Lord of Rot

The woman who arrived was pretty, with a petite build.

Perhaps due to the hot weather, she wore only light armor over a thin cloth tunic.

She walked to the center of the audience chamber, faced Leech, and placed a hand on her chest. ”I am Yi Lin, a messenger from Longship Castle. I come bearing the friendship of Baroness Wado to pay my respects, My Lord.”

”Miss Yi Lin,” Leech said, ”I’m curious. I’ve had no dealings with Baroness Wado, so from where does this ’friendship’ arise?”

It was almost unheard of for nobles to be so openly disrespectful.

But Leech had just spelled it out plainly: he didn’t know them.

The slaves meant for Porcupine Territory had been seized in Waterfall Land. He refused to believe Longship Castle was ignorant of the matter. Besides, Yi Lin’s timing was too coincidental, arriving just half a day after the slaves were due in Porcupine Territory.

Considering the current situation in Waterfall Land, it wasn’t difficult for Leech to guess the Baroness’s intentions.

She wanted to drag Porcupine Territory into her war.

’Baroness Wado must be desperate to try anything, even reaching out to a backwater baron like me.’

”You were a great help when you passed through Waterfall Land and defeated the bastard’s army,” Yi Lin said.

”That Wado Seventeen?” Leech asked.

Yi Lin was taken aback for a moment, then nodded awkwardly. ”Yes, My Lord.”

Leech wasn’t about to acknowledge such a bullshit connection. They were just a bunch of farmers blocking the road, and their demise had absolutely nothing to do with him.

”If the Baroness truly wanted to discuss friendship, she should have brought my slaves back. She shouldn’t have sent you, Miss Yi Lin, to come here empty-handed!”

’Yi Lin had anticipated Leech’s reaction. Wasn’t the wrath of Baron Porcupine precisely what they were counting on?’

’An angry Baron Porcupine, his interests already compromised, would surely not refuse to cooperate.’

”Lady Jie Lin hopes to receive your aid,” Yi Lin said. ”If you can help us fend off their assault, she is willing to retrieve your lost slaves!”

”Assault?”

Leech completely ignored the empty promise she was dangling before him, asking in surprise, ”You can’t defeat Wado Eighteen? Or have other nobles intervened?”

The situation had far exceeded Leech’s expectations.

’So Wado Eighteen isn’t just a minor nuisance. He’s giving Longship Castle a serious headache. Could Longship Castle actually be on the verge of falling?’

On one side was Longship Castle—easy to defend and difficult to assault—with its well-trained soldiers and superior arms and equipment. On the other were farmers wielding hoes. They weren’t even in the same league. Leech had never conceived that the Baroness could lose.

In his original scenario, Leopold would eventually step in and settle the matter. The other involved parties would get a small piece of the pie, and everyone—except the Baroness, of course—would walk away happy.

Alternatively, the Baroness would hold on long enough to give birth to her child, and the pretenders would simply disappear.

”Only that... Eighteen.” Yi Lin had no choice but to adopt Leech’s conversational style. The name was deeply insulting, but Baron Porcupine was the last potential ally Longship Castle could secure. ”He’s a madman. He publicly proclaims that land will be returned to the peasants and that slaves can become commoners. With these promises, he’s amassed a huge following in a short time. Several villages in Waterfall Land have been attacked, and in every one, nearly all the peasants and serfs chose to join them.”

It was like a snowball, growing larger as it rolled.

Leech arched an eyebrow. ”You know, that’s surprisingly in line with how you Wados do things.”

The Wado family sigil is a ship.

Their family words: The water supports the boat.

Judging by Wado Eighteen’s methods, he was certainly living up to those words. He had really stirred up the waters.

Yi Lin: ”...”

’Did the family words really have a meaning like that?’ But her name wasn’t Wado, so she could only remain silent.

Leech continued, ”The man’s insane. If everyone becomes equal, why would they need him to be their Baron?”

’Societal reform can’t be achieved in a single stroke. A sudden leap from a slave society ruled by nobles to a utopia where everyone has land, food, and equality—where the most powerful and wealthy nobles are simply kicked to the curb—the outcome is obvious.’

’A person can lead their era, but they can’t leapfrog it. The people of the time won’t accept such a drastic change. Without enough power to enforce it, anyone who tries to get too far ahead of their time will just end up on the gallows.’

’Still, you have to admit, this Wado Eighteen has more guts than any of the imposter bastards who came before.’

’The lower classes will support whoever gives them land and greater benefits. That’s true in any world. He’s successfully tapped into their deepest desires.’

’So, there are two possible outcomes for Wado Eighteen.’

’Either he seizes enough power to sweep across the land and fulfill his grand ambitions in one fell swoop, or he’ll be crushed by a coalition of the other nobles.’

”Lady Jie Lin said she can offer...” Yi Lin began to say.

”There’s no need,” Leech said, cutting off Yi Lin’s attempt to dangle another promise. ”I can help Longship Castle. But, as you can see, Porcupine Territory is very weak. We don’t have enough Soldiers.”

Yi Lin immediately replied, ”If you could lend Longship Castle money to hire a troop of Mercenaries, we would certainly not forget your friendship.”

”That’s even more impossible,” Leech said. ”Can you see how dilapidated my castle is? I live in a fortress full of drafts. Not all my Soldiers even have armor, and they carry weapons nicked like saw blades. I have no money to fund your war.”

’A classic case of trying to get something for nothing. First troops, now money. If the bastard actually manages to overrun Longship Castle, who would I collect the debt from? I absolutely refuse to make a losing investment.’

”Then how do you intend to help Longship Castle?” Yi Lin was baffled. He said he would help, yet he would offer neither soldiers nor coin.

”First, tell me everything you know about this Wado Eighteen.”

’Just when I was worrying about my lack of intelligence on Wado Eighteen, someone comes to deliver it right to my doorstep.’

’If Wado Eighteen was truly a talent worthy of an emperor’s throne, I would adopt one strategy. If he was just a puppet or an incompetent fool, that would call for another.’

’This is the Magic World, after all. For me, a decapitation strike wouldn’t be difficult. I don’t lack for death commandos—the kind who are already thoroughly dead.’

There are always more solutions than problems. For now, he was very curious: was Wado Eighteen a hero, or a fraud?

Yi Lin was intimately familiar with Wado Eighteen’s exploits, and she recounted them one by one.

As Leech listened to Yi Lin’s tale, he formed an assessment in his mind. ’He commissioned a portrait, flayed a village’s knightly lord, and stiffed a brothel with his men.’

’Wado Eighteen had no past to speak of before this; it was as if he’d sprung from a rock. A man like that is usually a bandit, a farmer’s son—a complete nobody.’

’Furthermore, from what’s been reported, the man has the distinct air of a bandit. He’s relying entirely on his ”employee benefits package” to attract farmers and slaves. He talks a good game, but once he becomes Baron, he’ll almost certainly turn around and oppress the very people who followed him.’

The worst news of all was that Wado Eighteen’s army of hoe-wielding Soldiers had already swelled to twenty thousand men.

Even if they were only slaves in poor physical condition, a force that size could easily overrun Porcupine Territory.

But out of those twenty thousand, how many were truly loyal to Wado Eighteen, willing to die for him? That was another question entirely.