Lord of Rot

Porcupine Castle.

The barren garden was filled with nothing but standing tombstones. Despite the summer sun overhead, it felt somewhat gloomy and cold.

After learning the garden was full of graves, the young male and female servants in the castle consciously avoided it. Normally, no one ever came here.

Leech focused his gaze. On the empty patch of land next to the Earthling cavern, a green dot appeared over an upright tombstone. The tombstone’s inscription groove was filled with green moss, signifying that he had completely cleared the Fishman cavern.

The money, valuables, and the emerald green Fishman skeleton crystal inside were all his spoils of war.

Inside the Earthling cavern.

Leech held a torch. He had prepared a coffin and preservatives for Aina.

The Red-haired Earthling wandered about blankly. Unlike Aina, who possessed high intelligence, the Red-haired Earthling could only understand very simple commands.

”Her name is Red Hair,” Leech said, introducing her to Aina, who had followed him. ”Like you, she is also a Corpse Ghost.”

”The same...” Aina stood before the Red-haired Earthling, curiosity in her eyes. The Red-haired Earthling didn’t understand the emotion of curiosity, but when Aina drew near, she would instinctively become more subdued.

Seeing this, Leech thought, ’A hierarchy among Corpse Ghosts?’

He told Aina to try and build a rapport with the Red-haired Earthling for now.

For the time being, the Corpse Ghosts couldn’t appear in public.

Fortunately, once he dealt with the long-haired monster in the Cape Dungeon, they would have an entire dungeon to inhabit and live in.

Thinking of the Cape Dungeon, Leech’s thoughts naturally turned to the mercenary girl, Betty.

The corpses in the cavern had completely rotted away, including that of the little blue-skinned monster Mage. He could bear this loss. It wasn’t like he had planned on letting those cavern monsters see the light of day again anyway. Their non-human body structures made them somewhat difficult to control, though if the individual monster was powerful enough, this difficulty was acceptable.

He took control of two Earthling corpses that had been soaked in preservatives and sent them toward the cavern at night.

The Cape Dungeon opened.

The Earthling corpses entered and quickly found Betty.

She heard a sound and turned around.

Seeing the flabby-bodied Earthlings, she wasn’t frightened. Instead, she was thrilled. ”Is it you?”

The Earthling controlled by Leech nodded.

Betty lowered her head and said, ”Those guys rotted away one by one. I thought I’d never see you again, never...”

Her shoulders trembled.

Leech couldn’t speak, but Betty suddenly leaned back, a crazed smile spreading across her face.

”I thought I’d never be able to study the art of explosions with you again.”

’Her madness has clearly worsened.’

”Want to see?” Betty asked.

Leech nodded.

Betty raised the wooden stick she carried, loaded it with Magic Gunpowder, and aimed it at the Earthling’s head.

She chanted a Spell.

”BOOM!”

The flame didn’t blast the Earthling to pieces. At the instant the spark ignited, Betty jerked the stick aside. The explosive flame shot past the Earthling’s ear and shattered the room’s window.

A rush of air flooded in, filling the entire room and blowing back the hair of a grinning Betty.

”How’s the power?”

Leech wasn’t scared by her little display. It was just an explosion. Even if the Earthling died, it was no big deal; he could just wait a while longer.

He wrote on a piece of paper with a pen: ”Is this all?”

”I can’t make the firearm you mentioned without iron pipes and iron pellets,” Betty said. ”But I did make explosives.”

Leech wrote: ”Perfect. We can test them.”

If gunpowder is ignited in an open space, it just burns quickly.

But if ignited in a confined space, it creates an explosion.

The principle is similar to firecrackers.

The properties of Magic Gunpowder were different from Earth’s black powder, but he wasn’t sure how big the difference was.

Based on Leech’s descriptions before he left, Betty had easily created a batch of explosive packs. She didn’t have many tools on hand, so she had used cloth bundles as the casing.

”Magical ignition?” Leech wrote.

”Of course!” Betty nodded as if it were obvious.

’Magic Gunpowder... it really isn’t any different from black powder, is it?’

Leech didn’t know how to get Betty to give up her obsession with Magic Gunpowder. If he could really find a group of scholars who could use Magic, he certainly wouldn’t send talented people like that to the front lines. It would be much better to have them research Magic and find ways to boost production.

But as if she had a Mind Reading Skill, Betty sat on the table, swinging her two small legs beneath her tattered clothes as if she were in a castle, and said, ”Magic lets me control the blast radius, influence the power, and manage the timing. The Magic Gunpowder only provides part of the force.”

’So she’s using Magic Gunpowder to augment her fire Magic?’

’So that’s what she meant.’

If that was the case, the effectiveness of a Magic Firearm would be greatly reduced, far below what Leech had envisioned.

”How far can you control it from?”

Leech wanted to test the power of the explosive packs first and see how much damage they could do to the long-haired monster.

”As far as I can see.”

’Betty’s Spiritual Power is far weaker than my own.’

’But it’s worth a try.’

He had Betty follow behind him while he controlled an Earthling corpse to carry the explosive pack. It charged resolutely toward the castle, ready to detonate the pack as soon as the long-haired monster came out to kill it.

The sound of it charging into the castle was loud.

Leech was still making the corpse run forward when a figure suddenly appeared ahead. Betty, standing not far from the castle, also saw the huge creature. Excitedly, she began to chant a Spell.

BOOM!!

Through the eyes of the other Earthling corpse, Leech saw the explosion engulf the long-haired monster.

Even the castle’s main gate and half a wall were swallowed by the terrifying explosive flames. In an instant, the ground trembled.

Leech was profoundly shaken. ’With enough Magic Gunpowder weapons, I might be able to sweep across the Lu Leiyi Continent. But that’s just a thought. With the emergence of Extraordinary Knights, anyone who dares to start a war has to be prepared for assassinations from all directions.’

’Besides, I currently lack the power to protect the secrets of Magic Gunpowder.’

’Unless my military strength permits it, I won’t let Magic Gunpowder weapons be revealed to the world easily—just as I deliberately avoid the topic of producing sea salt, even though I know how.’

’Salt and sugar can both trigger wars.’

’A few barrels of honey might not be a big deal, but if I could mass-produce salt, I’m afraid that in just a dozen days or so, some noble would use the excuse of a Soldier disappearing in Porcupine Territory to forcibly attack this place.’

’Magic Gunpowder is just as critical. With an insufficient population and inadequate combat strength, I can develop it secretly, but there’s no need to bring it out into the open.’

”ROAR!!”

From within the fiercely burning flames, the massive, long-haired monster actually charged out.

The fire had burned a large part of its body black, revealing crimson flesh underneath.

’The long-haired monster is severely injured. The result is gratifying!’

’If I can do that five or six more times, I might be able to blast it to death—assuming the monster will willingly fall for the same trick again.’

But immediately after, Leech received some bad news from Betty.

The Alchemy Materials he had bought last time were all used up.

「In the study.」

Leech calculated, ’I can make charcoal myself, but most of the other things are Alchemy Materials.’

’It isn’t just saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal; other Alchemy Materials are needed as well, some more expensive than gold. Perhaps because this world is different, the gunpowder formula is also slightly different. Earth doesn’t have Magic, after all. That’s understandable.’

But after thinking for a while, Leech made a decision: ”First, spend the money to make more magic explosives. I’ll kill that long-haired monster, then we’ll see!”

Guarding a mountain of gold and a mountain of silver that he couldn’t touch, seeing it but not being able to spend it... the feeling was even more torturous than looking at a pair of white-stockinged thighs spread open and waiting, while being too impotent to do anything about it.

The Cape Dungeon must be taken.