The legacy of the undead scourge

"While the task you assigned to me is to alert about goblins, patrolling to ensure the safety of the forest is also one of the responsibilities of a forester. So, if we calculate it this way, let's compromise, I'll take a step back... a day's wages should be sufficient."

Night Watch shuffled the silver coins in his hand, inquiring tentatively.

As a forester, the daily wage is three silver coins. Adding the one silver coin per day for each of the four soldiers assigned to him (which he declined), his daily earnings amount to seven silver coins.

Seemingly not much, but considering the cheapest black bread costs 10 copper coins, one silver coin can buy 10 loaves of bread. In the city of Loran, this is considered a relatively high salary.

Of course, if one desires a better-textured and more nutritious whole wheat bread, it wouldn't be enough, and there's no guarantee it would even be available.

However, Weng Ling has no alternative. Having recently taken over Loran City and being unfamiliar with financial systems, she still uses the previous wage standards, the standards after Loran City's decline...

Weng Ling furrowed her brow. "You better keep this, I couldn't stop those three, could I? As for the wage issue, I will think of a solution. Regarding the job..."

"I'll continue to stay here!" Night Watch interrupted.

He couldn't bear to be driven away by Weng Ling, especially since he had already invested in building here.

Weng Ling looked at him, pondered for a moment, nodded. After all, with the goblins gone, there was no need to worry about his safety.

"Oh, those three..." Night Watch turned to look at the direction of the fire.

"They are Holy Knights sent by the Silver Church to purify the undead," Weng Ling said calmly.

"Is that Yang Tian guy, your fiancé or something? He seemed quite arrogant."

Night Watch said nonchalantly, but Weng Ling turned to stare at him.

"Well, I guessed randomly, don't mind me!" Night Watch chuckled. "But you guessed right, strictly speaking, I should be their adopted daughter-in-law."

"Adopted daughter-in-law?!" Night Watch was a bit surprised.

"Yeah," Weng Ling nodded slightly, her face showing no emotion.

Though the fire in the forest had subsided, a warm breeze blew, causing Weng Ling's hair to flutter gently like a blue butterfly.

"Want to hear my story?"

Weng Ling brushed her hair lightly on the ground, sat down, and patted the space next to her, looking at Night Watch.

"I don't want to!" Night Watch shook his head.

This wasn't a time for sitting under the moonlight with wine, and he didn't have any wine.

"Uh... but I want to talk, so you have to listen. Otherwise, return the wages!" Weng Ling raised an eyebrow, extending her palm toward Night Watch.

Upon hearing this, Night Watch immediately sat beside her, looking attentive as if preparing to listen carefully.

"Here's how it goes..."

Weng Ling calmed her emotions and began recounting her past:

Her father was the lord of Loran, but her mother was just a farmer's daughter, destined to have no good status.

To prevent her from being bullied by her "brothers, uncles, and aunts," Weng Ling's mother sent her to the nearest Silver Church when she was six.

In that church, her talent as a cleric quickly gained attention. Eventually, she was adopted by the Yang family, the actual controllers of the church. However, in reality, the Yang family just treated her as Yang Tian's adopted daughter-in-law.

No, it was worse than being an adopted daughter-in-law!

The Yang family only valued Weng Ling's extraordinary affinity with light magic. The goal was to let their offspring gradually obtain her affinity gene by combining with her, securing the Yang family's position in the church.

So Weng Ling hated her own abilities. She pretended to be foolish and incapable of learning light magic, instead, developing her other talent for self-preservation:

Strange strength.

Fortunately, Yang Tian's light magic talent was not inferior to hers. In a situation where her future seemed limitless, the Yang family spared her.

Unfortunately, the Yang family had a foolish son, Yang Wei, who excelled in wind magic as a Holy Knight. So, Weng Ling's fiancé became him.

But Weng Ling knew it was just a facade of an aristocratic family. In reality, she was to be Yang Tian's secret lover!

A manipulated tool for procreation, only to bear a more perfect descendant for the Yang family!

So, knowing that her relatives in Loran had all died, she rushed here quietly to take over. With the identity of a lord, she could at least resist the Yang family's grasp on her, on the surface.

A lord represents the authority of the principality. Even the Yang family had to carefully consider.

However, in secret...

It would depend on her abilities.

Weng Ling touched her

 palm, where a faint hexagram faintly shimmered. This was the seal representing the lord. Only possessing this could one be considered a legitimate lord.

Thinking of the day when the mercenary handed her the box, Weng Ling suddenly wiped the corner of her eye. That was her mother's only dowry...

"My mom used to take me into the Loran Forest to pick fruits and hunt rabbits when I was a child. At that time, there were no goblins or fierce beasts in Loran Forest. The happiest time of my life was running in the woods with my mother. But now..."

Weng Ling looked up, and a few ashes fell gently on her black hair.

The Yang family!

She thought that by escaping to Loran Territory, she could finally escape this nightmare. But unexpectedly, they still refused to let her go.

And if Loran Territory could not develop, it meant she could never accumulate enough power to resist the Yang family. Sooner or later, she would still become a plaything of the Yang family.

"Without the forest, these ashes should make the land more fertile. Also, without the goblins, can't we all cultivate crops together?" Night Watch asked, voicing his inner doubts.

Weng Ling shook her head, picked up a short stick from the side, and turned over the soil under her feet. The dark soil was exposed.

"Look at this soil. It has long been corroded by the undead calamity. Ordinary people can't grow crops on it at all, especially not everyone is like your old steward, naturally skilled in nature spells."

"In fact, the entire Loran Forest cannot cultivate any crops artificially. However, naturally grown forests have not been affected. According to the old man, this is the credit of the guardian deity of Loran Forest. A deity..."

Weng Ling suddenly let out a cold laugh.

Night Watch flipped the dark soil with his hands. In fact, during the time he buried himself, he felt a very, very faint undead aura in this land.

Very weak, weak as if throwing a grain of salt into a swimming pool, but an undead aura is still an undead aura. It would be a destructive threat to delicate plants.

In this way, the stone wall should also serve as a dividing line. Only the land outside the wall can barely plant crops. However...

"Undead calamity? Can you tell me about that?"