Lord of Rot

In a forest far from Xia Yu Village, Bor and his men gathered. He had also arranged for his trusted subordinates to patrol the area to prevent anyone from stumbling in and interrupting their secret meeting.

”Is it secure?”

”Besides the birds, no one can hear what we’re saying.”

As if on cue, a few strange birds tilted their heads, staring down at them from the treetops.

Bor picked up a stone and flung it forcefully. One of the strange birds’ heads exploded on impact, its body plummeting from the branch.

”Heh heh,” he sneered, a corner of his mouth twisting up.

Everyone had gathered, so Bor abandoned his plan to keep throwing stones at the strange birds. The others knew Bor’s personality, so no one said a word.

”I’ve received word. That Baron Porcupine who declared war on us—his maternal grandfather is the Crocodile Baron of Linta Bay.”

This was common knowledge to nobles, but for a band of mountain bandits and ruffians, trying to sort out the bloodlines and marital ties of the aristocracy could be a death sentence. Not that familial ties meant much; it was perfectly normal for blood brothers to fight and kill each other for personal gain.

The Crocodile Baron’s reputation, however, was formidable. It was hard not to have heard of him, given how close Linta Bay was to Waterfall Land.

”With that Baron Porcupine declaring war, it seems Linta Bay is also planning to send troops.”

The battle at Hebang Village had shown Wado Eighteen’s men the true difference between a real army and common folk. If two lords joined this war, their defeat was certain.

”What are your plans?” Bor asked.

One of them spoke in a low voice, ”He’s changed. He’s forgotten why we’re doing this. We despise nobles more than anything, and we weren’t willing to be bandits and ruffians our whole lives. But now he’s sucking up to that noble full of bullshit, treating his aristocratic rules like a divine oracle!”

”We never had those rules before!”

Once the first person spoke, the others began to voice their own frustrations.

”He treats us like servants, forgetting who risked their lives for him in the past.”

”We have to kill that noble!”

”I’ve wanted to slaughter him for a long time.”

Bor took a deep breath. ”First, we kill the noble.”

The men finalized their plan. One person would go find Wado Eighteen and keep him occupied with conversation, while the others would rush over and slaughter Kro Camel. They believed that without the noble’s influence, Wado Eighteen would go back to his old self.

But before they could act, Kro had already sensed the danger and blended into the crowd.

This was the downside of having no real organization, relying only on the chaotic management of a single leader. Trying to find one person who had disappeared into the crowd was like finding a needle in a haystack.

The dead birds circled in the sky.

Leech, having had stones thrown at him twice in a row, was in a foul mood.

’There’s nothing I can do about it,’ he thought, knowing Bor wanted to kill Kro. ’I can only pray to the Four Gods for Kro, hoping he’ll escape safely. Kro has guts—perhaps born of desperation—but he has earned my respect. He’s a man of talent.’

After scanning the area from above, Leech, who was far away in Porcupine Territory, suddenly opened his eyes.

”They’re out of food!”

The militia of Hebang Village had been ruthless, burning all the grain. Leech had just noticed that Wado Eighteen’s men were drinking watery, nearly transparent porridge. Some were already so hungry they were eating grass. A few who were good swimmers could enter the water to catch fish, but they had no boats and hadn’t had a proper meal. The river was also extremely turbulent; entering it rashly could easily lead to being swept away and drowning.

The bodies floating downstream were a grim testament to that danger.

Neither Wado Eighteen nor Bor and his men had paid any mind to the food situation. They had assumed that after conquering a village, they would surely be able to plunder enough grain to feed everyone.

Their ultimate goal was to storm Longship Castle. With victory so close, they figured a little food would be enough to tide them over.

After all, one faction was angry about a noble ordering them around, while the other was upset that their leader had lost his way and was also trying to catch the fleeing Kro. No one had the spare energy to worry about anything else.

To prevent any other lords from providing Wado Eighteen with food supplies, Leech spread his ”vision” out. If necessary, he would send men to intercept the grain and, at worst, pin the blame on Wado Eighteen.

But after a long and careful search, he saw no troops approaching Waterfall Land. Even merchant caravans were giving the area a wide berth.

It seemed that compared to Longship Castle, which was at the end of its rope, Wado Eighteen’s group was the one truly in a desperate situation.

’This is the benefit of having a wide field of view.’

’You may be lucky, a chosen one of destiny, but sorry, I’m using a map-hack.’

「Porcupine Territory.」

Fastblade, his face flushed as he sat atop his horse, roared, ”Assemble!!”

Over a hundred men quickly assembled, standing ramrod straight in four columns.

”Everyone, get into your armor and grab your weapons as fast as you can, then reassemble here!”

As his voice fell, the soldiers quickly dispersed.

The smithy wasn’t efficient enough to forge sixty sets of armor in just a few days, so the soldiers wore woven armor. It could block some less-than-sharp attacks, but it offered no protection against a spear thrust, a stark contrast to the full plate armor of Porcupine Territory’s veterans.

Their weaponry, however, was fully equipped.

They had everything: shields, flails, spears, short swords, and crossbows.

Leech had also donned plate armor, though he felt very uncomfortable in the cumbersome suit.

Two knightly squires attended him; one held his horse, the other his helmet.

”You should all know!” Leech proclaimed from his horse, his voice booming. ”The bastard from Waterfall Land attacked our slave column and even killed many of our people! I don’t care if that scoundrel is a true bastard or a fake one, but he has provoked Porcupine Territory!”

Leech paused, looking at his soldiers’ faces. ”My clan’s motto is: Covered in quills! Anyone who dares to cause us trouble, even a Giant Dragon, will be riddled with holes!”

”Covered in quills!” Fastblade led the cheer, ecstatic.

’It’s like I’m seeing the Lieder of old—the Baron Porcupine who was such a headache on the battlefield.’

’Baron Porcupine is a brute, but isn’t being fearless the very spirit of a Knight?’

”Covered in quills!” the soldiers roared in unison, their voices chaotic at first before slowly merging into one.

”Covered in quills!”

”Covered in quills!”

Leech raised a hand, signaling for the soldiers to stop shouting. ”Before we set out, there is something I must tell you. The enemy has over ten thousand men. We have only 100!”

To take the initiative and provoke a force of over ten thousand with just a hundred men was, as Leech had just said, like a Porcupine fighting a Giant Dragon.

”There is no shame in being afraid!” Leech declared. ”Courage is born from fear! I will charge at your head, and I will face the enemy alongside you!”

’If the lord isn’t afraid, what do we have to be afraid of?’

They had witnessed too many of their lord’s miracles, especially how he always charged at the very front. Their trust in Leech had reached its zenith.

The soldiers’ morale was sky-high, and Leech was equally confident. ’Fighting a bunch of starving, weak-kneed shrimp? This is a battle I’m bound to win.’ He was even worried that Wado Eighteen’s army might disband before he even got there.

’I’m not even bringing these soldiers to deal with Wado Eighteen,’ he thought. ’I’m bringing them to Longship Castle to collect the reward Baroness Jie Lin promised me, just in case she decides not to pay up.’

”March out!”

Leech led his troops out on a forced march. The common folk of Porcupine Territory watched from the roadsides, some offering prayers and blessings. The new soldiers held their heads high. They were marching off to win glory and build their careers. If they were afraid of war, why would they have become soldiers in the first place?

The news that Leech was personally leading troops to attack Wado Eighteen spread like wildfire, reaching the ears of every lord.

Many who heard it scoffed.

’As expected of the Porcupine Clan. Brainlessness runs in the family. That Lieder, who only knew how to fight, was like this, and his son is even stupider. He’s practically marching to his death.’

While some scoffed, others were astonished. Sidor Sea Water, who had just arrived and settled in at Iron Stone City, was one of the astonished ones.

”I remember Leech Clarence being a different sort of person. When we met, I could tell he wasn’t a warmonger,” he said to Wild Horse Chaotic Stone beside him. ”What do you think?”

”I admire him!” said the Extraordinary Knight, Wild Horse Chaotic Stone. ”He is a true Knight, a Knight who pursues glory.”

”A true Knight?”

Sidor Sea Water was taken aback for a moment, then he smiled. ”You act less like a bastard than I do.”

As a bastard, glory had nothing to do with him. What Sidor understood least was why Knights would charge to their deaths in a suicidal attack, even when they knew the outcome.

He had only read about such fools in books. In his twenty-plus years of life, Sidor had never met a fearless Knight. Every polished noble he knew was afraid of death.

Perhaps Baron Porcupine Lieder had been different, but Sidor had never met him, only heard stories.

’But to think such a fool actually exists in real life.’

Still, he could understand why his father would have liked Baron Porcupine. An upright, brutish Knight who chased glory was basically a convenient lance, always ready to charge.

”Our mission is to stop him,” Sidor Sea Water said with a sigh of resignation. ”Let’s hurry. Hopefully, we can intercept him before he enters Waterfall Land.”

Even with an Extraordinary Knight for protection, Sidor Sea Water didn’t dare venture deep into a war-torn land. Otherwise, he wouldn’t even know what killed him.