Lord of Rot

A soft knock sounded at the door.

”My Lord, my name is Duckfoot.” The voice outside the door was tinged with excitement. ”I will be serving as your personal manservant.”

To go from head manservant to a nobleman’s personal manservant was not just a huge leap in status. If the noble he served went on to accomplish great things and acquire his own territory, he himself might one day become a steward.

Kolan frowned and didn’t let him in. ”You should rest for now. I’ll call for you if I need something.”

”Yes.”

Silence fell outside the door. Kolan sighed. ’I’m like a bird trapped in a cage, completely unable to get a single message out.’

「Meanwhile」

The body of Kolan’s personal manservant had been secretly brought before Leech.

The slave tasked with transporting the body looked at the Baron holding a torch, then glanced at the young giant behind him. His heart skipped a beat. The giant stood completely outside the torchlight, a tall, dark silhouette.

He remembered the rumors of the Lord’s powerful team. Looking again at the young giant in the shadows, he didn’t dare entertain a single stray thought.

The slaves withdrew at once.

”Good,” Leech said, examining the body. ’Stabbed through the heart. They were going for a one-hit kill.’

The young giant bent over, grabbed the corpse’s leg with one hand, and followed Leech away.

「Inside a dark cave」

The coffin lid was shoved open.

Along with a flash of imagery, a memory flooded into his mind.

It was from a conversation where he was seeing through the eyes of Kolan Fosak’s ”personal manservant.”

’Heh, a personal manservant.’

In the memory, the man was wearing a suit of leather armor, a mercenary’s insignia pinned to his chest. A group of men and women, all fully armed, stood before him.

”I saw the bearskin. It’s definitely from a magical beast.”

He couldn’t tell who was speaking, as the ”personal manservant’s” gaze wasn’t on them. The man himself might have known, but Leech, having just dropped into this memory, could only listen in confusion.

”I saw the silver-haired one, in the south,” a woman, not very tall, said this time.

At the mere mention of ”the silver-haired one,” the breathing of everyone present grew tense.

The woman continued, ”They said their companion headed in this direction.”

”If the silver-haired freak said it, then it must be true! The treasure of the labyrinth-cavern is there!”

”I’ve already investigated,” said the ”personal manservant”—whose voice now sounded like Leech’s own in his head. ”It’s a baron’s territory, very isolated. And it seems he has a strong, hidden army. We’re no match for him. It’s best he doesn’t discover our purpose.”

”What should we do?”

”We find a way to infiltrate, then search patiently.”

”A sound plan.”

”I’ll go,” the man—Leech’s host—said. ”You all keep watch from the outside. I’ll leave a trail of markers.”

His vision went black. The last thing he saw was a symbol.

Leech’s eyes snapped open.

From the ”personal manservant,” he had acquired not only the memory but also proficiency with a two-handed sword. The skill, however, was far inferior to that of his late teacher. If Jamie Duke’s greatsword and longsword techniques were upper-intermediate, then this mercenary’s skills were lower-intermediate at best.

’So, this group of mercenaries somehow teamed up with Becky Simon to investigate the castle? No, that’s not right. If there was really some treasure in a labyrinth-cavern, Baron Spark’s army would have invaded long ago.’

Leech had no doubt about the nobles’ instinct for profit. Baron Spark, who was already wealthy with a monthly income of several Jinri, wouldn’t want to earn a bad reputation over nothing. But for a priceless treasure, he would surely find any number of excuses to declare war and seize Porcupine Territory.

’Becky probably doesn’t know, and neither does Kolan.’

He felt a headache coming on. He’d thought the Little Pill was his only problem, but it turned out he’d also attracted a pack of circling hyenas.

This group had come searching for the cavern because of the Flame Bear hide.

’From that memory, the cavern’s appearance has nothing to do with me. Do these labyrinth-caverns just appear randomly in this world? There must be a more scientific—no, a more magical explanation. Like the Earth Folk!’ Leech was frustrated by how little information he had, leaving him unable to grasp the full picture.

He could guess that some kind of subterranean civilization lay hidden, likely emerging into the view of ordinary people with the surging of the Magic Tide.

These things would vanish as magic waned, only to resurface when it surged anew.

The dense forest stretching from Porcupine Territory toward Pig Spine Valley was vast; even Leech hadn’t been able to search it all.

But they had said they were sure the treasure was in Porcupine Territory because of ”the silver-haired one.” This meant there was a high probability that a third cavern existed within his domain.

’Could it be related to the Silver Steel Sword?’

Legend held that the Silver Steel Sword possessed the miraculous power to slay monsters, and it had been discovered in a Griffin’s nest. There were too many coincidences.

He even ventured a bold guess: ’The Griffin might have escaped from that third cavern!’

”You may have to search in secret, but I don’t,” Leech said with a smile. ”This is my territory!”

’True or not, I’ll just conduct a grid search of my own territory.’

The next day, Gelan received a strange order: sweep the dense forest near Porcupine Territory and eliminate any dangerous beasts.

Several hundred men were dispatched. When they returned at dusk, they carried spoils: rabbits, wolves, birds’ eggs, snakes, and more.

The Baron was also quite generous. He purchased everyone’s haul, and after taking the pelts, he distributed the meat among them. It wasn’t much, but everyone got a taste.

The people thanked their Lord for his benevolence and were filled with motivation.

The third day was the same.

The fourth day.

The fifth day.

As the dangerous beasts were nearly all eliminated, the number of people assigned to the task slowly decreased.

The excavation of the irrigation channel was also important.

「Eight days later」

Kolan Fosak grew increasingly listless. With the personal manservant constantly by his side, he was completely helpless. Moreover, Qiao had yet to return, leaving him with no way to contact the outside world.

The personal manservant assigned by the Baron was like a nail driven in beside him, and Kolan didn’t dare voice any dissatisfaction.

Today, Leech invited Kolan out for a stroll, but Kolan used the excuse of feeling unwell to remain resting in his room.

Upstream, a waterwheel turned, pushed by the river’s current.

Unlike the wheel for a gristmill, this irrigation wheel scooped up water with every rotation. The water then flowed through wooden troughs crafted by carpenters and into the channel, supplying water for the fields.

The arrival of the irrigation channel saved a tremendous amount of labor that would have been spent hauling water. Though still in its early stages, it had already freed up a portion of each family’s workforce.

Leech assigned this freed-up labor to explore the dense forest.

Seated on his horse, Leech watched the slow turn of the waterwheel.

Children laughed.

’Manure for fertilizer is only one part of the solution. It would be best to find a scholar who specializes in botany.’

Others might be satisfied with the fields’ yield, but Leech was not. He planned to use ”magical” methods to research genetic modification.

’If magic can supposedly create a massive tree in an instant, then using it to make the heads of wheat fuller and thicker shouldn’t be a problem, right?’

’Not using magic for agriculture is a complete waste!’

”My Lord!”

A figure came stumbling toward him. It was the son of Lame Ark.

”Akelie, what’s wrong?”

”We found the entrance to a huge underground palace! It’s massive!” Akelie gestured wildly. ”It’s on the cape between Pig Spine Valley and the sea!”