Lord of Rot

She switched to an explanation Leech might understand better. ”It’s like if you Lu Leiyans had children born as dwarves or with three arms.”

”Doesn’t sound great,” Leech said, shaking his head. ”That’s a deformity.”

Bai Lu said, ”The higher the concentration of Sub-human blood, the more extreme the physical mutations, but the stronger their innate talent. With a little training, someone like her could definitely become a Transcendent in the future.”

’Looks like out of all the races, humans are the only ones with mediocre talent.’

Only humans were ostracized for deformities, illnesses, and disabilities. Other races actually took pride in them.

”Nya~” Nia, who was being used as a case study, curled up and let out a soft, cat-like cry.

Leech asked, ”Since you know so much, can you translate what she’s saying?”

Bai Lu looked a little embarrassed. ”I can’t understand her. I only know the Elf Language, Lu Leiyi, and the common tongue of the Panbo Continent.”

Leech gave her a skeptical look.

”You’re a Lu Leiyan. Does that mean you can understand every language?” Bai Lu felt offended by his gaze.

”Can’t understand a word,” Leech replied bluntly, shaking his head. ”But I can make them understand me.”

As he spoke, he made a fist.

Bai Lu ignored Leech and turned her gaze to the Snake Woman, Nia, in the iron cage. Seeing a Snake-man, a creature recorded in the lore of her homeland, on another continent gave her a sense of surreal dislocation.

When you were far from home, any sudden news from your homeland could make your eyes well up.

Leech asked casually, ”Is it chaotic over there?”

”Yes,” Bai Lu nodded. ”The Half-Beastmen have started a war, and the other races are no match for them. Although I can’t go back, I can imagine what it’s like there. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be here.”

Leech clapped his hands together, feeling the refreshing relief of offloading a burden. ”Since you two are from the same land, I’ll leave her to you.”

’Maybe I can get a Transcendent out of this. If I can, it’s a win. The elf girl, Bai Lu, is my designated workhorse.’

’No need to pay her, just feed her empty promises.’

”Nya~!” Nia suddenly grew tense, her voice sharp.

Ever since meeting Leech, Nia had always spoken in a soft, gentle ”nya,” her tone never changing whether she was angry or hungry.

But upon hearing that Leech was going to hand her over to the elf girl, she became unusually agitated.

”You can understand me!” Leech looked at the girl in the cage. ”Nia, you haven’t been very well-behaved, have you?”

”N... y... a...” Nia lowered her head and coiled her lower half into a tight, poop-shaped spiral.

Leech turned to Bai Lu. ”She’s terrified of you. Don’t tell me you elves eat Snake-men for a living.”

”How could that be!” Bai Lu exclaimed emotionally. ”Elves drink water from the springs of the Mother Tree and eat a little fruit at most. Besides, I’ve never even seen a Snake-man before, so how could I possibly eat them!”

He was just joking. He could tell from her daily eating habits that the elf girl had a very low affinity for meat. She could eat it, but she didn’t like it.

Leech addressed the Snake Woman in the cage. ”Nia, I’ll ask, you’ll answer. If you disobey, I’ll toss you to the elf and let her eat you!”

”Nya~nya~” The Snake Woman nodded obediently.

”You!” Bai Lu couldn’t believe that she, an elf, was being used to threaten someone—and that the foolish Snake Woman had actually believed it.

Leech asked, ”Can you speak Lu Leiyi?”

”Nya.” Nia shook her head.

”You can understand but can’t speak it. Can you write?”

”Nya!” This time, she nodded.

Leech immediately had someone bring paper.

The pitiful-looking little Snake Woman was trying to use her appearance to fool him—a classic case of non-violent resistance.

As it happened, Leech was also the type to be swayed by a soft touch rather than a firm hand.

Chivalry had nothing to do with him; on the contrary, he was an expert at being ruthless to beautiful women. Plenty of them had died at his hands.

At Leech’s request, Nia quickly wrote out her origins in neat script.

Leech picked up the paper and read it over.

Nia was born on the Panbo Continent. After her homeland was destroyed by Half-Beastmen, she fled by sea to survive.

While crossing the deep sea, her ship was destroyed. When she woke up, she was already locked in a cage.

Because of her unique appearance, she was bought by a noblewoman. The lady treated her very well, giving her beautiful clothes to wear each day and teaching her how to write. Nia spent a very happy period of time with her, until the noblewoman married a man who took a liking to Nia and planned to make a move on her.

When the noblewoman found out, Nia was scolded, beaten, and then locked back in a cage to be sold again.

After being passed between several masters, Nia gradually learned how to protect herself. This continued until the ’dwarf’ Lair unexpectedly bought her.

He had no interest in her and only said he was looking for an opportunity to give her away.

So, Nia was locked in a cell reeking of feces along with a group of rare and ferocious beasts, waiting day after day for a new master.

It wasn’t until the dwarf gave her to Leech as a gift a short while ago that she was able to see the light of day again.

Nia also wrote down why she was afraid of elves.

”Children who don’t come home after dark will be snatched by elves and fed to beastmen. Tsk, tsk. How... folksy.” Leech looked at Bai Lu.

Elves had similar horror stories, like how being captured by Sub-humans would cause you to grow a snake’s tail or a bull’s head. As one grew older, no one took them seriously.

But Nia, apparently, did.

Bai Lu was so angry she was at a loss for words.

”I don’t want to hurt you,” Leech said to the Snake Woman, Nia. ”I can also let you go and give you your freedom. However, you’ll have to pay back the 50 Jinri I spent to buy you.”

”Nya~” Nia lowered her head.

It was unclear whether she was worried about the 50 Jinri or feeling lost at the prospect of freedom.

Even if she regained her freedom, she might just be captured again in the future and turned back into a commodity.

”I’ll give you two options. First, you can stay here and work off your debt as a maid, just like them,” Leech said, pointing to the curious girls in the distance. ”But with this method, you’ll never earn 50 Jinri in your entire life. So I’ll offer you another way.”

He pointed a finger at Bai Lu. ”Learn from her. Didn’t she say your bloodline is highly concentrated? If you become a Transcendent, I’ll give you 1 Jinri per month. You’d only need to work for me for 50 months, about four years. How does that sound?”

”Nya~” Nia pointed at the maids, having made her choice.

”Looks like she’s really scared of you,” Leech said to Bai Lu.

Bai Lu stressed, ”Elves are friendly to everything in this world!”

In the end, no matter how much Nia resisted, she was ”volunteered” to stay by the elf girl’s side.

Leech couldn’t just let a snake wander freely around his courtyard. He wasn’t afraid, of course, but an ordinary person might not be a match for her, which was quite dangerous.

After dealing with Nia’s matter, Leech looked toward Kuer Oasis.

”My Lord!” Kuer finally had a chance to speak. ”Fifty of the town guards have deserted. They were all Soldiers affiliated with the Wild Boar Mercenary Corps. I suspect the Wild Boar Mercenary Corps is in contact with Kunq!”

”No word from the Iron Fist Gang?” Leech asked.

Kuer lowered his head. ”They don’t know anything either.”

Leech glanced at the elf girl, Bai Lu, only to find she was already starting to doze off.

’The three leaders of Bonta Market... all of them are completely unreliable.’

”Send people out to gather information,” Leech said. ”Can the Wild Boar Mercenary Corps really blot out the sun with one hand and block all sources of intel?”

”I’ll see to it at once!”

As it turned out, in the desert, the Wild Boar Mercenary Corps really could blot out the sun with one hand.

Despite several attempts to gather information, Kuer came back with nothing useful. All information regarding the Wild Boar Mercenary Corps was impossible to investigate.

It wasn’t until a piece of news arrived that Leech finally understood why.

”My Lord! Our caravan that went to Baron Jin Fu’s Date Palm Village to make purchases has been detained! Baron Jin Fu says he will personally escort them back.”