The Low-Key Life of a Necromancer

Friends who have often been to prison know that when there are your own people among the prison guards, things become very convenient.

Lilith charmed a hapless soldier into bringing some extra food to the dungeon.

The young soldier couldn't get anything good, so he could only carry a bucket of feed that the lord used to feed his horses.

The batter is made of raw flour and water, mixed with some tender grass and beans. This thing is not very friendly to people who have been hungry for a long time.

Fortunately, the people in this world are relatively tough, and those who are fed are a group of priests.

If you have a stomachache, just cast some holy light on yourself.

The food was delivered to the next cell by the soldiers. When the people lying motionless in the cell saw the food, they crawled up like hungry wolves.

Seven or eight priests gathered around the bucket and scooped up the noodles. The man who scooped up the noodles let out an evil laugh.

These people were starving to the point of skin and bones. If they were released, they would eat a cow alive. They don't look like priests at all.

“…Father, uncle, please don’t rush to grab the food. There are people watching here. Please pay attention to the dining order!”

Through the hole in the wall, Theresa kept emphasizing how much she wished she was next door so she could personally stop everyone's rude behavior.

The clergy are supposed to pray while eating, but the people on the other side just wolf down their food.

In the face of hunger, faith and other things are no longer important.

Seeing her family become like this, Theresa felt very lost. Her faith was shaken again and she completely couldn't understand the meaning of the scene before her.

The scriptures say that people have to go through hardships when they are born, and only then can they be reborn, ascend to the goddess' kingdom, and enjoy the prosperity of heaven with the gods.

The hardships that Theresa understands can be natural disasters, epidemics, or powerful enemies.

But what is happening now is entirely a man-made disaster, and it is an avoidable catastrophe.

"Father, how could you have fallen to this point..."

After eating, the clergy regained some spirits. When they heard Teresa's confusion, they remembered their identities and stopped what they were doing to recite scriptures silently.

"All the suffering and sorrow in the world are the power that helps me ascend to heaven. Hermits do not care about wealth, wise men reject violence, and honorable men do not take on missions without authorization. Everything has cause and effect. The disasters I encounter today will lead to blessings in the future..."

After regaining the proper posture of a clergyman, one of the priests stood up tremblingly, came to the hole in the wall, and responded to Theresa's call.

"Theresa, my child, you shouldn't be here. The lord here has betrayed, the knights of the Church here have fallen, and shadows are hatching evil here. You must find a way to leave here!"

Theresa's father was wearing a linen robe of unknown color, and his figure standing in the dungeon looked a bit like an ascetic.

Unfortunately, the batter on the other person's beard ruined the sanctity of his moment.

Li patted Theresa and asked her to give him the hole in the wall.

"Father, from the looks of you, you should know the situation in this city. Can you tell me more about it?"

Seeing that Li was a young man, the priest thought silently for a while before remembering Li's identity.

"You are a child of the Weiser family. I didn't expect that you would be caught and thrown into the dungeon. Don't worry, we owe your parents a favor, so we will leave some extra batter for you."

“…That’s not necessary!”

After declining the invitation to dine, Lee learned why the clergy were imprisoned in the dungeon.

"Ahem~ Everything started because of the granary fire. Since then, the news that there was not enough food in the city could no longer be concealed."

A large number of people took to the streets, hoping that the lord could give an explanation, but they didn't know that the granary was burned down by the lord himself.

"We worked together with the clergy in the church to open the church's storehouse and take out the food inside to help the people, but we were soon targeted by the lord."

The local church also has a warehouse for supplies. If the church is allowed to continue providing relief, the lord's plan will be in vain.

"The lord called us together, hoping that the church would work together with the lord, but while they were talking about discussing, the meeting place was directly surrounded by soldiers."

The clergy were trapped in the lord's manor. They had no way to get out and could only angrily denounce the lord's inhumane behavior.

The lord had not thrown the clergy into the dungeon at first, but the situation quickly deteriorated when a team of paladins arrived from the temple headquarters in the royal capital.

"Those paladins have become corrupt. They colluded with the lords and formulated a series of new tax policies. The free people, who already had difficulty living due to food shortages, were burdened with additional debts."

Li asked about the specific tax items and received an angry answer from the pastor.

"Road maintenance fees, sewage dumping taxes, and non-believers must pay a faith deposit, otherwise they will be arrested by soldiers and flogged as heretics. These damn taxes never existed before. It was the fallen knights and evil lords who usurped the name of the king and the gods!"

Talking about the unreasonable taxation, the priest became furious.

However, Li scratched his chin guiltily, believing in his heart that there was nothing wrong with the formulation of these taxes.

Li really wanted to say that compared with the breathing tax, window tax, and fireplace tax, the tax laws set by the lords were still too mild and could not drain the wallets of the free people at all.

"Master Li, I always feel like you are thinking about something dangerous?"

"Hey~ Father, you're overthinking. Please continue."

Li wanted to know more about the situation in Windmill Bay so that he could respond better.

But the priest spread his hands and shook his head.

"That's all we know."

"Huh? You were thrown into the dungeon after that?"

The priest nodded, indicating that all those who opposed the lord were in the dungeon, and only those who abandoned their faith and became corrupt with them would be allowed to go outside.

Li fell silent immediately, sorting out the entire change in his mind.

The lord is selfish, excludes dissidents, and colludes with the paladins from the royal capital.

The lord's decision was easy to understand, but Li couldn't understand why the paladin from the royal capital would do this?

Is the entire temple headquarters corrupt and decadent?

Li doesn't think so. As a common belief in the human kingdom, perhaps a large number of priests have forgotten their oaths and chosen to pursue wealth and glory, but the most fundamental concept of faith is difficult to change.

There is no shortage of people who believe in the Goddess and the Holy Light and pride themselves on virtue, and they will certainly prevent the temple from going to extremes.

Li only hoped that what happened in Windmill River Bay was an isolated case in the kingdom. If the entire kingdom and the temple allowed the situation to develop for some reason, the consequences of such turmoil would be too serious.

Li was willing to develop himself amidst the kingdom's shortcomings, but the kingdom collapsed too quickly, which was not good for Li either.

"I hope those in high positions can control the progress of this chaos..."

Li raised his head from his thoughts and saw the pastor scooping out a handful of beans with soup from the batter bucket.

The pastor enthusiastically reached his hand through the hole in the wall, ready to share the beans with the people here.

Theresa, who was still concerned about her family just now, was the first to jump away from the hole in the wall, and Lilith even hid in the corner, fearing that she would be contaminated by something.

"Thank you, Father. I'm really not hungry."

"Come on young man, sharing food is a human virtue. The goddess taught us that we should not ignore our brothers and sisters around us. You should eat some, otherwise it would be disrespectful to the faith."

Looking at the sly smile under the priest's beard, Li had a bunch of popcorn in his heart that he wanted to pour out.