Lord of Rot

By the time Hawke Wood’s order was relayed, the Black Cavalry had already charged to the riverbank. Steven’s escorting Soldiers and Leopold’s golden-armored guards drew their weapons to fight back, trying to create an opportunity for Steven to escape with Agnes.

But at least fifty members of the Black Cavalry charged over, scattering their ranks in an instant!

Several Soldiers fell to the ground, motionless.

Limbs were sent flying, and heads rolled.

Steven had just managed to help Agnes onto her horse when a rope was thrown, instantly snaring her. Agnes was then yanked down by the rope, crashing hard onto the ground. It was impossible to tell if she was dead or alive.

”Hahaha!”

The member of the Black Cavalry holding the rope laughed heartily. After dragging Miss Agnes for some distance, he rode over, leaned down, and snatched the thin, pitiful Agnes from the ground, slinging her over his saddle.

The Black Cavalry swiftly slaughtered the guards and seized Agnes Leopold’s carriage. She had brought many fine things with her, all of them valuable.

Seeing his fiancée being taken, Steven scrambled to his feet, drew his sword with a roar, and then had it easily flicked from his grasp.

THUD!

A hammer struck Steven’s breastplate, sending him flying backward to slam heavily onto the ground.

His breastplate was slightly dented, and the impact made him want to vomit blood.

Watching his beloved get taken away, Steven still tried to force himself back up.

But he was wearing full plate armor. Lying on the ground, he was like an overturned turtle, completely unable to get up on his own.

He could only listen to the laughter and screams, grinding his teeth in hatred.

Before the Soldiers from Three-fork River Castle could arrive, the Black Cavalry had already grabbed Agnes, taken the cart full of treasures, and galloped away.

Hawke Wood galloped quickly to the riverbank.

His men tried to give chase, but Hawke Wood stopped them. ”Don’t pursue.”

”They came prepared. If we chase them now, we’ll just fall into a trap.”

Besides, those few dozen members of the Black Cavalry are extremely strong. They slaughtered over twenty of our Soldiers without a single loss. If our castle guards chase them, it’ll just be a suicide mission.

”Steven!” Hawke Wood dismounted and helped his son up.

His handsome face was stained with blood.

Thankfully, Steven had ostentatiously put on his plate armor before setting out. Otherwise, he would have undoubtedly been killed in that clash of iron hooves.

”Agnes... Agnes was taken by those bandits!” Steven couldn’t help but roar. ”I have to go save her!”

”You will save her,” Hawke Wood said, ”but not now.”

He wanted to tell his son that those men weren’t bandits at all—they had to be working for some noble.

’It seems my marital alliance with Leopold has already made certain people unhappy.’

...

The Flying Dragon Bone Scale Armor project was a failure. The bones of the Two-Legged Flying Dragon were simply too hard. The blacksmiths tried many methods, but in the end, they only managed to shatter a small portion of the bone.

Thus, the original plan to create Scale Armor made entirely from Two-Legged Flying Dragon bones had to be changed to Flying Dragon Bone Plate Armor.

This meant attaching a piece of Flying Dragon Bone to the outside of important parts of the plate armor, such as the breastplate and helmet.

Some of the smaller bone fragments were also pieced together and added to the arms and thighs.

Double-layered protection, absolutely secure. It would completely prevent a situation where someone’s arm gets hammered off.

’It looks like something an Undead Knight would wear,’ Leech commented, quite satisfied with the aesthetic of the modified plate armor.

Next was a power test.

They took a slaughtered and bled-out pig, fastened the breastplate to its torso, and then brought down the water-powered forge hammer.

THUD!

The heavy iron hammer fell.

The plate armor vibrated.

They removed the armor. It hadn’t deformed.

Looking at the pig’s carcass, they saw that the ribs weren’t broken, only slightly warped.

’The Flying Dragon Bone absorbed most of the impact. With this stuff, we won’t have to fear armor-piercing hammers anymore.’

’It’s a lifesaver. Good stuff.’

”Not bad,” Leech nodded. ”Have it cleaned and sent to Porcupine Castle.”

”Yes, my lord!”

Although this was still a very basic application of Flying Dragon Bone, Leech was quite pleased. It wasn’t like he was short on it.

He estimated he had enough to equip another twenty or thirty Soldiers.

’I can equip the first batch of Cavalry I’m training entirely with Flying Dragon Bone.’

’A truly invincible iron cavalry.’

Leech was in a very good mood.

Moreover, Betty’s alchemy workshop was nearly complete.

...

”Pici, pici,”

Pitz, dressed in a short tunic and light armor, made the continuous sound with her mouth, and cats appeared one by one at her side.

Instead of foxes, Leech had found an even better method for pest control: raising cats.

He was raising them in large numbers, having Pitz manage them to guard the granaries. Occasionally, he even had her control a few rats to locate nests, which they would then wipe out completely.

Nowadays, Porcupine Territory presented a peculiar sight.

Killer Bees danced overhead, but the serfs paid them no mind.

Members of the town watch had dogs at their sides, ensuring orders were followed without question.

You could even see cats climbing on walls and rooftops. Although they spent most of their time sunbathing and napping, the moment a single rat appeared, all the cats would instantly be on alert and launch a massive siege.

Porcupine Territory had entered the ultimate form of biological pest control. Because verbal communication was possible, animals and humans could live in harmony as long as they followed the rules.

The only problem was that animals had difficulty controlling their bestial instincts. Dogs, for example, would lunge at the sight of meat, which was why they were always kept on a leash.

Here, there were far fewer mosquitoes and flies in the summer than elsewhere. However, with plumes of smoke from burning charcoal billowing into the sky and a fair amount of sawdust drifting in the air, the environment was a bit worse than in other places with beautiful mountains, clear waters, and the singing of birds.

”CHIRP! CHIRP!” A bird flew over and hovered in front of Pitz.

”What!”

Startled, Pitz jumped to her feet, put her fingers to her lips, and whistled.

A moment later, the loud neigh of a horse rang out. A swift steed charged over, and Pitz vaulted into the saddle. ’I have to find the lord, quickly!’

Because Leech was spending so much of his attention on making firearms and Magic Scrolls, he had entrusted sentry duty to Pitz. Her ability to communicate with animals made her perfectly suited for the job.

It was just a shame she couldn’t compare to the Beast Language user from the Round Table Council, who could even control goshawks.

She set out from the village in Porcupine Territory and rode for quite a while. The castle disappeared behind her, and a small valley finally appeared ahead.

”BANG!”

A huge explosion rang out.

The horse beneath her shied in fright. Pitz quickly leaned forward and patted its neck, calming it down.

The alchemy workshop was located in a remote area with a large open space.

Leech was currently holding a rather clumsy-looking firearm.

Thick white smoke poured from the barrel, obscuring his vision.

A small hole had appeared on the target in the distance.

After many adjustments, the firearm’s range was now comparable to that of a common crossbow of the era. Its accuracy was a bit worse—not as precise, but the general direction could be controlled.

In other words, each gun had its own personality that the user had to figure out for themselves.

As for bows, an excellent archer might far surpass the firearm in range and have respectable accuracy, but the archery skills of most couldn’t even match the proficiency of using a crossbow. Nowadays, fewer bows were used in war; crossbows were much more common.

’We can basically control the general direction of the shot. It’s ready for mass production.’

Leech was quite satisfied with the firearm’s performance.

’It’s just a shame that the scholar Toma and Betty are on different research paths—one is focused on the Magic side, the other on alchemy. If the two could work together, maybe they could even create a magic anti-air alchemy missile or a Magic Self-Tracking Gatling gun in the future.’

Hearing the sound of hooves in the distance, Leech put down the gun and walked out of the firing range.

Pitz swung herself off her horse and said, ”My lord, a few Knights in armor have arrived outside Porcupine Territory.”

”Hm?”

”How far are they?”

”They should arrive in about half a day.”

Leech’s consciousness instantly merged with his ”Eagle Eye.” After rapidly switching perspectives, he finally located a bird circling in the sky and saw the uninvited Knights.

Their banner depicted a horse rearing up on its hind legs.

’A rearing warhorse,’ Leech mused, looking at the banner. ’It looks a bit familiar... I think it’s the Cavendishes.’

A family of Knights, with no fiefdom.

But what made this family formidable was that both father and son were impressive on the battlefield. This was especially true for the heir of the Cavendishes, Philip Cavendish, who had won many battles through his own efforts by the age of twenty and was knighted, earning the name Midnight Sun.

He was also the commander of Roaring Castle’s First Knight Order.

’What is he doing here?’

’I have no connection to the Cavendishes.’

’I should go back and see what’s going on.’

Leech mounted his horse, and with Pitz following on her own mount, they hurried back to Porcupine Castle.