Lord of Rot

”Good day, Little Antelope.”

”Good day.”

Little Antelope smiled and greeted the people around her.

From being a slave to now having a large number of acquaintances and repeat customers, Little Antelope felt it was all a dream whenever she looked back.

As usual, after silently thanking the benevolent Lord for granting her all this, she headed to the small town square.

A crowd was gathered there.

The one holding a piece of paper and reading from it was a town hall apprentice. He wore pigskin boots and had a goose feather stuck in his hat—a fashion choice he’d heard about somewhere—and if you got close, you could smell a faint stench from the feather.

Despite being such a flamboyant character, he commanded the respect of everyone present.

After all, he worked in the town hall inside the castle!

The town hall managed the operations of the entire Porcupine Territory, and its members were the Lord’s most trusted servants—a fact everyone knew.

”There are a lot of rats in the castle! Lord Leech is summoning ratcatchers! Anyone capable of catching rats can come to me. I will take you into the castle to see the Lord!”

The apprentice paused, lowered the paper, and swept his gaze across the crowd with a look of utter disdain, his chin slightly raised. ”Of course, only a *true* ratcatcher will be offered this highly paid job.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the crowd erupted.

”I’d love to get a look inside the castle.”

”Pretend to be a ratcatcher? Are you tired of living?! If the Lord finds out you’re lying, he’ll surely have you whipped!”

”I used to be a ratcatcher. I could give it a try.”

The chaotic chatter was a mix of all sorts of voices.

One by one, people confidently stepped up to the town hall apprentice, each waiting to be noticed by the Lord, gracefully display their rat-catching skills, and finally, make their fortune.

Little Antelope also wanted to see the inside of the castle, but she didn’t dare lie and claim to be a ratcatcher.

Seeing the crowd begin to disperse, she hurried off toward the commercial district.

Today’s business was about to begin. Seeing the Lord and touring the castle wasn’t as important as making money.

The Castle Hall.

Leech looked at the six people standing before him.

Two were boys—one with golden hair, the other with black hair.

The remaining four were three middle-aged men and one young girl.

”Ratcatchers?”

Leech’s gaze swept over the six faces.

Until now, he had only ever heard of ratcatchers; he’d never seen one in person.

Knowing the profession existed felt like knowing about a legend.

Porcupine Territory had a bountiful harvest, and the granaries were being inspected and secured. He wasn’t sure if rats had managed to sneak in.

But the rats in the castle were truly audacious, even daring to sneak into his study.

”Well then, it’s simple,” Leech said. ”I don’t care what method you use—kill them, capture them alive—whoever catches the most rats will get the reward.”

He paused, then added, ”If you can get rid of all the rats, everyone gets a reward.”

’This isn’t a beauty contest, and I don’t need to rank them one, two, and three. Getting rid of the rats is what’s most important.’

”Yes, my Lord!”

No one objected to Leech’s instructions.

Hearing that a rat-catching contest was about to take place, the young castle maids, who were afraid of rats, all huddled around Leech.

’Are they really scared?’ Leech wondered, surrounded by the chattering flock of maids.

’It’s probably half fear, and half my own charm.’

He was a little vain.

The frightened ”eep”s from the maids beside him put him in a very good mood.

The first to catch a rat were the two boys. They were fast on their feet and used wooden tongs.

They would find a rat hole, extend the tongs inside, and pull one out with a quick pinch.

They quickly tossed the rat into a prepared wooden bucket and slapped the lid on.

SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK—!

The squeaking of the rat and the sound of its claws scratching at the wood came from inside the bucket.

”Ahh!” the young maids cried, huddled around Leech.

Unlike the two quick-eyed, fast-handed boys, the three men opted for a practical tool: they lit dried pasture grass on fire.

Once lit, the grass produced a thick, pungent smoke, which they blew into the rat holes.

After a while, rat after rat, disoriented by the smoke, fled from their holes. The three men, each guarding a hole, simply tipped over their buckets and waited for the rats to fall into their traps one by one.

”COUGH, COUGH!”

Leech waved a hand in front of his nose. ’The method is good, but the smell is too pungent.’

He couldn’t stand to watch, so he had to hurry outside.

Unexpectedly, in an open area of the castle grounds, the only female ratcatcher was standing outside, making ”pici~ pici~” sounds with her mouth.

Soon, rats heard the sound and came running out.

One rat ran up to the girl, looked up at her, and didn’t even try to flee. Instead, after the girl said a few ”pici”s, the rat obediently hopped into the bucket beside her.

”She seems a lot like Arkke,” someone next to him remarked.

Leech nodded in strong agreement.

’That’s right, her method is very similar to Arkke’s, but with a clear difference. Arkke uses his ability to control them—a direct application of Spiritual Power, most likely. This girl, on the other hand, is using her mouth to mimic sounds and communicate with the rats.’

’She might be a Caster who awakened a bloodline talent after the Magic Tide, or she could be a Transcendent who hasn’t fully awakened yet!’

After half a day, the six buckets were placed together.

Scratching sounds and ”SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK” noises came from the buckets, enough to make one’s skin crawl.

A rough estimate put at least fifty rats in the six buckets.

And of those, thirty were in the young girl’s bucket.

Her bucket was also the strangest. The other buckets made a huge ruckus with just two rats inside, but the girl’s bucket was perfectly quiet.

When the lid was opened, more than thirty rats looked up in unison, yet not a single one tried to escape.

The rats filled more than half the bucket.

”Dispose of all the rats,” Leech ordered. ”Harmless disposal. Burn them all!”

”Yes, sir!”

The final result was obvious.

However, Leech was still merciful enough to give each successful ratcatcher a few copper stars as a reward; catching rats wasn’t easy, after all.

The only one left was the young girl.

”What’s your name?” Leech asked.

The girl answered respectfully, ”My name is Pitz, my Lord.”

A name based on an onomatopoeia.

Leech asked, ”You can communicate with rats?”

”Yes,” she nodded. ”I only discovered it recently. I can understand some of what animals say, including rats, dogs, foxes, and birds.”

”What did you say to those rats just now? Why did they listen to you and come out?”

Pitz replied, ”I told them that if they jumped into the bucket, they could eat delicious wheat.”

”And they trusted you that easily?” Leech asked.

’Chatting with rats was fantastical enough, but for them to believe her every word without question... that was also very interesting.’

”They’re... not that smart.”

”I am formally hiring you as a ratcatcher,” Leech said. ”And if you’re willing to help, I think the city watch, and the army, could use your help training hunting dogs.”

Pitz was overjoyed. ”Yes, I’m willing!”