Lord of Rot

At the foot of the castle, Maitian Village.

The wind stirred the wheat, creating waves of gold.

Leech stood before the field ridges, watching the bustling crowd at harvest. Behind him followed his little secretary and his squire, Radish.

”Your great guidance has brought everyone a bountiful harvest,” Radish said.

He had seen with his own eyes that Porcupine Territory’s development was due to Lord Leech’s leadership, not some miracle from the heavens or grain bestowed by a Divine Spirit. If one had to speak of a miracle, then Lord Leech himself was that miracle.

”It’s also thanks to everyone’s hard work,” Leech said.

At the same time, he thought to himself, ’And less kowtowing to the gods.’

Using the time spent worshiping gods for development, creating for themselves rather than begging for handouts from Divine Spirits—this, he believed, was the real reason Porcupine Territory was able to prosper.

This year’s harvest was a good one.

The farmers bent over as they entered the wheat fields. With a good harvest this year, they would have grain in storage at home, making the winter days a little easier.

Men and women worked the fields, while barefoot children ran back and forth on the ridges.

”Black Charcoal, bring me some water!” a farmer shouted, standing up and calling to three children on the ridge.

Of the three children, two were playing together happily, while the third was ostracized, trailing pathetically behind them.

It seemed to be the same in any world.

The little boy, the ’little leader’ of the group, heard the shout from the field. He turned his head and yelled back, ”Got it!” then said to his two companions, ”I’ll be right back. We’re going to go dig for worms!”

After giving a few careful instructions, Black Charcoal took off running. He grabbed the water jug from the ridge, poured a cup, and hurried over to his father, holding it up with both hands.

The farmer took the cup, drank a mouthful, and felt refreshed. ”Porcupine Territory has really changed. Back in the day, our family was so hungry we had to dig up wild vegetables to eat.”

The commoners who had lived in Porcupine Territory the longest could feel the changes: the roads were wider, and the grain harvest was bountiful.

”Hurry up and drink,” Black Charcoal said, looking anxiously at his father, his head turning back every few seconds.

The farmer took a big gulp, finished the water, and handed the cup back to Black Charcoal. ”Alright, off you go. Don’t wander too far.”

”Got it!” Black Charcoal took the cup and trotted away.

It wasn’t just the farmers who were marveling at the harvest, but the slaves as well. The first group of slaves who had been ordered to clear and cultivate the land were working with a fiery determination. The Lord’s earlier promise of a reward for the best harvest still stood.

Leech watched the busy scene, but his heart wasn’t at ease. ’This grain, plus what we’ve already stockpiled, is probably only enough for just over two thousand people to barely make it through the winter.’

After the harvest, they would use the heavy plow Leech had developed to till the soil, which would also dig up the roots in the ground to be burned for fertilizer.

They would plant oats in the autumn. Oats weren’t as palatable as wheat, but they could be harvested around December and the yield wasn’t low.

By planting some cabbages and other vegetables as well, they should be able to get by this year.

At the same time, Leech also prepared to purchase grain. With grain in the house, there was no need to panic.

The land reclamation over there had also been underway for some time. Nearly a thousand slaves had become serfs, and the blacksmith factory even had to halt its other work to prioritize the production of farm tools.

Today was also destined to be a special day.

The slaves who had arrived in Porcupine Territory later watched their cheering ’seniors’ with immense envy.

A slave was a tool that belonged completely to the lord, possessing no freedom whatsoever. A serf, however, could own a small amount of property, and only needed to hand over the vast majority of their harvest to the lord.

But in Porcupine Territory, one could buy their way out of slavery. This meant that as a serf, as long as you worked hard and earned money, you could one day become a commoner.

Little Antelope followed the line out of her dormitory. As a slave, her only luggage was a single change of clothes, which she had exchanged for work points.

Now that their status was changing to serf, they were moving to new dormitories.

”Once I save enough money, I can become a commoner of Porcupine Territory!” chattered an excited older woman from the same dormitory up ahead. She had previously hoped to use her big butt to hook a commoner and directly change her status, but she hadn’t succeeded.

Ever since the Lord’s decree was issued, few men were willing to marry a slave for fear of a difficult life. The young Soldiers in the castle, however, looked at them with fiery gazes. From what Little Antelope understood, the older women would sometimes take on ’business.’ At first, they hoped a wealthy Soldier might buy their freedom, but later they settled for some food and drink. Some even did it for free, just for the fun of it.

Dry tinder meets a raging fire—the young, vigorous bodies and the women of an age that could ”suck the soil dry” were a perfect match.

At first, the matter was even reported to the castle, but since both parties were willing, the Lord was helpless to intervene. He only decreed that if a child was conceived, the man couldn’t just pull up his pants and walk away.

It was consensual, so no one could do anything about it.

At the mention of becoming a commoner, a fierce flame seemed to ignite in everyone’s heart.

”I want to help my son become a commoner first,” said another older woman, whose bed was next to Little Antelope’s. ”I hear the Lord has a bricklayer construction team that’s always short on people. Once he becomes an apprentice, he’s sure to earn a lot of money.”

There weren’t as many jobs for women as there were for men. Porcupine Territory was in its early stages of development, so most of the work was manual labor.

”Women can also go to the brick kiln to make pottery jars,” another older woman said. ”Once I save enough money, I’ll go to the brick kiln.”

”I want to farm,”

A farmer’s life is still based on the land, with grain as the foundation. But if you become a commoner first and then farm, you’ll have to pay less tax.

”I heard the blacksmith factory is also hiring women to tan leather and sew leather armor. They pay 50 copper stars for one piece!”

”How much? 50?”

”Yeah, I heard it from you-know-who. But they aren’t short on people. The only ones who can get in are the blacksmiths’ wives and daughters.” That ’you-know-who’ was definitely one of the Soldiers.

Tanning leather and sewing armor wasn’t particularly difficult work, but there were too many wolves and not enough meat—it was impossible to get a spot.

When all was said and done, everyone wanted to escape their status as slaves and become commoners.

However, for a serf to save up enough money to buy their own freedom, it would take many, many years, even with bountiful harvests every year.

”Little Antelope, what are your plans for the future?”

Startled at being suddenly called on, Little Antelope paused. ”Me?”

She was about to say she wanted to return to her homeland, but then she thought about it. Her home was too far away. She had walked for who knew how long to reach Porcupine Territory, and countless companions had died along the way. Even if she did go back, her life there wouldn’t be as good as it was in Porcupine Territory.

”I want to earn money,” Little Antelope said. ”And then buy a beautiful house.”

A home in Porcupine Territory.

Only commoners could own their own houses, but so far, no one had heard of anyone having enough money to buy one.

The older women were a bit stunned, but they tacitly changed the subject.

The newly built dormitories were far from the old slave quarters, closer to the reclaimed farmland, though still a long way from the village where the commoners lived.

The concept of social class was deeply ingrained.

Next was the room assignment. The dorms were more spacious, with only eight people to a room. They even had their own cabinets to store their belongings, as well as a communal warehouse where Ark would send people to supervise and guard their future harvests.

Little Antelope was assigned to a room with people she didn’t know very well. The other girls in the room were about her age. The seven of them were close and chattering away, and they didn’t react much when Little Antelope came in.

”KNOCK KNOCK.” There was a knock on the door, and then the older woman in charge of the dorms appeared with a smile. ”Little Antelope?”

”Yes!” Little Antelope got up from her bed.

”A friend of yours is here to see you.”

”My friend?” Little Antelope was confused. ’The older women who came with me?’ In reality, after being separated, they wouldn’t go out of their way to meet up again, unless their assigned plots of land happened to be next to each other tomorrow.

She put on her shoes and walked out. When she saw a girl in a simple cloth dress, Little Antelope walked over in disbelief. ”Sister?”

She hadn’t seen her sister for a few days.

It turned out her sister’s freedom had already been purchased by her brother, who was a Knight’s squire.

”You’re a commoner now?” she asked in a low voice.

”Mhm!” Her sister nodded. ”Last time, my brother won a great victory with the Lord and received a lot of money as a reward.”

”That’s wonderful!” Little Antelope was genuinely happy for her sister.

Her sister’s personality was a major disadvantage among the slaves. If not for her brother, the Knight’s squire, she would have likely gone hungry even in Porcupine Territory, where the rules were becoming more established to protect individual slaves.

’But on second thought, maybe she has that kind of personality precisely because she has a brother who takes care of her,’ she mused.

”Let’s go,” her sister said, taking her hand and leading her outside.

”What’s wrong?” Little Antelope didn’t understand but obediently let herself be led.

”You’re free now,” her sister said. ”Just like I promised.”

”What!”

Little Antelope felt the world spin.

’I’m free?’

Free!

”I want to go back and get my clothes,” she said to her sister solemnly. ”And... thank you!”

At the same time, she made a firm resolution in her heart: she would definitely earn money to pay her sister back!

...

Inside the castle, Leech was instructing two apprentice cooks.

Bommer was a brewer through and through. Although he specialized in making sour apple cider, making ordinary beer was no problem for him either.

For instance, he had the relevant knowledge and experience for the wheat beer Leech was planning to make.

Wheat beer required raw materials like malt and hops.

Using too high a proportion of wheat malt would make it sour, so a certain amount of barley malt had to be added—this was a piece of experience from the brewer, Bommer.

Making the malt was the first step.

Soak it in water and wait for the sprouts to grow, which would take about a week.

Next, the malt needed to be kilned, sifted to remove ash and debris, and finally cooled.

Lu Leiyans loved to drink beer, especially in the summer, so hops were grown in many places. The raw material wasn’t rare.

Beer is different from baijiu; the ’hops’ in beer is a plant, a raw material for brewing, while the ’head’ of baijiu is the foam.

The malt was ground into powder and then mashing began.

Then it was filtered to obtain the wort.

The wort was boiled again, and the hops were added.

It was cooled, then poured into sealed barrels to ferment with yeast.

In about 10 days, the beer would be ready to drink.

Leech had already written down the important points and told the apprentices to come find him immediately if any problems arose.

The two apprentice cooks bustled about, and later two more apprentices were added to help. In total, they used over a thousand pounds of raw materials to sprout the malt. This was just an experimental batch.

Running a brewery wasn’t difficult—it was just hard work every day. But when that simple hard work involved a degree of technical skill, it still required training talented people.

The weather was hot now, and since the beer’s alcohol content was very low, the training Soldiers could drink a pound of it a day. Each of them drank like a water buffalo. Beer was a diuretic, so you didn’t feel bloated; it stimulated the appetite and relieved the summer heat.

The farmers who worked the fields also liked to have a glass after they were done. This batch of beer probably wouldn’t last very long before it was all gone.

Once the brewing was successful, Leech planned to take a portion of it for distillation to try and produce high-proof alcohol.

”Isn’t this how whiskey is made?”

”The raw materials seem about right.”

Leech hadn’t known much about alcohol before, but now, with Bommer’s brewing experience combined with the concept of distillation, he felt it was worth a try when the time came.