Lord of Rot

”Nya~”

The Snake Woman, Nia, slithered in through the crack of the door. She crawled up to Leech, cozying up to his leg and affectionately winding her body around him.

Leech unceremoniously patted her on the head. ”Go play with Bai Lu.”

”Nya~” The Snake Woman trembled.

It wasn’t that she was particularly fond of Leech, but she was even more afraid of the elf. Childhood stories affected her like tales of the Big Bad Wolf.

A naturally drowsy elf maiden and a Snake Woman who appeared obedient but was actually cunning—having them around to look at every day was a feast for the eyes. Otherwise, Leech wouldn’t allow them to cause such a ruckus.

”So this is where you are!” The elf had already come looking for her.

The Snake Woman immediately and obediently returned to her side, as quiet as a captured pet.

Bai Lu looked at the leisurely Leech, desperately wanting to subtly hint that he should go to the Panbo Continent. Pitiful elves were waiting there to be rescued from the torment and devastation of the Half-Beastmen. But when she saw Leech pick up a letter, she suppressed the urge and said to Nia, ”Let’s go.”

Nia followed Bai Lu away, her head hung low. She kept looking back, her eyes filled with longing.

But Leech didn’t trust this cunning Snake Woman. Playing pitiful was one of her usual tricks. The first to soften up would be the first to lose.

On the table beside him were five letters. Although they had arrived a few days apart, Leech had been so busy that a backlog had formed, and he hadn’t read them.

Today, he finally carved out some time.

He opened the first letter.

It was from Iron Valley Lily, straightforward and concise as always. It reported that the first phase of the territory’s construction was complete, the villages had been rebuilt, and the factory was now successfully in operation, which would alleviate some of the pressure on Porcupine Territory.

The letter highlighted one point in particular: the mushrooms in Lilac Village were growing exceptionally well, and a market for them had already been established.

Her main purpose in writing was to ask Leech if she should expand the cultivation scale.

Leech picked up his pen and wrote a reply.

Expanding the cultivation scale wasn’t something that could be done just by talking about it. It involved personnel investment, land development, and all sorts of miscellaneous costs. In short—it needed money!

Once ’Mr. Curious,’ Kunber Aix, sold those treasures and converted them to cash, Leech could inject a large sum of capital. But for now... they had to take it slow.

Then came the second letter, from Porcupine Territory.

’This one must be from Lacy!’ Leech nodded in satisfaction.

Although he could now wirelessly connect to his territory through the Corpse Ghost network, the information he received was only superficial. He couldn’t get a deeper understanding, nor did he have the energy to try.

The letter’s contents were short and to the point.

Besides stating that Chuina had already taken Leech’s personal letter and headed to Linta Bay to study, it mentioned two other matters.

The man-eating moth incident and the capture of a spy.

The man-eating moth incident occurred because a worker in Silkworm Village forgot a cocoon when they were being boiled. This allowed a moth to successfully hatch and devour a person.

The spy committed suicide upon capture, so no information could be investigated. His origin, however, was not hard to guess.

Ever since the cannons had made their debut, Leech knew the great nobles wouldn’t just sit idly by. The captured spy was definitely not the only one. It was also possible that freemen in the territory had been bought, or even mid-level managers. He had to be cautious.

Leech picked up his pen and wrote a reply to this letter as well. Besides telling Lacy to protect the knowledge in the alchemy workshop, he addressed the issue of identity checks.

There should be a reward for reporting spies, but they also had to avoid forcing confessions through torture or killing the innocent to claim merits. There was a lot of room for abuse in the process, and it would require careful thought. He could only leave it to Lacy and the others to handle it with extra care.

The third letter was from Stacy.

”I am writing this letter before the golden waves of the Golden Wheat Field. Our journey has been delayed, but we will arrive in September. I will use the sword you gave me to cut off the heads of our enemies.”

Leech could almost see her: a female knight in armor with a golden ponytail, sitting before the waves of golden wheat. Her knight’s longsword leaned beside her as she held a pen and paper.

A breeze just happened to blow by, making the golden waves of wheat and her golden bangs flutter gently.

’To use the sword you gave me to claim victory—that was our promise when we parted.’

’That’s probably the most romantic thing Stacy could think of to say.’

In truth, the very fact that she had thought to write him a letter was a pleasant surprise for Leech.

Leech wrote a reply as usual, though he knew the letter couldn’t possibly reach Stacy. It would probably just have to wait at Green Forest Castle for her triumphant return.

The fourth letter was from Longship Castle.

He opened the letter, his expression blank.

”Little Lierde has learned to laugh. Oh, he’s so cute. He wet the bed again last night. The scholar said that’s a good omen.”

Leech quickly scanned the letter’s contents. He had lost whatever little goodwill he had for Lady Jie Lin and knew why she was so desperate to tell him about Little Lierde—she wanted to mend the rift between them.

In reality, Leech could easily see everything that happened inside Longship Castle through his corpse birds. She never personally took care of the child; Yi Lin was the one who did all the work.

Leech spent a lot of time each day watching over Little Lierde through the corpse birds.

At the end of the letter, she wrote: ”The prince’s fleet is about to arrive. They’re heading for the desert. I guess they’ll pass through Bonta Canyon before September.”

’September!’

Leech didn’t want to provoke the ”One-Eared Prince,” but that was tens of thousands of Jinri worth of equipment. It would be a lie to say he wasn’t tempted.

The blacksmith forges in Porcupine Territory couldn’t produce that much even if they ran at full capacity, nonstop, for an entire year.

The last letter had a seal of thunder and lightning on its wax. He thought hard for a moment but couldn’t recall which noble family’s crest it was.

He broke the seal and opened the letter.

The first sentence read: ”Vito brings you greetings from Prince Leonie Hoffman.”

”Prince Hoffman?”

The image of the woman who crushed skulls with her lightning-wreathed hands immediately appeared in Leech’s mind.

’I turned a four-headed snake into three Transcendents and one being above the Transcendent realm.’

’Its hide was stripped off and made into Runes.’

’Even its meat was used to feed the birds.’

’Putting everything to good use, developing on all fronts.’

When Jonney crushed the Transcendent from the Wild Boar Mercenary Corps with an invincible display of power, Leech felt no satisfaction. It only reinforced how terrifying that woman was.

He lowered his head and continued reading the letter: ”The Prince says there is no longer any need for the Round Table Council to continue, but the Giant’s Foot will forever be your friend.”

The rest was all pleasantries, thanking Leech for providing employment opportunities for a group from the Giant’s Foot, for opening trade routes that improved relations between the Eastern Gorge and the Giant’s Foot, and so on.

’The real meaning is clear: the Giant’s Foot has entered a state of recovery. They’ve overcome their difficulties and will no longer be short on food or money. This is a ”thanks for your help, we won’t forget you in the future” kind of message.’

Leech couldn’t even be bothered to write a reply.

’It’s clear they’re about to ditch me, their early-stage partner. Pleasantries mean estrangement.’

”My Lord!” a panicked voice suddenly sounded in his ear. ”What should we do?!”

Leech was stunned.

His Spiritual Power instantly located the source of the voice, and his consciousness shifted.

In an instant, he was inside the Corpse Ghost’s body.

It was Baron Jin Fu’s territory.

Baron Jin Fu held a torch, asking anxiously, ”My Lord!”

In the distance, flames flickered as dozens of cavalry holding torches surrounded Date Palm Village.

’What’s going on?!’

’Who’s attacking?!’