Lord of Rot

”AAAAAH~”

A clear, loud cry rang out.

Leech’s eyebrows shot up instinctively.

”That’s enough!” Leech hurriedly cut off the tall, loud son of the Minstrel.

He strongly suspected this guy hadn’t inherited a single one of his father’s Minstrel genes.

It was awful!

He was not singing material.

His voice was certainly powerful—the sound made Leech’s ears ring slightly.

But that wasn’t singing. That was howling.

”You... can stay.” Leech thought for a moment before finally sighing. ”But we’ll have to change your job. Singing is definitely out of the question.”

A singing voice like that could be lethal. Fortunately, all Leech really needed was a good set of lungs. This was the result of lowering his standards again, and again, and again.

He had originally planned to add a touch of elegance.

After all, this was an Otherworld. Singing and dancing around a bonfire, a happy life full of innocence—that was what fit his stereotype.

It was just that truly talented people, like Pilite, the Minstrel’s son from Porcupine Territory, were simply too rare.

He could only keep lowering his standards—from ’sings beautifully’ to ’sings pleasantly,’ then to ’can at least carry a tune,’ and now, finally, to ’is loud’.

”Lily,” Leech said to his secretary, ”give them the things I drew and wrote earlier.”

After saying this, Leech squatted down again to study the chickens and ducks. The Magic Hormones were a real point of concern.

He was even starting to wonder what would happen if people ate chickens and ducks that were raised with these Magic Hormones.

’Practice is the only way to find the truth.’ He decided that after the chickens were ready in a few days, he would slaughter one and try it for himself.

”Yes!”

Lily quickly rummaged through her things, pulling out two sheets of paper before putting one of them away again.

She handed only one sheet to the cobbler and said, ”The Lord needs you to make flags. At least ten of them within three days, each at least as tall as a person. Don’t worry, the castle will provide the materials, and you’ll receive a handsome wage.”

The cobbler nodded eagerly.

He was a shoe repairman, but sewing a few flags shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

”Should these be written on the flags too?” the cobbler asked, pointing at the string of characters. He was baffled; he didn’t recognize a single one.

Lily shook her head. ”That’s for another job. We’ve prepared long strips of cloth for you. They’re to be hung on the walls of Iron Wall Castle. You just need to make the characters large and ensure there are no mistakes.”

The cobbler thought to himself, ’Barely anyone in all of Iron Valley can read.’

He could guess the Lord’s intention—these things were meant for the common people to see. But the vast majority of commoners were illiterate.

No matter how big he made the characters, it would be like showing them to a blind man.

Still, it wasn’t his place to second-guess the Lord’s orders. He just had to obey and do his job.

”Your job is also very simple,” Lily said, turning to the tall man. ”However...”

Because Leech had just changed his orders, the tall man’s job description had also changed at the last minute. She now had to wait for Leech’s follow-up instructions.

Leech walked over and said, ”Here, I’ll write down a few sentences. Lily, you can teach him how to read them.”

Lily replied, ”Yes!”

「...」

「In the morning, just as the sky was beginning to brighten.」

Everyone in Iron Wall Castle was already up and moving.

Nearly everyone had a job to do. Most would leave Iron Wall Castle to work outside.

A smaller number worked within the castle itself.

Only a few young children spent their days leisurely running around the castle, but as order was gradually restored, their permissible play area was shrinking.

As of now, Iron Valley lacked better production spaces, so the houses being built were mainly wooden huts. Fortunately, it was easy to source materials locally.

The freemen, shouldering their axes and ready for work, gathered in the castle’s open ground. They found their respective foremen, who then took roll call.

After working for this period, they now had a good grasp of what they had to do each day and how to do it.

”What’s that?” Big Beard asked curiously, pointing at a long strip of cloth hanging on the castle wall.

He turned his head and saw two more enormous strips of cloth, making three in total.

If they were on the ground, they’d be big enough to serve as a blanket for dozens of people.

The sturdy woman beside him squinted, trying to focus. After a moment, she said, ”I think they’re words.”

”Words that big? Can you read them?” Big Beard asked.

”I can,” the sturdy woman replied. ”It says ’Glorious’.”

”And?” Big Beard asked strangely. ”Don’t tell me that’s all you can read.”

”Isn’t that enough?” the sturdy woman shot back at Big Beard. ”It’s more than you know.”

Big Beard laughed. ”Fair point. I can’t read a single word, hahaha.”

Once roll call was over and they were lining up to leave Iron Wall Castle with their teams, a tall young man stepped forward and bellowed at the top of his lungs, ”Work is most glorious, laziness is most shameful!”

”Huh?” The crowd tilted their heads, looking at him, unsure of what he was talking about.

But the young man continued shouting, ”To be loyal to the Lord and loyal to the territory is to be loyal to your family and loyal to yourself!”

”Iron Valley is our home; its construction depends on everyone!”

”What’s he yelling about?” Big Beard asked his companion.

The sturdy woman thought for a moment. ”He must be shouting the words on the three long banners. I heard him say ’glorious’.”

”What’s the point of saying that?”

It wasn’t just them; no one in the entire territory understood, except for Leech.

The people just treated the fellow shouting his lungs out as a bit of entertainment.

Even after leaving Iron Wall Castle and walking a long way down the road, they could still hear his shouting from behind them.

Some people even imitated him as a joke while they worked.

At the end of the day, the people dragged their weary bodies back.

But just as they approached the gate of Iron Wall Castle, they heard that voice again.

”Work is most glorious, laziness is most shameful!”

It was those three sentences, repeated over and over.

Some of the younger children were even shouting along beside him, as if they found it very amusing.

The tall man was miserable. Who knew this job would be so grueling? Although the Lord didn’t require him to shout these lines all day long, he did have one requirement: he had to shout them at regular intervals, especially in the morning, at noon, and in the afternoon.

And whenever large groups of people were approaching.

If he weren’t so naturally gifted, his throat would have given out long ago.

Just as he was about to take a break, the tall man suddenly noticed the Lord walking his way.

He immediately took a deep breath and roared, ”To be loyal to the Lord and loyal to the territory is to be loyal to your family and loyal to yourself!”

Leech, who was walking over, nodded.

This, too, was a move born of necessity. As an outside Lord, not native to Iron Valley, it would be difficult for him to gain the genuine acceptance of the locals.

That was just their stubborn nature.

The solution was simple enough: a lord who led them to a better life was a good lord.

But that was a long-term project, impossible to achieve in a short time.

The next best thing was propaganda.

His original plan was to have a few banners with slogans made and hung up, and maybe occasionally teach people how to read them. That would have been enough.

Then, he would find someone with a good singing voice to compose songs praising how much better life in Iron Valley had become since the Lord’s arrival. People love to listen to songs, don’t they?

But he never expected he wouldn’t be able to find a single person who could sing. He had to settle for second best—finding someone with a loud voice to read the slogans instead.

’If they say it enough times, and hear it enough times, it’s bound to sink in eventually.’

’The most effective solution would be one of those sound-recording alchemical devices made by Scholar Toma. Otherwise, having someone shout at the top of their lungs all day is a real waste of manpower.’

Stepping onto the castle wall, Leech gazed into the distance.

The road already stretched to the limit of his vision. The work efficiency of over a thousand people was extremely high.

Furthermore, the construction of the market outside was also beginning to take shape.

Whether Leech should fund the construction of residences was still a question. Iron Valley’s finances were currently in the red. Leech needed to lead the people in building houses to stimulate the economy and create job opportunities, but at the same time, the investment would be quite large.

’I’ll wait another month,’ Leech thought. ’If it really comes down to it, when my birthday comes around, I’ll just be shameless and go cry poor to Stacy and Bode. I should be able to borrow some money.’

Borrowing money from others had to be paid back, which was stressful. But borrowing from relatives just required a thick skin. Plus, there was no interest. As for when he would pay it back... that would depend on just how thick his skin was.

After taking a look around, he came down from the castle wall.

Watching the children in the distance, he suddenly had an idea. It seemed children could be a big help when it came to propaganda.