Lord of Rot

The rumors grew more and more frightening.

When Leech’s ship arrived at the docks of East Port, he noticed some of the captains and sailors looking at him with reverence.

’Sometimes, it’s not so bad to be feared. It keeps people from thinking I’m a pushover.’

Leech was in a good mood.

Upon entering Roaring Castle, Leech didn’t see the star of the ball, Evangelina Leopold, the ”Red Rose.” However, quite a few noble ladies and their daughters kept glancing his way.

Leech felt different than he had when visiting Shanzhang Castle. Back then, he had gone looking to take advantage of the situation. The Little Bill family had been in a weak position, with hardly any soldiers to their name.

This was Roaring Castle, the Duke’s fortress. ’I have to be more restrained here.’

So, in the face of the flirtatious glances sent his way by the noblewomen, he simply returned a smile and kept his distance.

One young noblewoman approached him. ”I hear you own a Flying Horse, one that can soar through the sky? I’m so curious what it must feel like to fly.”

Her approach was a bit like saying, ’I hear you have a limited-edition sports car; I’d love to take a seat inside.’

Leech replied, ”It’s wild and untamable, I’m afraid. It tends to peck at people.”

The young noblewoman was about to say more, but when someone else approached, she quickly exclaimed, ”Your Highness!”

She then tactfully turned and left. A conversation between important figures was not for her to overhear.

The man who approached Leech was ruggedly handsome. He wore a smile, but his eyes held a condescending superiority that was intensely irritating.

The King had two sons, and Leech could guess who this was with a single glance.

Hugo Kaine.

His temper was said to most resemble King Bor II, known as the ”Undefeated Golden Bear.”

His younger brother was Little George Kaine—who, incidentally, shared a name with Prince One-Ear. He was said to be quite handsome, but most notably, the man was fond of other men. He certainly wasn’t rugged and arrogant like the Eldest Prince, Hugo Kaine.

”Sir Leech Clarence?”

Leech nodded. ”Yes, Your Highness.”

His tone was far from deferential. ’My liege is the Duke of Shining Sun, not the King,’ he thought. ’And you’re just one of the King’s sons. If you don’t inherit the throne, you’ll be nothing more than the lord of some backwater fief.’

”I’ve heard many legends about you back in the capital,” the Eldest Prince, Hugo, said, his tone that of a superior placating a subordinate. ”The mighty Baron Porcupine, the Conqueror of Flame, the Fearless, the Divine Favored... Uncle George has also sung your praises. With a young lord like you in its service, the kingdom is certain to grow ever stronger.”

’Conqueror of Flame... I think I’ve heard that one before. It must be because I made a name for myself with those firearms.’

’The Fearless, because I led the charge onto the walls of Iron Wall Castle.’

Leech almost laughed at the Eldest Prince’s next words.

’So the Eldest Prince is already acting like he’s sure to be king, making a show of looking after his future subjects.’

Just as Leech was expecting some cliché about defending the kingdom’s glorious lands in exchange for a fortune in gold, the Prince’s tone shifted abruptly. ”I hear you’ve had some... minor misunderstandings with the Tuna family. Monkey Island is my father’s domain, which means one day it will be mine. They are the knights of Monkey Island. Let this be the end of it.”

His expression was nonchalant, as if he were a king commanding a vassal on some trivial matter, leaving Leech no right to refuse.

’Doesn’t His Highness the Eldest Prince understand that this is the Eastern Gorge?’

”Your Highness, my relationship with the Tuna family is quite good. I’m not sure I understand what you mean,” Leech said. ”Why, Sir Morton Lu and I once fought side-by-side against the rebel forces at Iron Wall Castle.”

He turned and glanced down sharply at the figure standing beside the Eldest Prince. The downward tilt of his head was deliberately exaggerated, as if he were looking at something by his feet.

With a look of exaggerated apology, he said, ”Ah, my apologies, Sir Morton. I didn’t see you there.”

Morton Lu wasn’t so short as to warrant such a gesture, but Leech didn’t mind using such tactics to needle the little tattletale.

”Sir Leech!” Morton, the ’Ostrich Eagle Knight,’ said, his face dark. He was only a Knight, while Leech was a Baron who held a title. No matter how furious he was, he had to stomach it.

Hugo frowned at Leech. ”You sank three of the Tuna family’s ships! I am not joking with you, Sir Leech. As your future king, I command you to cease all action.”

”Four,” Leech said.

”What?” Hugo Kaine was confused.

Leech added, ”Five.”

He was multitasking. In the short time he’d been talking with Hugo, the warship *Porcupine* had encountered two more of the Tuna family’s vessels. The two ships had thought they could catch up and execute a pincer attack to destroy the *Porcupine*, but they were picked off one by one.

However, a collision had occurred, and the *Porcupine* had sustained significant damage.

The pursuit would have to be put on hold for now; the *Porcupine* needed to return to Porcupine Territory for repairs.

They had started with eight ships, and now only three remained. It was a decent record.

Hugo Kaine, however, felt that something was off. When Leech said ”Four” and then ”Five,” it felt as if something momentous had truly just occurred.

”I’ve also heard that some very brazen pirates have appeared along the coast of the Eastern Gorge recently,” Leech said. ”I was quite frightened on my way to East Port, worried I might run into them myself. I deeply regret what has befallen the Tuna family... Oh, pardon me. I see a few old friends. If you’ll excuse me.”

”You!” The Eldest Prince Hugo Kaine’s face darkened as he watched Leech turn his back on him and casually join a group of nobles in conversation.

”Your Highness?” Morton looked up at the Eldest Prince.

”Then sink his ship at sea! You can’t even defeat one Porcupine?” Ignored by Leech, Hugo’s anger flared. ”What is your Tuna family’s motto?”

”The Treasures of the Sea Await Our Search.”

”Pathetic!”

Hugo turned and stormed away, displeased.

Morton’s expression soured. He was already getting crushed by Leech and suffering heavy losses. He had thought that by siding with the future king early, his situation would improve. But the idiotic Eldest Prince only knew how to throw around his ”future king” title, and nothing had gotten better.

And to top it off, the Prince had asked for his family’s motto only to insult it.

There was nothing wrong with their family motto. The Tuna family was in the business of acquiring treasures, not fighting head-on battles.

”My dear brother, haven’t you heard?” a voice came from his side.

Morton looked down at his dwarf brother. ”What do you mean?”

The dwarf shrugged. ”The last one to pick a side is always the most valuable. To be honest, I prefer the younger Prince over the elder one. It’s better to swear fealty to a deviant than a paranoid lunatic. Besides, I’d love to see a King embracing another man, HAHAHA! Preferably while sitting on the throne!”

”Shut up! We’ve already chosen the Eldest Prince!”

”Whatever you say. I’m just an ugly dwarf. You can’t expect a dwarf to lead the charge for you, can you?” He turned to walk toward Leech, but Morton grabbed his arm. ”What are you doing?”

”I’m going to ask if he likes Snake Women. I managed to get my hands on a prime specimen... Don’t look at me like that. Fine, I was thinking maybe I could ransom Jonney and the others back. But I’ve heard Baron Porcupine has a habit of collecting corpses. Jonney and the others might already be dead. Baron Porcupine is a deviant himself. No, he’s a deviant *and* a paranoid lunatic, and he hides it well. If it weren’t for the family, I’d want nothing to do with a man like that.”

”Don’t make things worse.” Morton let go. He couldn’t afford the loss of five Transcendents. Including those who had already died on the ships, his family had very few Transcendents left.

”I’m never the one who makes things worse,” the dwarf said. ”I told you not to mess with that island... Still, I did miscalculate one thing. I never expected that five Transcendents wouldn’t be enough.”

Meanwhile, Leech had approached a few familiar-looking lords.

”Lord Leech!”

”Lord Leech!”

”Lord Simon, it’s been a while.”

They were all barons, but their attitude toward Leech was exceedingly respectful. Among them was Leech’s neighbor, Marvin Simon, the ’Baron Spark.’

Unlike two years ago, when Leech had been invited over only to be snubbed, he was now the one with superior strength.

Baron Spark embraced Leech with a friendly attitude.

After learning of the power of his cannons, the lords couldn’t help but ponder another question: what would happen if those terrifying weapons were used in a siege?

Before, even though Leech had single-handedly carved a path through the defenders of Iron Wall Castle, they had been confident in their own fortresses. They believed their castles were several times better defended than Iron Wall Castle, and they had their own Transcendents. They weren’t afraid of Leech launching some suicidal assault.

’Even if Leech was powerful, he was still just one man, wasn’t he?’

’Not unless he was like Prince Hoffman, able to sweep across the world by himself.’

But the advent of cannons had made them nervous.

True, their own men were already working overtime trying to study cannons, but for now, the only one who could actually produce and deploy them in battle was Baron Porcupine.

It was better to be his friend than his enemy.