Lord of Rot

The drawbridge of Longship Castle was lowered.

Lady Jie Lin looked tense. Despite Leech’s repeated assurances, watching 200 elite Soldiers march into Longship Castle, placing her fate entirely in their hands, was still deeply unsettling.

’The moment conflict breaks out, I won’t have the slightest chance to resist.’

She glanced at the expressionless Guy standing to one side, and then at the woman in the black robe next to him, who claimed to be Leech’s subordinate.

They both had a peculiar and rather unpleasant smell about them.

The troops entered Longship Castle, and the armored Knight leading them dismounted.

”Good day, Lady Wado.”

The Knight’s etiquette was extremely casual, his face a mask of arrogance. Lady Jie Lin took a deep breath to calm herself. ’Since when does a mere Knight dare to treat the esteemed Lady of the Manor with such disrespect?’

But she still forced a smile. ”Thank you for Shanzhang Castle’s assistance.”

”Of course,” the Knight nodded. ”We are here under orders and will guard Longship Castle until the rebellion is completely suppressed.”

In other words, as long as the rebellion wasn’t suppressed, they would never leave.

”Guy, I’ll leave you to receive our guests from Shanzhang Castle. I’m feeling a bit unwell.”

It was a miracle Lady Jie Lin had managed to hold on this long without losing her temper. After giving her instructions, she hurried away.

For the rest, she could only hope Leech could truly deliver on his promise.

”Yes,” Guy nodded calmly.

’Two hundred elite Soldiers? Aren’t they just 200 fat sheep waiting for slaughter?’

After Lady Jie Lin left with her maids, Guy turned to the leading Knight with a blank expression. ”Nils, I’ve reached an agreement with Lady Jie Lin. From now on, the Soldiers from Shanzhang Castle will be responsible for guarding the castle.”

The Knight, Nils, grinned. ”Well done, Guy.”

Niels Bohr, from a Knight family of Shanzhang Castle, was also the ”progenitor” of the Bohr surname. He excelled at charging and mounted combat.

In Monkey Territory, the name Nils meant ”son of a champion,” while Bohr meant ”farmer.” The combination of the two names encapsulated Niels Bohr’s life story.

He was the son of a farmer who won a championship in gladiatorial combat. Due to his exceptional bravery and skill in battle, he eventually became a Knight of Shanzhang Castle and obtained a noble title.

An era of war never lacks for outstanding individuals. Nils had earned many merits. If the wars hadn’t ended, he might well have followed in Lieder’s footsteps, achieving great things and becoming a Baron of his own territory.

Shanzhang Castle had sent a Knight to coordinate with Guy for a pincer attack from within and without. Without Leech’s help, Longship Castle would have truly been in danger.

”Where are the things I asked for?” Guy asked.

”They’re all in the carts.”

Nils waved a hand behind him, simultaneously ordering his Soldiers to take over Longship Castle’s defenses while letting the craftsmen and supply carts enter.

”Here are the three extraordinary items Lord Bill found for you.” Nils took a box from a cart and handed it to Guy. ”His Lordship says you’ve done well and that there will be more rewards in the future.”

Nils also had a secret mission on this trip: to confirm if Guy truly had Longship Castle under control. If Guy had been turned by Lady Jie Lin, Nils was to act according to the situation.

However, the Soldiers from Shanzhang Castle had successfully entered Longship Castle and were now progressively taking over its defenses. Who would be so open-minded as to let someone else take over their own castle? This meant Guy had truly succeeded, and Nils could consider his secret mission complete.

Guy said, ”You should believe me when I say that no one is more loyal to Shanzhang Castle than I am.”

”You’re right,” Nils nodded.

It was an open ”secret” that Guy Marvin was, in fact, the illegitimate son of the Baron of Shanzhang Castle.

After Nils left, Guy first ordered the people of Longship Castle to make arrangements for the craftsmen. The craftsmen would be working in the town outside the castle, helping to restore and rebuild Waterfall Land.

Leech also began to inspect the ”grand gift package” sent by Shanzhang Castle.

About 100,000 Silver Moon, with a total value of around 1,000 Jinri. This was a direct financial subsidy.

”As expected, none of the old noble families are poor. They can casually dish out a hundred thousand Silver Moon!” Leech marveled at the enemy’s immense wealth. If that 100,000 Silver Moon were converted into arrows, shields, crossbows, and warhorses for an attack, Longship Castle might not be able to withstand it.

For Shanzhang Castle, this sum probably wasn’t a crippling loss. At most, it was an investment they had to grit their teeth to make.

The money was the first item in the ”Shanzhang Castle grand gift package.”

The second was the extraordinary items.

Leech controlled the Corpse Ghost to the treasury and chose to open the box there. Inside were three items.

A Crystal Stone, a Clay Puppet doll, and a Cavalry helmet adorned with a feather.

He infused his Spiritual Power into the first Crystal Stone. It devoured 40 units of Spiritual Power and showed no signs of stopping, forcing him to halt the process to avoid being completely drained.

After he stopped, the energy within the crystal dispersed, forming a simple Magic Array on the palm of the Extraordinary Corpse Ghost Guy, whom Leech was controlling.

’This is... a Magic Array?’

’And then what?’

He felt that something was wrong.

’What’s the deal with this crystal?’

Leech tried to communicate with it using his Spiritual Power again. To his surprise, the 40 units of Spiritual Power in the crystal flowed back into his body.

’Another energy storage rod? No, there’s some loss of Spiritual Power.’

An energy storage rod obviously wouldn’t create a Magic Array, nor would it cause a loss of power.

He decided to try using everything he had related to Magic on the crystal.

The simplest test was a frost enchantment.

The crystal had no reaction; not even a trace of frost remained on its surface.

But when Leech held the crystal, he noticed that a few more lines had appeared in the projected Magic Array.

With a thought, he placed the crystal on the ground.

CRACKLE—

It froze!

’It doesn’t store Spiritual Power, it stores Magic. Is there a storage limit?’ Leech immediately identified the characteristics of this ”Casting Crystal.”

This meant he could cast two spells at once, or he could give this crystal to someone incapable of using Magic and enable them to do so.

The second item was the Clay Puppet doll. After he infused it with energy, the doll rapidly absorbed the mud and stone from the ground, prying up the flagstones to forge a stone body, ultimately transforming into a stone man the size of an adult male.

’A Golem? A Stone Puppet?’

He tried to communicate with the stone man using his Spiritual Power, then controlled its movements. It was a bit clumsy. He had it pick up a sword and try a slash.

A lot of stone chips fell off.

But the next moment, the stone man absorbed a stone from the floor and repaired its injuries.

A self-repairing stone man would be quite useful on the battlefield.

The third item was the feathered Cavalry helmet.

Having learned his lesson from the [Unseen Pot], Leech had Corpse Ghost Guy put the Cavalry helmet on his head first.

Then, he infused it with Spiritual Power.

Suddenly, a gust of wind enveloped his body.

It was as if he had donned a suit of armor made of wind.

Leech summoned Corpse Ghost Aina and had her casually toss something at him.

SWOOSH.

The wind deflected the thrown object.

”Cut me with your sword,” he ordered, controlling Aina to attack again.

Controlling two Corpse Ghosts by himself was a bit like having his left hand fight his right.

This time, the sword struck the wind. The force of the blade was instantly deflected, but as a Transcendent, she still managed to break through the wind’s defense by force.

The sword stopped precariously before Corpse Ghost Guy’s chest. In that brief pause, the wind pushed the blade away.

’It can deflect attacks, but it’s not very effective against Transcendents.’

Wearing this helmet onto a battlefield would be like maxing out one’s evasion stat. If the enemy rained down volleys of arrows, all they would get in return is a screen full of ”MISS.”

’That’s the second part of the gift package received. Time for the last one.’

The final part of Shanzhang Castle’s grand gift package.

Those two hundred elite Soldiers. He would ’sign for’ them tonight!