Lord of Rot

Leech nodded. ”Alright, Mr. Ma Wei, Mr. Elo. You’ve come to Porcupine Castle after nightfall. This must be important?”

”Yes, my lord,” Ma Wei replied. ”A friend of ours has gone missing, likely somewhere in this area. We wanted to ask if you’ve seen anyone with white hair, dressed like us.”

”I haven’t,” Leech said, shaking his head.

”How can you know you haven’t seen anyone? You didn’t even ask your men!” Elo couldn’t help but blurt out.

Ma Wei immediately grabbed his companion’s arm. ’They’ve got us trapped in here. Being rude right now... does he actually plan on fighting his way out? We have no quarrel with these people. If we can solve this with words, we shouldn’t resort to violence.’

Leech countered, ”Do the two of you consider your appearance to be distinctive?”

”Of course!” Elo answered.

Ma Wei nodded as well. ’Of course it’s distinctive. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been spotted the moment we entered Porcupine Territory.’

Because of their white hair, they were often called monsters and ostracized by others when passing through other towns and villages.

It was all thanks to the Church, which had made white hair synonymous with monsters.

Leech replied, ”Exactly. Which is why I haven’t seen anyone.”

’You two stand out with your white hair. My men knew to report you. Do you think they wouldn’t report your white-haired friends if they showed up?’

”Perhaps he was disguised,” Ma Wei said, lifting his black cloak to reveal the longsword at his waist.

SHING—!

The sound of dozens of swords being drawn in unison echoed through the hall.

The moment Ma Wei revealed his sword, fifty or sixty Soldiers drew their weapons.

Elo also threw back his cloak and gripped the longsword at his waist.

”It looks very much like this one,” Ma Wei said, untying the longsword from his waist and holding it up with both hands. ”Please, take a look.”

A guard walked over and took the sword. He drew it first, inspected it to make sure there were no hidden mechanisms, and only then presented it to Leech.

Leech nodded, and the Soldiers sheathed their swords in unison.

Elo also drew his sword, then sheathed it.

Ma Wei breathed a sigh of relief. He had never seen Soldiers move with such discipline. ’Elite. These are absolutely elite troops!’

’It’s a good thing I came with good intentions instead of sneaking in through a window. That would have been a lot of trouble.’

Seeing Leech examining the sword, Ma Wei quickly said, ”As you can see, it’s a Silver Steel Sword. It’s the type of weapon people like us use. Silver steel makes it easier to harm monsters. Perhaps the Caster here has told you about this.”

It was very similar to the Silver Steel Sword Leech had found in the Griffin’s nest, though some details were different. A sentence had been acid-etched onto the blade, but it wasn’t ”What do you want to say in the face of death?” Instead, it read, ”Death will come for all.”

Ma Wei’s words left Leech a little confused.

’A Caster?’

’I’m the only one in the entire castle who knows Magic.’

’Oh, so they think the Caster is someone else, not realizing it’s the young lord sitting right in front of them.’

’But there’s no need to explain. I’ll just let them keep thinking that.’

”I haven’t seen your friend,” Leech said, ”but I have seen a sword very much like this one.”

The two men looked at Leech excitedly.

”Are you certain?”

”Of course!” Leech nodded.

A Silver Steel Sword was quite valuable, but at most, it would only cost a few Jinri. Some could even be bought with Silver Moons. The value of a weapon depended not just on the material, but also on the fame of the smith who forged it, its appearance, and its previous owners.

Brand value and celebrity effect outweighed its practical use, unless it was a magical artifact.

”I found that sword in a cliff-side nest. It’s in my treasury right now. I’ll look for it and can return it to you,” Leech said. ”If you want to see the nest for yourselves, I can take you there tomorrow.”

”Thank you so much!” Ma Wei said with a bow.

Elo also gave an awkward bow. It was better to resolve things amicably through conversation than to get into a fight. Their reputation was bad enough as it was.

”I will arrange lodging for you both,” Leech said. ”It’s getting late. We can talk more tomorrow.”

”We praise your generosity, my lord.”

The two had no objections. The lord had been very friendly, and they knew they should be sensible.

The next day, after a meal at the tavern, the two of them arrived at the castle.

Leech took out the Silver Steel Sword and gave it to them. Then, he led them on horseback to Pig Spine Valley... taking the long way around the strait, of course, rather than cutting directly through the dense forest, lest they see his magical plants.

After pointing out the location of the already-looted Griffin’s nest, Leech leaned against a tree and let his mind wander again.

With no entertainment, daydreaming consumed a good deal of his time.

’Noble estates usually have avenues of goldentung trees. Maybe I should build one. It would be nice for a stroll, especially in autumn. A perfect tool for picking up girls... no, wait... do I even need to chase after women anymore?’

Now that his economy was taking off, Baron Porcupine was becoming less willing to be a kept man.

After a while, Ma Wei and Elo returned.

Their black cloaks were dusty and smeared with dirt.

”My lord, I must inform you that a fearsome Griffin once lived in that nest,” Ma Wei said, taking a deep breath. ”Our companion was tracking the Griffin, but now both he and the creature have vanished. I’m afraid his chances are grim. However, your territory has been spared a disaster.”

Of course, Leech knew why the Griffin had disappeared—it had been smoked out by the burning pasture.

As for their companion, he had likely been digested into droppings by the Griffin and returned to nature long ago.

”Thank you for your companion’s selfless sacrifice,” Leech said. ”I am saddened by his death. My condolences.”

”You couldn’t have fought a Griffin anyway,” Ma Wei said. ”This is the best possible outcome. It just means we’ll have to return disappointed.”

”Could you tell me a little about where you come from?” Leech asked. ”Aside from your names, I know nothing about you. Perhaps we could become friends.”

Ma Wei smiled. ”This is the first time a noble lord has wanted to be friends with us.”

”Don’t generalize,” Leech said, shaking his head. ”Everyone is different. There are good and bad nobles, just as not all farmers are hardworking. For example, I work desperately to develop Porcupine Territory, yet some people feel I owe them something over the slightest trifles.”

Ma Wei knew the lord was surely talking about the incident with Big Beard yesterday.

With his worldly experience, Ma Wei could see after some comparison that Porcupine Territory was actually a rather pleasant little village.

Even a large city like Iron Stone City had its share of beggars, but in Porcupine Territory, everyone had a job and enough to eat.

”You are the most benevolent lord I have ever met,” Ma Wei said, agreeing with Leech.

Nobility and baseness belong to the individual, not the profession.

Even among thieves, there are righteous ones, are there not?

”You’re not the first to say so,” Leech said, not bothering with false modesty. ”I’m simply fulfilling my duty as a lord to ensure everyone has enough to eat.”

The two of them had a pleasant chat, while Elo, knowing he had nothing to contribute, kept his mouth shut and listened quietly.

The white-haired men didn’t belong to some unspeakable secret organization. They slayed all sorts of monsters, handled ghostly incidents, and wandered the continent, making a living this way.

They were also sometimes summoned to work for powerful figures, acting as Mercenaries. They were extremely close-knit and would always help a companion in danger.

You could say that, aside from not playing cards and a few other minor details, they were very similar to a certain White Wolf.

Their organization was called the ”Hunters.”

It had both male and female members, though men were the majority.

”Do you cultivate magical plants? Or brew potions?” Leech inquired.

”Not all Hunters are just fighters,” Ma Wei nodded in reply. ”But most of the time we just buy them, because the cultivation conditions for certain magical plants are too demanding.”

”For example...?” Leech was very interested in magical plants.

”Take the Magic Potion Elo favors, for instance,” Ma Wei said. ”He has mastered the ability to use poison. Entering a poisoned state greatly increases his strength, and anyone he attacks will be poisoned as well.”

’Poisonous Snake Elo... so that’s where the name comes from. He poisons himself.’

”But the Magic Potion he needs requires a rare ingredient called Ghost Finger Flower. After it sprouts, it constantly spews a toxic fog. No matter how thick your protection is, the insidious poison will seep in and corrode your body. Every stalk of Ghost Finger Flower has claimed a life before it can be harvested. I suppose only a corpse can coexist peacefully with it.”

Leech was stunned.

’How did I not think of this before?’

’A toxic plant that is highly effective but too dangerous for anyone to cultivate... In this whole world, who else besides me could possibly grow it?’

’A true Golden Path!’

”Are there more? Similar deadly magical plants?”

Leech pressed.

”Uh, of course,” Ma Wei said, unsure why Leech was suddenly so focused on strange magical plants, but he nodded anyway. ”There are. Things like Wife Lan, Placenta, Gray Dwarf Grass, Red Dragon’s Tongue, Armorgrass...”

He explained, ”Wife Lan... some southern nobles like to snort its ground-up powder for its strong hallucinogenic effects. They call it Ji Lan. But for us, Wife Lan is the main ingredient for making stimulant potions. It grants us a fearless heart, like a wife watching over us from behind.”

”If you’re curious about magical ingredients, you can visit the Black Market. Our Alchemists go there to sell and acquire them. I can easily help you find them and get you a discount.”

What Ma Wei really wanted to say was, ’Just ask the Caster in your castle. I refuse to believe he doesn’t know anything about this.’

But he also knew that Casters were eccentric and their minds could be easily affected by Magic.

”This conversation has been most enlightening, Mr. Ma Wei.”

”Will you two be heading back now?” Leech asked.

”Now that we have the sword, our mission is complete,” Ma Wei said, shaking his head. ”Next, we’ll probably look for some new jobs. We drift from place to place.”

”In that case, I have something I’d like to entrust to you,” Leech said. ”One of my merchants, Joe, was attacked by a monster on Pig Head Mountain. I promised I would get revenge for him, but I truly have no way to deal with that kind of creature. So, I hope to hire you two to avenge Joe and fulfill my promise to him.”

”You are a benevolent lord,” Ma Wei said.

Hiring people to avenge a subordinate, and on Pig Head Mountain no less—a place far from Porcupine Territory and outside of Leech’s domain.

He was deeply impressed by this.

”I am willing to pay two Jinri as a deposit. If you can bring the monster’s corpse back intact after killing it, I can add a bit more, depending on the level of danger.”