Lord of Rot

”Pici~pici~,” Pitz commanded the two armadillos.

The armadillos, curled up into two balls of Scale Armor on the beach, suddenly sprang open and ran before Pitz.

The others immediately scattered, afraid of being rammed by the armored magical beasts.

A nudge from a regular pig could injure a person, to say nothing of a fully armored armadillo.

Moreover, it wasn’t just their size that had changed; their scales had also undergone a massive transformation.

If their defenses could stop bullets before, they should now have no problem withstanding an ordinary cannonball. As their bodies had grown dozens of times larger, the thickness and toughness of their scales had increased to match.

Leech even considered raising an armadillo Cavalry unit in the future.

But considering the armadillos’ extreme timidity and their habit of digging holes and fleeing underground at the first sign of trouble, he dismissed the idea.

There were many ways to increase their strength, but if their temperament was unsuited for the battlefield, there was nothing to be done.

”Pici~pici~,” Pitz repeated.

The armadillos immediately charged toward the cliff.

SCRAPE, SCRAPE, SCRAPE.

Their claws began to dig rapidly.

To a person, the cliff face was impossible to dig even with a pickaxe, but against the armadillos’ claws, it was like soft tofu meeting an iron rake.

In just a short while, they had dug two steps deep, their bodies more than halfway buried.

Leech made a bold guess: this tunneling project, which would take ordinary people years, would likely be finished in a matter of days.

Of course, digging a passage and making it usable were two different things. He wanted a tunnel wide enough for normal traffic, not a winding, twisting cave.

Fortunately, the armadillos that had undergone bloodline regression also had significantly improved intelligence. As long as Pitz kept a close eye on them, it shouldn’t be a problem.

Once the initial passage was dug, he could send people in to smooth it out and make adjustments.

As they toiled below, Leech rode Rocket straight up the cliff face. The insurmountable natural iron wall was crossed in an instant with a few flaps of the Horse-headed Eagle’s wings.

”SCREEE—!”

”What is that?”

”A monster! Help!”

”It looks like someone is riding it!”

When the Horse-headed Eagle first appeared in the skies above Iron Wall Castle, the people below cried out in terror.

But when Rocket landed, the people got a clear look at the figure on its back.

”It’s the Lord!”

”The Lord tamed such an amazing magical beast?”

Rocket landed, proudly raising its head and basking in the gazes coming from all directions.

’I’m just that magnificent! All of you, come and worship me!’

Leech leaped from the saddle and patted Rocket’s body.

”GRU-GRU.” Rocket spread its wings, kicking up a fierce wind as it soared into the sky. It deliberately flew low over the heads of the Iron Valley People.

This action naturally drew another wave of gasps.

Rocket could patrol the skies above Iron Valley and hunt for prey.

While taming Rocket, Leech had been careful to preserve its wildness, rather than turning it into a docile pet that couldn’t fight or kill.

Before Leech could even enter the inner fortress, Lily, the ’Cinderella’ with fire scars on her face, had already heard the news and came jogging over.

They naturally began to discuss the development of Iron Valley over the past month.

Overall, there weren’t many problems. The castle’s development was progressing quickly, and Guy had delivered the grain, completely solving the urgent food crisis.

No more bodies had appeared outside, and everything was looking up.

”Only a few food coupons are still in people’s hands,” Lily said, daring to raise her head and look at Leech’s profile. ”They’re probably waiting for grain prices to rise before using them. Should we just abolish the coupons? There’s only a small number left.”

’It wasn’t like everyone still had food coupons; only a few people were hoarding them. Once the policy was enacted, they could choose to exchange the coupons for grain, or the coupons would become worthless paper.’

”No need,” Leech said. ”Grain isn’t a problem.”

’Once the tunnel through the cliff is dug and I have access to shipping, I can travel to any corner of the world. Unless a natural disaster wipes out the harvests, grain won’t be an issue.’

’Besides, the implementation of the food coupon system wasn’t a failure. In the future, if there’s another fiscal deficit, food coupons could become popular again.’

Lily then brought up some other recent developmental issues.

Among these issues, Manager Pang had always been reliable. He consistently met the minimum standard, worked quickly, and his quality was acceptable. However, his ”unclean hands” were becoming a more serious problem; he was rumored to be extremely corrupt.

Leech chose to ignore it for the time being.

’If a person overeats, they’ll feel sick and eventually throw it all up.’

”I’ve already arranged for a group of people to manage Iron Valley. When they arrive in a few days, you can help them get up to speed with the work.”

”Yes, Lord.”

After two consecutive days of digging, the winding tunnel, two armadillos wide, had already penetrated deep into the mountain.

The others hadn’t been idle either. Preliminary plans for the pier, as well as the pier’s guard post, rest areas, and so on, were also making progress.

Once the tunnel was finished, Leech planned to install several layers of iron gates to deal with any potential crises.

A raven arrived with a message.

”The slaves have arrived!”

Leech quickly left the castle. After giving Lily a couple of instructions, he put his fingers to his lips and whistled.

”SCREEE—!” Rocket’s cry echoed from the sky.

He took a running start and leaped onto Rocket’s back before it had even fully landed.

”Rocket, back to Porcupine Territory!”

”SCREEE—!”

With a beat of its wings, the wind lifted Rocket and Leech into the sky.

The people of Iron Wall Castle, who had grown used to the sight over the past two days, merely glanced up before looking away.

’We see it every day, after all.’

...

Four ships sailed along the coast, having reached the East Gorge area, and were now heading toward Porcupine Territory.

Overhead were the sounds of people walking on the deck and talking.

Luca hugged his knees, curled up amidst a crowd of people.

This was a slave ship. A thousand people were crammed into a cargo vessel meant for a hundred at most. They were packed in with the cargo, where they ate, drank, and relieved themselves.

The stench in the hold was overwhelming. ’But I can endure it,’ Luca thought.

’Just don’t get sick.’

He looked at a girl not far from him. She was about his age, but she looked to be in terrible shape. Her cheeks were flushed and burning hot—a symptom of sickness, and a prelude to being thrown into the sea.

But there was nothing Luca could do. It was the same for everyone; the only thing to do was to move a little farther away from her to keep from getting sick themselves.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! A wooden club struck the bulkhead, the sound terrifying.

Luca turned his head toward the sound. It was a slaver.

’The men who guard us are slavers, and their bosses are slavers, too. I can’t tell them apart, but I know not to mess with any of them. It’s best to stay out of their way.’

”You lot are lucky, we’re almost there,” the slaver said to the men behind him. ”Go in and do a sweep. Drag out the dead ones, then give the rest a full meal. Otherwise, those nobles will find any excuse to dock our pay.”

”Yeah, got it.”

Four or five men pushed their way in.

They swung the clubs in their hands for no reason, prodding anyone who caught their eye, but never too hard. A slave in poor condition wouldn’t fetch a good price, and no one wanted one with broken bones.

Luca was skinny, nothing but skin and bones, but he was alive. And being alive meant he could be sold for money.

The girl, however, wasn’t so lucky.

”There’s a sick one here,” the slaver said, grabbing the girl’s arm. She was too weak to resist. ”Throw her out, or the whole ship will get sick.”

The girl knew her fate, but she didn’t have the strength to beg for mercy.

”Wait!” Luca shouted. ”Aren’t we almost there? You can keep her! She can be sold for money!”

The response was a kick that sent Luca’s skeletal frame flying into the crowd.

Thankfully, the crowd cushioned his fall, though the people he landed on cried out in pain.

A dull pain throbbed in Luca’s chest from the kick; it felt like his bones were about to break.

’This is the price for speaking out of turn.’

’If I weren’t worth money, they would have thrown me into the sea right then and there.’

”He’s not wrong,” another man said. ”We’ll be there in less than half a day. Tossing her in the sea now just means less money.”

”Then take her up on deck and see if she can make it. If she doesn’t, we’ll toss her to the fish.”

No one paid any attention to Luca being kicked. Only the girl, as she was being dragged away, gave him a grateful look.

’I hope you survive,’ Luca thought. He could do nothing else, so he prayed to his ancestors, praising and calling their names in his heart.

’By the glory of my bloodline, protect me, Furnace.’