Lord of Rot

Another letter from Longship Castle had arrived.

Leech stood by the birdcage, glancing at the raven that was lifting its left wing and tilting its head to preen its feathers. Then, he unfolded the letter it had brought.

”Greetings and due respect to Sir Leech Clarence.” The familiar opening.

”Hebang Village was attacked by the pretender bastard. All the soldiers were slaughtered. His vile actions will surely incur the wrath of the Prisoner.”

’If the Four Gods truly cared about equality and freedom, there would be no nobles in this world.’

Leech scoffed internally and continued reading.

”Longship Castle is under siege. I hope you have not forgotten your promise. The day the pretender bastard is defeated, the treasury of Longship Castle will be opened to you.”

A treasury that probably couldn’t even produce a single copper star held no attraction for Leech.

But this was likely the last bit of sincerity the Baroness could offer.

Leech muttered to himself, ”I only said I’d take Wado Eighteen’s head. I never said when.”

’I declare war, but if you don’t live long enough to fight me, it just proves you weren’t worthy of being my opponent. That’s called winning without fighting.’

Through the observations of his corpse birds, Leech already knew that Hebang Village was very close to Longship Castle. He even had a map that stretched from Porcupine Castle to Iron Stone City and then to Longship Castle—one far more detailed than any official drawing!

After occupying Hebang Village, Wado Eighteen could launch a direct assault on Longship Castle.

Leech believed that as long as Wado Eighteen wasn’t a fool, he wouldn’t choose to besiege Longship Castle, but would instead try to storm it as quickly as possible.

His followers were all farmers, beggars, and slaves, with no adequate supply of provisions. Under these circumstances, laying siege to Longship Castle would only result in them starving themselves to death first.

Even if he chose to storm the castle, it was not certain Wado Eighteen could take it.

This was Longship Castle, a fortress notoriously easy to defend and hard to attack. To get inside, one first had to find a way to cross the river.

Waterfall Land had no large ships. Trying to assault it with ferries and fishing boats? That was simply a suicide mission.

However, they had the advantage in numbers. With enough brutal losses, they could still win. If they had an overwhelming numerical superiority, they could win by piling up corpses. It just depended on whether the farmer soldiers had the courage.

The besieged Baroness was not in a good position either. She had no reinforcements and had no idea what kind of attack Wado Eighteen would launch. Right now, Leech was the only reinforcement who had agreed to help, so her only choice was to once again implore him to dispatch his troops for the sake of honor and his promise.

But Leech still had no intention of making a move.

Porcupine Territory had only 100 soldiers. For a minor lord, this was a strong force, but pitting 100 men against tens of thousands was just sending them to their deaths.

If all 100 were Transcendent Knights, then he might consider it.

If he could use Transcendents or Corpse Ghosts, Leech would have taken Wado Eighteen’s head long ago. But in this war, it was better not to fight at all than to reveal too much.

Leech wasn’t sure of Wado Eighteen’s current situation. The bird corpses he controlled had already decayed; the hot weather had attracted swarms of flies, and maggots had even begun to appear.

Fortunately, the corpses soaked in Magic Antiseptic did not have this problem and wouldn’t breed maggots.

Leech turned and left, saying to the squire and secretary guarding the door, ”Go and capture some more birds. Try not to injure them.”

”Yes, sir!”

That night, flock after flock of corpse birds flapped their wings and departed from Porcupine Territory, flying toward Waterfall Land.

「Xia Yu Village, the council hall.」

Kro stood beside Wado Eighteen. The atmosphere in the room was tense.

They had won the battle for Hebang Village. From there, they could see Longship Castle in the distance. It was as if they had Baroness Jie Lin by the throat—a huge step forward.

But the mood was far from joyful. The men’s faces were grim.

Wado Eighteen was ecstatic. After this victory, once Longship Castle fell, he would be the undisputed Baron Wado!

”Rewards for everyone!” He was not stingy with his rewards.

Every man received rewards of gold, Silver Moons, and jewels, but their spirits could not be lifted.

Because although they had won, they had also lost spectacularly. The enemy had only a hundred men, almost all of them militia, yet their side had sacrificed dozens of times that number to barely win. The vast gap in military discipline between the two forces was laid bare in this brutal battle.

Only after killing the very last man did they truly occupy Hebang Village.

Their victory was pyrrhic, and it dealt a heavy blow to the morale of Wado Eighteen’s ”invincible” army.

Before this, the peasants firmly believed Wado Eighteen was invincible. Why did more and more people flock to their cause? Because they felt they could win by following him—win easily. With so many people, how could they not win? They would follow whoever was winning.

But this battle made the peasants realize that just 100 militiamen could kill thousands of them. If 100 regular soldiers showed up, could they kill tens of thousands of them?

Looking at the blood-soaked soil of Hebang Village, some of the farmers were scared out of their wits.

”You should have been there for this battle,” Bor said to Wado Eighteen.

If Wado Eighteen had been present during the fight, it would have greatly boosted morale, and the sacrifices would have been far fewer.

”We won, and you all did well.” Wado Eighteen said to Bor, ”War involves sacrifice. When they chose to follow me, they should have known this day would come. Their sacrifices are not meaningless. I will grant them honor after I become the Baron!”

Bor’s chest heaved rapidly, his eyes bloodshot. ”You used to despise the concept of honor more than anything.”

”I am a Baron.” Wado Eighteen stared at Bor, his gaze a command, forcing the other man to lower his head.

The atmosphere froze.

In the end, Bor lowered his head. He still chose to submit, but from his heavy, ragged breathing, it was clear he had reached his limit.

Kro, who had been watching coolly from the side, suddenly felt a malicious intent directed at him. He realized Bor and the others had been glaring at him with vicious eyes. They needed to kill a noble to vent their frustrations, and Kro was the only noble here.

’This is bad!’

Kro’s mind was in turmoil. He knew he was in real danger. These bandits and robbers were completely unreasonable.

You could tell from the way they massacred villages, raped women after capturing a town, and casually tortured and killed anyone who resisted.

But Kro asked himself, ’What did I do?’ Wado Eighteen was becoming more and more like a noble because he himself was getting too deep into character, truly believing he was the bastard son of Baron Wado. Kro had only accompanied him for some drinks and meals.

The crowd dispersed.

”Sir Kro, leave me in peace,” Wado Eighteen said.

”Yes, My Lord.” Kro performed the noble etiquette to perfection. It was the reason he had survived here for so long.

He had just opened the door when he saw a young man outside, just about to raise his hand to knock.

Kro’s eyes quickly scanned the man’s face and clothes, and he instantly knew roughly where he was from.

’South of Longship Castle.’

Only people from there wore that style of clothing. Because the region was mountainous, their trousers were tapered and tucked into their boots. They wore wide-brimmed hats for shade. It was definitely not the fashion of the Southern Giant’s Foot, where the style was more ”tribal” and had strong ethnic characteristics.

The thought flashed through his mind for only a moment. Then, Kro smiled, stepped back to clear the way, and said, ”Please.”

”Thank you,” the man replied with a nod.

’Standard East Gorge People etiquette.’

After the man passed, Kro stepped out and slowly closed the door, but not completely. He deliberately left a crack, pretending to be waiting for orders as he stood silently by the door.

’There’s a good chance Bor and his men will make an example of me today.’ Kro had to escape, but before he fled, he needed to get some useful information.

”Good day, esteemed Baron Wado. I come with greetings from Lord Bill.”

’Bill?’ Kro, outside the door, pondered this carefully. ’Those monkeys from Shanzhang Castle?’

No noble liked those types who loved to scheme and plot but had little real power.

”What is it?” Wado Eighteen was clearly in a bad mood.

”Lord Bill sent me to congratulate you on your recent victory. He also had me bring some weapons to help you with the coming battles, but he asks that you complete a few small tasks in return.”

BAM!

The table was slammed. Even without seeing it, Kro could guess that Wado Eighteen was in an extremely foul mood.

”I’ve come this far without anyone’s help, and I have no need to do anything for the Bills!”

Getting this far had been a matter of luck for Wado Eighteen, though of course, he saw it as a result of his own strength and kingly demeanor.

”My Lord, perhaps you could hear what I’ve brought? I...”

”There’s no need. The Wados don’t need any help! Nor do we need anyone telling us what to do!” Wado Eighteen declared. ”When I hold a ball in Longship Castle, I will be sure to save a chair for the Bills!”

Kro knew he should leave, or the people inside would discover him eavesdropping.

He quickly moved away and stood by the road, noticing the messenger from the Bills leaving with a dark expression.

’Time to run,’ Kro thought.

”Sir!”

A figure reeking of sour sweat rushed over. Kro was startled to see who it was—the farmer he had entrusted to deliver a letter to Porcupine Territory. Kro glanced left and right, sighing in relief when he saw no one had noticed. ”What is it?”

”The Lord asked me to bring you a letter.”

”Well done.” Kro discreetly took the letter. He was about to turn and leave but stopped and said to the farmer, ”Pigskin Hat, if you trust me, run now. Go to Iron Stone City, Porcupine Territory, or Linta Bay and start a new life. Don’t stay here.”

After saying this, he quickly turned and left.

The farmer, Pigskin Hat, pulled the hat from his head and clutched it in his hand, muttering, ”Run? Why run? The Baron is about to break into Longship Castle, and then we’ll get our land. Why should I run?”

Kro had only offered a word of advice; he couldn’t be bothered with whether the man would listen.

He found a secluded spot and unrolled the letter.

It contained only a single, simple sentence.

”Sow discord and incite internal strife.”

’Incite internal strife? How did Lord Leech know about the internal conflict?’ Kro was astonished.

When he had sent the farmer, Pigskin Hat, to Porcupine Territory with the letter, Wado Eighteen’s relationship with his men had still been good. They only complained that the complicated etiquette of the nobility was annoying.

The real conflict had erupted after the battle at Hebang Village.

But he no longer needed to sow discord. Anyone with eyes could see that Wado Eighteen’s men were already disillusioned and disloyal.

’Or could it be that Lord Leech has other spies planted here, and thus has other ways of getting information?’

Kro turned and scanned his surroundings. No one was watching him. Only a strange bird on a branch nearby was staring at him without blinking. He bent down, picked up a stone, and threw it at the bird. The bird spread its wings and flew away.

He felt a little better. Being stared at by that strange bird had made him uneasy.