Lord of Rot

A few birds flapped their wings and landed on a branch, cocking their heads to watch the performance on stage.

A man emerged from backstage, his upper body clad in exaggerated ”armor” with a Longsword hanging from his waist.

”I am the Lord of Soaring Valley, the great—OUCH!”

A pair of hands from behind had grabbed his pants and yanked them down, revealing he was wearing nothing underneath.

The crowd below the stage played along, bursting into roaring laughter.

”Who was that?!” the comedic actor playing the Lord of Soaring Valley demanded, spinning around. He didn’t even pull up his pants, just letting them swing around.

”Your enemy, your King, the great Bor II!”

The actor cast for this role was quite handsome, and the fabric of his ”armor” was of better quality.

”What, it’s you! I will defeat you—whoa!”

Without his pants pulled up, he took a single step and, predictably, tripped over them.

Leech watched for a few moments before losing interest.

The skit was likely based on the ”Battle of Soaring Valley,” where Bor II fought the Lord of Soaring Valley.

The battle started because the Lord of Soaring Valley had secretly backed the former crown prince. In response, King Bor II brought a massive force and completely wiped them out—an utter rout in terms of numbers. After his victory, Bor II also became the new Lord of Soaring Valley by default.

The war itself wasn’t funny, but a comedic skit needs some eye-catching elements.

Thus, the Lord of Soaring Valley was turned into a caricature, providing all the toilet humor, while Bor II was naturally portrayed as the most handsome and powerful character.

To the victor go the spoils. It’s the same in every world.

As the show neared its end, Leech’s curiosity got the better of him and he glanced over again. A man on stage was playing the clown while a woman acted the coquette, their banter and singing giving Leech a strong sense of déjà vu. He was half-afraid they were about to break into some kind of bawdy routine.

The performance by the ”Slapstick & Silliness” Comedy Troupe was a resounding success.

The children were so sleepy they could barely keep their eyes open, but they didn’t want to miss the excitement, nodding off one moment and forcing themselves to stay awake the next.

The adults were laughing so hard they couldn’t close their mouths.

The next morning, at breakfast.

”They’re already gone?” Leech asked, looking at Gelan.

He was asking about the comedy troupe. After finishing a performance in one place, they would always leave for the next. They weren’t short on business, but they often had to rush between gigs.

Gelan smiled. ”Thank you for your kindness, my lord! Though she doesn’t know that I’m her father, seeing that she’s doing well puts my mind at ease.”

”We can have them perform in Porcupine Territory more often,” Leech said casually, showing his support.

”Yes, my lord!”

”Try the beer and tell me what you think,” Leech prompted.

Quick-Blade had already noticed that this beer was different. Leech didn’t usually serve beer at breakfast, so there had to be a reason for this unusual arrangement.

He raised his mug and took a large swig.

Even in the morning, the mid-September summer day was already terribly hot.

”Hah!” Quick-Blade let out a long, satisfied breath. ”This isn’t Sour Apple cider. Don’t tell me this is the wheat beer you brewed, my lord?”

He looked at Leech.

”That’s right,” Leech nodded. ”From now on, we can try making our own beer instead of buying it.”

”We could probably even sell it!” Quick-Blade said. ”I’ve never had a beer this good.”

”No, there’s another type of alcohol I think you’ll like even more,” Leech said mysteriously. ”Something stronger.”

The promise of more drink had Quick-Blade, a devoted imbiber, practically salivating.

”My lord, can you give me a hint as to what kind of drink it is?”

”I haven’t perfected it yet,” Leech said, shaking his head. ”But don’t worry. Once I run some experiments with the wheat beer I have now, I should be able to produce it soon.”

”What? Does that mean I can’t drink the wheat beer often either?”

”For now, this is the only mug.”

”Ah!”

Gelan, who had taken a sip of the wheat beer a moment after, set down his mug. Noticing Leech’s gaze, he said with a helpless sigh, ”Lord Quick-Blade has already said everything I wanted to say. This is the best beer I’ve ever had.”

Kro Camel cleared his throat. After seeing everyone’s eyes turn to him, he chose to offer a brief assessment: ”Better than the stuff in the desert.”

As the resident freeloader in Porcupine Territory who did almost no work, Kro was very aware of his position.

”I think we can sell this externally,” Joe said, however. ”My lord, we can try taking Porcupine Territory’s wheat beer to the outside world. Let other merchants know that Porcupine Territory has more than just honey. We also have beer and cheap pottery.”

The brickworks had also tried firing some pottery. A single ceramic pot could sell for about 10 copper stars, while the cost was just some clay and negligible labor fees.

Both beer and pottery were low-priced goods, but they would definitely be able to attract some smaller merchant caravans.

Leech agreed with Joe’s idea.

After breakfast, they all went their separate ways to attend to their duties. Gelan needed to supervise planning and construction; housing and road repairs were ceaseless projects in Porcupine Territory, and the number of town hall apprentices under him was rapidly increasing as a result.

To accommodate them, Leech had cleared out a room in Porcupine Castle for the town hall apprentices to use as an office.

It was a gathering place for the sharpest minds in Porcupine Territory.

Quick-Blade’s job was training—simple, but also the most exhausting.

Joe, meanwhile, would be heading to the commercial district to keep an eye on things. The district was just starting operations and needed a mature merchant to manage it.

The concept of a farmers’ market was somewhat ahead of its time. If every commoner could sell their own goods, wouldn’t it be chaotic? Before this, commoners would give four-fifths of their household’s production to their lord, with the tiny remainder being just enough for their own basic needs.

Porcupine Territory was probably the only place where the situation of ”I can’t eat it all, so I’ll sell it” could even occur.

Selling goods had always been the job of merchants.

The farmers’ market was just a small part of the commercial district, a place for locals to trade amongst themselves. The real functional areas were the shops reserved for outside merchant caravans, as well as the public-facing blacksmith, tailor shop, and the ”Porcupine Castle Delicious Bread” bakery.

Eventually, the farmers’ market would surely be replaced by professional merchants, but Leech encouraged this kind of commerce.

In a Porcupine Territory without livestream shopping, it wasn’t easy to sell products. If a few talented entrepreneurs emerged, it would certainly save him a lot of trouble.

After finishing breakfast, Leech was about to drink his honey water and head to the training grounds for some practice.

Duckfoot came running over, looking nervous. ”My lord, the Groom says the Raging Mane mare is about to give birth!”

The moment he heard this, Leech forgot about his water and bolted out the door.

’Finally!’

After a wait of over three hundred days, the Raging Mane mare was finally giving birth.

Leech ran as fast as he could to the stables.

”How is it?” he asked nervously.

’This is my first flying mount on the line!’

The Groom vigorously wiped his sweaty hands on his clothes and said nervously, ”My lord, the Raging Mane mare has already given birth, but...”

”But?” Leech frowned. ”What is it? Spit it out!”

”Yes!”

The Groom said, ”It laid an egg.”

After speaking, he watched Leech nervously, but to his surprise, Leech didn’t get angry at all. Instead, he burst out laughing.

It laid an egg! That meant the Raging Mane mare had truly given birth to a Horse-headed Eagle—that was a Horse-headed Eagle’s egg!

”Where’s the egg?”

”The Raging Mane mare kicked it away.”

”What!”