Chapter 257: Save Me, President!

Lich for Hire

When a beauty said something along the lines of, "You saw everything just now, didn't you?", it was easy to imagine a suggestive scene. [1]

But Ambrose didn't dare. Shara wasn't joking, not one bit.

"Goddess of the Night," Ambrose said cautiously, "how did you know I was watching from the sidelines?"

The face formed from black fog floated closer, stopping just short of his nose. "Your illusion is quite interesting," Shara began. "If I had descended in the form of an avatar, I might not have seen through it. But when you accepted the knowledge of the Weft, you were marked with my aura. No matter how you hide, you cannot escape my perception."

Ambrose remained calm. "I see. The foresight of a goddess is indeed beyond mortal prediction. Then may I ask why you didn't expose me directly? The fact that you chose to warn me like this suggests there's room for negotiation, doesn't it?"

Shara drifted back slightly, her gaze sweeping over him as if measuring his worth. After a long pause, she spoke again. "I knew, before, that you were important. I thought you were merely one chosen by fate, your body tangled with countless threads, each connected to different gods. But it seems I was mistaken. Your intelligence is far more significant than fate itself.

"Or perhaps, it is precisely because you are so intelligent that fate has taken an interest in you."

Ambrose chuckled, but didn't respond.

It sounded like praise, but her words were bait. If he showed even a hint of curiosity, she would surely follow with: "Want to know more? What price are you willing to pay?"

So Ambrose treated it as idle chatter, smiling, nodding, offering polite thanks, but never engaging with her.

As Shara watched him refuse to take her bait, her tone shifted. "I really want to dig out your soul and give it to my Night Judges instead."

"Why go to all that trouble?" Ambrose replied smoothly. "With enough gold, even a lich will throw himself into calamity for you. Just a trivial amount of coin."

Shara paused. Somehow, in just two sentences, she had gone from extracting a price to paying him instead.

This damned lich, had he somehow come across the divinity of trickery itself?

"Hmph. You still owe me," she snapped. "The price for knowledge of the Weft."

Back then, Ambrose had sought Shara's help to understand the Weft and ultimately cure the elves' mana addiction.

Shara had demanded he become her chosen. He refused. She had changed the terms: corrupt a paladin, or bring her a legendary one.

Ambrose reached into his extradimensional storage and dragged out the half-dragon youth. "A legend once devoted to the Holy Light and now fallen. Doesn't that satisfy your requirement?"

Shara sneered. "You know, it was this very half-dragon that led to the four of us allying with one another.

"…What?" That genuinely surprised him.

"You haven't realized?" Shara continued. "Levitra, Loss, and Tiamat—you have deeply offended all of them."

"Now, now, let's not exaggerate," Ambrose said lightly. "How would I dare offend gods?"

But inwardly, he knew she had a point.

Levitra, Mistress of Pain, had forced him back into the grasp of fate, turning his power into one that could only weave suffering. He avoided using it altogether lest she benefit from it.

At the time, he had sworn to make her taste a lich's wrath.

As for Tiamat… Ambrose glanced at the half-dragon boy. Clearly, this was her chosen, and he had suppressed him. That likely didn't sit well with the Dragon Queen.

But the Spider Queen? Surely Black Rose was the culprit there, not him.

"That's unfair," Ambrose said. "I've mostly dealt with surface drow. What does that have to do with her?"

Shara smiled faintly. "Two hundred years ago, you killed one of her chosen. She's mentioned it through gritted teeth more than once. That drow priestess had been her favorite."

Ambrose thought hard. Then, his eyes widened. "That wasn't my fault! Who would expect her to try to kill me afterward? That was self-defense!"

Back then, he had been young and foolish, driven by worldly desires. And that drow had been… very enthusiastic.

They had worked together quite well. Who could have guessed she would try to kill him afterward? Fortunately, he had reacted in time and used his dice of fate to eliminate her. That was before he abandoned fate entirely.

He didn't even remember her name. Who would've thought she was the Spider Queen's chosen?

Shara continued, amused. "You know, you should have died. She was far stronger than you. But fate is… unpredictable. And even if we ignore that, do you know how many drow that undead queen has slaughtered? You are both members of the same organization."

Ambrose frowned. "I'm not the only one in the Elegiac Society! If you're assigning blame, go after our boss."

Shara laughed. "Oh, Loss would love to, but she doesn't dare." Then she added, almost teasingly, "You still don't know who your President really is, do you?"

"…The lich god Valarun?" Ambrose guessed.

Shara shook her head. "It looks as if you don't know a thing. But if he hasn't told you, there must be a reason behind it. In any case, don't think you can use that organization as a shield. Your president won't let himself be used."

She changed topics. "Enough of that. This half-dragon is Tiamat's chosen. He was meant to stir chaos, to give dragonkind a chance to return to the continent. You ruined that. All three of those goddesses bear hatred toward you, especially Levitra. By ending that war prematurely, you denied her immense suffering. She would gladly imprison your soul and torture it forever."

Ambrose really wanted to ask if Levitra had thrown a tantrum, rolling on the ground and screaming in frustration. That would've been satisfying.

But Shara was not yet an ally. Better not give her more leverage.

"Even if they hate me," Ambrose said, "what does that have to do with your alliance?"

Shara replied. "This is where fate becomes interesting. You offered this half-dragon to me, and I immediately sensed Tiamat's power. So I sought her out and proposed an alliance to seize… that opportunity. You know what I mean, don't you?"

"The coming divine war?" Ambrose asked.

Anyone with a bit of insight knew that a great upheaval was coming, not just for the world, but for the gods themselves. But Ambrose had no idea what that upheaval entailed.

If Shara knew, he would definitely try to weasel it out of her.

Shara nodded. "Perhaps. In any case, something is coming. So I joined forces with Tiamat, and then Loss and Levitra followed. Our goals differ, but we share a common enemy. And the Umbral Depths is an excellent starting point."

Ambrose fell silent. His soulfire burned intensely as he processed everything. After a long moment, he spoke again. "Goddess of the Night, I understand most of the circumstances now. But that's not the real point, is it? You allied with them and discovered me eavesdropping, yet you didn't expose me. Your true target isn't the Umbral Depths… or me. It's those three goddesses, isn't it?"

Shara's smile vanished. Her eyes turned pitch black as she stared at him. "Since you've already deduced my plan," she said coldly, "then you have no right to refuse my invitation. Otherwise, I will destroy you at any cost."

Ambrose sighed. He had guessed correctly. Shara, the initiator of this alliance, clearly had ulterior motives. She must have devised a plan to severely undermine the other three.

Perhaps not to kill them, but certainly to wound them… and perhaps seize their divine power.

But knowing that changed nothing. From the moment Shara approached him, he had had no choice.

He had no god backing him. The God of Alchemy was unreliable, and he certainly couldn't pray to the Lord of Dawn.

"Tell me your plan, Goddess. How am I to play my part in a scheme among gods?"

Shara replied, "You weren't part of my plan originally. But fate is amusing: you walked right into it. That makes everything easier. Trisna is the key. I convinced them to jointly bless her. During the ritual, our divine powers will all connect to her. That is when you must act."

Shara forged a dagger out of black mist. It floated into Ambrose's hand.

"You simply need to drive this into her heart while our power is connected," Shara said. "Simple, isn't it?"

Simple? If it were truly that simple, why would she need him?

Shara was no benevolent goddess. Not even half her words could be trusted.

Still, Ambrose didn't hesitate. He took the dagger. "Then this will settle our previous deal as well."

Shara shook her head. "Not so easily… not unless you include this half-dragon."

It was a losing proposition, but Ambrose just wanted her gone. "Fine. I intended to offer him to you anyway. Deal."

Shara dissolved into mist and swallowed the half-dragon whole, then returned to stillness.

Ambrose stored the dagger in his extradimensional space and immediately returned to reality.

Standing in the drow tower, he wasted no time pulling out his Necromantic Codex and writing frantically, [Megaman Tiga: President, are you there?! Help! I'm being hunted by FOUR GODDESSES working together!]

1. 女神 translates literally as 'goddess' but is also used to refer to a 'beauty' in slang. Both senses are relevant here.