Lord of Rot

Leech tugged lightly on his horse’s reins. The watchtower was already visible in the distance.

As they drew closer, a man on the watchtower shouted, ”Halt! Who goes there!”

’What a fine place.’ Leech ignored the archer’s shout, his gaze fixed on Date Palm Village.

There was a magnificent grove of date palms, laden with heavy fruit.

Riding beside him, Kuer Oasis called back in a loud voice, ”I am the lord of Bonta Market! I am here at the invitation of your lord, Baron Jin Fu, to watch the death match!”

The archer on the tower hesitated. It didn’t matter where this noble came from; a noble was a noble, and not someone he could afford to offend. He had better just pass the message along.

”Please wait! We are sending someone to report back now!”

A man scrambled down from the watchtower and hurried toward the distant village.

Leech turned to the flintlock cavalryman behind him. ”What do you think?”

He couldn’t just bring Corpse Ghosts with him on this trip. Being surrounded by mindless puppets would be boring even for Leech himself.

Kuer Oasis was even worse off, a commander without an army. The few misfits he had hastily assembled couldn’t even ride properly. The sight of them annoyed Leech so much that he had sent them all away, allowing Kuer to bring only a dozen or so competent foot soldiers.

”It would only take ten men to conquer this village,” the flintlock cavalryman answered in a low voice.

They had the latest flintlock muskets, the finest armor, and swift horses whose bloodlines were beginning to revert to their primal ancestry. It would be a disgrace if they needed thirty men to defeat the militia of a single village.

Kuer, listening nearby, swallowed hard. ’Ten men? Is he boasting?’

’Does he mean deploying ten Transcendents?’

Although he knew of Transcendents and had even schemed a few to their deaths, he had no clear concept of their actual strength. He had never seen one on a battlefield.

’Or is it those legendary flintlocks?’

Kuer glanced at the iron-barreled weapon slung over the cavalryman’s back. He had never seen one used before and had often wondered how it worked, but he remained completely mystified.

”Ten?” Leech frowned, seeming somewhat dissatisfied.

He was indeed dissatisfied. A small village with a population of maybe a hundred people required ten fully armed flintlock cavalrymen to take. Wouldn’t that make their combat effectiveness no different from that of ordinary cavalry?

A hundred militiamen on a battlefield couldn’t withstand the charge of a regular cavalry unit.

In fact, ten experienced veterans could easily cut through a hundred men.

”Five!” the cavalryman immediately corrected himself, realizing he had been too conservative.

Leech didn’t say anything more. ”We’ll test it out next time we have a chance.”

At this, Kuer’s eyelid twitched. ’What does he mean, ”test it out next time”? Is Leech planning to conquer Date Palm Village?’

The main gate ahead slowly opened, interrupting the dangerous topic.

”My lords, please enter!”

The soldiers opening the gate looked at the heavily armed escort. No one dared to suggest they disarm.

The village was about the same size as the old villages in Porcupine Territory, but the buildings were more sparse, and the roads were exceptionally wide.

They followed the guiding soldier. It wasn’t long before they came upon an area of shacks—tarps propped up by thin poles, mainly to provide shade during the day.

As for rain, if it ever did rain, the people would probably cheer rather than take cover.

Villagers with earth-caked faces and cracked lips stood numbly by the roadside, watching the large horses march into their village.

The eyes of the elders held only numbness. It didn’t matter which noble master it was; they were people of two different worlds... or rather, two different species.

In the eyes of the nobility, these villagers could no longer be considered human. They were no different from livestock.

The young children, however, still held onto hope. Their eyes shone with life, filled with a certain yearning.

Date Palm Village was many times wealthier than Porcupine Territory had been, yet the living conditions of its people hadn’t changed much. This made Leech a little disappointed in the Baron Jin Fu he had yet to meet.

He had heard that the Spice Village had even better revenues than Date Palm Village, yet things were still this bad.

It seems Baron Jin Fu is a Skinning Lord in the traditional sense.

Leech sighed internally. ’Another territory for me to liberate.’

”My lords!”

A somewhat elderly man, impeccably dressed, approached. He waited until Leech and his party had dismounted before speaking. ”I will have someone feed your horses. Please, this way. Our Lord is already waiting inside.”

He must be Baron Jin Fu’s steward.

The horses certainly needed to be looked after by their own men. Leech nodded to his flintlock cavalry, and they led the horses away.

Only the Corpse Ghosts followed as his Personal Guard. The accompanying foot soldiers were led elsewhere.

Entering the lord’s hall, Leech exhaled.

The scorching sun was finally blocked out. He couldn’t help but miss the cool air of Waterfall Land and the comfort of the Linta Bay wetlands.

”My two lords, please have a seat.”

They sat.

The steward said, ”Lord Adari has some urgent business to attend to. Please wait a moment.”

Leech looked at the Warg’s head mounted on the wall and was reminded of the first person he had killed in this world: his own teacher.

He had thought a long time had passed, but in reality, it had only been two years.

”BWAHAHAHA!” A long laugh rang out, reminding Leech of a character’s entrance in an old Hong Kong martial arts drama.

’If a gust of sandy wind kicked up right now, with a bit of theme music, the mood would be perfect.’

A burly, bearded man with dark skin walked in.

His features were unremarkable.

He completely ignored Kuer Oasis, who was sitting to the side, and addressed Leech directly. ”I have long heard of the Baron Porcupine of the East Gorge. Seeing you today, I didn’t expect you to be so young.”

Kuer’s expression turned awkward.

He was indeed a puppet pushed to the forefront, but on the surface, he was the master of Bonta Market. Yet Baron Jin Fu showed him no courtesy at all, bypassing him completely.

’Young?’

Leech raised an eyebrow. In Lu Leiyi, calling someone ”young” wasn’t a compliment about being a youthful hero. More often, it implied a lack of experience, carrying the subtext of, ’You’re still wet behind the ears, and you dare come here?’

’This dark, burly man sure talks big.’

Whether he was genuinely unconventional or deliberately belittling was hard to say.

”I am accompanying Lord Kuer today. I heard there was a death match, so I came along to have a look out of interest.”

Leech made a point to mention Kuer beside him. Although everyone knew the real situation, Kuer was, at least on the surface, the main guest of this banquet.

”Lord Kuer?” Baron Jin Fu glanced at Kuer Oasis without a word, his gaze quickly returning to Leech.

His expression clearly said, ’We’re not in the same league. There’s nothing for us to talk about.’

Kuer clenched his fists again. And then... that was it. There was nothing more he could do.

”Date Palm Village is no castle in the East Gorge,” Baron Jin Fu said, sitting down and pouring himself a glass of wine. ”It’s a poor, remote place with simple lodgings. I hope Lord Leech doesn’t mind.”

Leech shook his head lightly. ”I think the environment here is quite nice.”

”Is Lord Leech interested in Wargs?” Baron Jin Fu asked, looking at the Warg’s head on the wall. He had noticed Leech’s gaze earlier.

”It reminds me of someone,” Leech nodded.

”He’s slain a Warg as well?” Baron Jin Fu was somewhat surprised.

Before the Magic Tide emerged, Wargs were powerful beasts, second only to lion-bears in this world. Anyone who could kill a Warg was a top-tier expert.

This showed just how strong Baron Jin Fu once was. It was a pity that when Magic Power emerged, his bloodline and talent were insufficient. A heroic warrior unable to become Extraordinary could only end up as an ordinary person.

”Yes,” Leech nodded.

”Is he in the East Gorge? I’d love to meet him,” Baron Jin Fu said. ”I’m most interested in meeting heroes, haha.”

Leech replied, ”You’ll have your chance.”