why I stick to zombies, ghouls and skeletons."

"A wise choice." I smiled.

"But that cannot be all." Lindley watched me closely. "If your goal is only revenge, you didn't have to go through all this trouble to visit my island so high up in the north and hire a lich. Yes, perhaps a lich would make a powerful ally, but surely a vampire of your intelligence will have plenty of more efficient methods of taking revenge? You did not have to specifically find a lich for your goal. You are resourceful enough to find allies closer to your target and cheaper to hire as well."

I cocked my head to the side. "But none of those allies or methods will involve handing over the research data and grimoire to you. It'd be a waste if I keep them to myself. As you rightly pointed out, I am no alchemist or scientist. Research in homunculus does not interest me."

Then I grinned.

"However, by offering them to you, I am hoping that I can befriend you. Or at the very least, prove that I am capable of providing a partnership of mutual benefits."

"Partnership, huh?" Lindley laughed. "You certainly have a way with words. Very well. If this mission of yours succeed, and we are able to bring the grimoire and research data back to Ixia, then my legion is yours to command. I will pledge my loyalty and service to you, my new liege."

He leaned forward.

"That was always your true goal, wasn't it?"

"One of my goals, yes," I agreed. My true goal was still revenge. But I was aware that I couldn't put aside the issue of running the Demonic Empire forever. Since these two goals currently intersected, I might as well achieve them together in one go. "So…do we have a deal?"

"We do. I look forward to working with you, Lord Klein."

"Thank you very much." I bowed my head slightly. "I hope you'll be able to recommend me someone appropriate for the job."

"No need for that." Lindley rose from his throne, his bones rattling. "I shall personally undertake this mission of yours. I wish to see firsthand the results of this multi-mage's experiments."

For a moment, I was taken aback. Then I grinned. This was more than I could hope for.

"Excellent." I put the glove back on and my crest faded from view once more. "I'm sure you will enjoy this field trip to Miranda's laboratory of horrors."