Lord of Rot

At noon, enjoying a bowl of ice cream.

Full of energy, Leech wrote out a training plan for his soldiers.

Of course, that military-style drill wouldn’t actually work. He had just been bluffing back then, with the goal of screening for useful apprentices.

It wasn’t that he looked down on the Fast-Blade training method, but unorganized, individual combat really had no future.

The refreshing ice cream cooled his thoughts, and once he started writing, his pen couldn’t stop moving.

In just a short while, he had already filled more than half a page.

KNOCK KNOCK.

A knock on the door.

”Lord, Akelie from Beekeeping Village is here to see you,” Pitchfork said from outside the door.

”Let him in.”

Leech set his pen down, picked up his tea, and took a sip.

Iced lemon-honey tea—a truly luxurious indulgence.

At present, only the Baron could afford such a treat.

The door was pushed open. Akelie entered and immediately fell to his knees. His first words made Leech frown. ”Lord, many of the bees have died!”

”What happened?”

Leech leaned forward slightly, looking at Akelie kneeling on the floor. He was three years younger than Leech and handsome, having inherited the genes of the Insect Control Remnant People. Of the three siblings, however, the most attractive was the youngest, Arkke.

Akelie and Akedo’s insect-controlling abilities couldn’t compare to Arkke’s, but they could still control insects within a ten-step radius.

’Are birds preying on them, or is it some sudden disaster?’

’Beekeeping Village cannot be allowed to fail.’

”It’s... it’s...” Akelie stammered, ”The bees are eating other bees!”

”What?”

Leech was a little confused.

”The bees are eating other bees!” Akelie didn’t know how to explain it either. ”They aren’t collecting nectar or eating honey. They only eat other bees. I don’t know what’s happening.”

”I’ll go with you and take a look!”

When it came to honey, he couldn’t afford to be careless.

Leech stood, grabbing his cane and pushing the door open. Akelie immediately scrambled to his feet to follow.

”Get Arkke here at once.”

Pitchfork replied, ”Yes, Lord!”

He then immediately trotted off.

By the time Leech reached the ground floor, Arkke was running toward him, lifting her skirt as she ran. ”Lord!”

Her cheeks were slightly flushed from running so quickly.

Arkke, seven years younger than Leech, had reached the age for a growth spurt. With the nutritious food available in the castle, she was even developing a bit early.

The other manservants and maids in the castle were much the same. They ate their fill of good food, and some were even becoming a little plump.

Leech said, ”Something’s happened at Beekeeping Village. Come with me and take a look.”

”Yes, Lord!” Arkke nodded obediently.

Unlike her two older brothers, whose powers developed slowly, Arkke’s abilities were improving with incredible speed. Her range could now cover nearly half the castle; wherever she went, flies and mosquitoes vanished without a trace.

Unless Leech had a specific need for her, Arkke usually stayed near the kitchen, especially when desserts and pastries were being made.

Swarms of flies crawling all over the ingredients was just too disgusting; they had to be driven away by hand.

When Leech arrived at Beekeeping Village, its residents were lined up on the roadside to greet him.

”Show me,” Leech said.

”Yes!”

Akelie quickened his pace and took the lead.

With Arkke present, the insects in Beekeeping Village couldn’t cause much of a stir, so Leech didn’t need to wear any protective gear.

If he weren’t visiting, the people of Beekeeping Village would have to worry about being stung.

Beekeeping Village had added quite a few new hives recently, and bees swarmed in the air.

Leech immediately spotted a special variety among the bees that Arkke had frozen in mid-air.

They were huge!

Much larger than ordinary honeybees.

”These are Wasps!”

Wasps, also known as ”Killer Bees.” And this type of bee doesn’t live on honey; they are purely carnivorous insects. From the larval stage, they have to eat meat, and they particularly love to eat honey.

Leech hadn’t studied bees in any great detail. Beekeeping Village had only been successfully established thanks to the Magic of the Insect Control Remnant People.

He could guess why the Wasps had appeared. The establishment of Beekeeping Village and the subsequent explosion in the bee population was like a sheep pen with a broken fence standing before a pack of wolves. It was a buffet they could come and go from as they pleased.

Sometimes, the brothers Akelie and Akedo, unable to tell the bees apart, might have even forced the Wasps into the hives. That would be a true feast for them, eating until they were too stuffed to even fly out.

It was a classic case of letting the wolf into the sheepfold.

But he couldn’t blame them. No one had any experience with this; it was a process of trial and error.

”Arkke, make one of the larger bees fly over here.”

Arkke nodded. ”Yes!”

Her control over insects was far superior to her brothers’. A Wasp flew to a stop before Leech, its barbed stinger enough to send a chill down anyone’s spine.

”This kind of bee doesn’t collect nectar,” Leech explained. ”And be careful. You must never get stung by one of these. It can be fatal!”

”Yes, Lord!” Akelie hurriedly nodded, committing it to memory.

”Arkke will control these Wasps for now. Akelie, you and Akedo go find their nests in the area and bring them back.”

”Yes!”

The two young men trotted off. Finding the nests was simple: they just needed to control a few Wasps to lead the way. The only tricky part was making sure the Wasps didn’t fly too fast, or they would lose them.

Arkke directed the swarm, and soon the bees were separated into two distinct groups.

Leech looked at Arkke in surprise. ”You can tell them apart?”

He didn’t know what it felt like for Arkke to control insects, but it was certainly different from his own ability. He could only control a fixed number of units, regardless of their size, though perhaps larger creatures required more mental energy.

Arkke, however, controlled an entire area.

Arkke nodded and replied, ”I just tried to get them to separate, and they obediently listened.”

’A human queen bee?’

Putting everything else aside, if her ability was paired with Eagle Eye, Arkke could accomplish far more than he could. But that was assuming her mind could be divided like Leech’s, freely controlling multiple perspectives without being driven mad.

Leech said, ”Once Akelie and Akedo bring back the nests, take them all back to the castle. We’ll raise them there.”

”Yes!” Arkke nodded obediently.

Wasps ate honey, but they also ate pests. In an age without pesticides, pests—along with weather and soil quality—were a major factor affecting the harvest.

Foxes and dogs could catch mice, but they were powerless against insects.

’Does this count as magical biological pest control?’

The fact that they could sting people, on the other hand, was becoming a trivial detail.

After a while, Akelie and his brother returned. Each carried a massive nest, not made of beeswax, but of paper pulp.

Wasps chew dry wood into a pulp to build their nests.

The nests were left in Beekeeping Village for the time being. Later, Akelie and his brother would have the Wasps transport them to the castle.

Since he was already out, Leech remembered it had been a while since he’d checked on the Griffin Grass.

It was right on the way.

The Griffin Grass was growing very well.

’The Griffin Grass was discovered last autumn, which means the plant ripens in the fall.’

Which meant it would be ready for harvest in a month or two at most.

”Hm?”

Leech froze.

He saw a honeybee on a stalk of Griffin Grass, collecting nectar.

The bee wobbled into the air, flew past Leech, and headed toward Beekeeping Village.

’This place is pretty far from Beekeeping Village,’ he thought. ’Why would it fly all the way out here to collect nectar?’

He knew bees could fly for kilometers to gather nectar, but Beekeeping Village was surrounded by fruit trees and flowering plants. There was no need for them to fly this far.

He called out to Arkke, who was waiting outside. ”Arkke, a bee got out! Catch it!”

He then bent down to inspect the Griffin Grass. Fortunately, the bee hadn’t gnawed on it, and the plant was growing well.

But from outside came Arkke’s startled cry. ”Ah! Lord, it—I can’t control it!”

Leech rushed out to find the bee attacking Arkke, who was screaming in fright.

To protect the young maid, Leech charged forward, swinging his cane.

SMACK!

It was a solid hit, like striking a stone!

”You didn’t get stung, did you?” Leech asked anxiously, casually sticking his cane into the dirt as he rushed to Arkke’s side.

Arkke shook her head, her cheeks flushing. ”No, Lord.”

”Lord!” she suddenly pointed behind Leech. ”It—the bee isn’t dead!”

Leech turned and saw the bee wobbling back into the air.

”An Extraordinary bee!”

This Extraordinary bee was in terrible shape, however. Its abdomen was shriveled, and it was barely managing to struggle back into the air.

Leech decisively strode over and swung his cane again.

SMACK!

This time, the Extraordinary bee fell to the ground, twitched a few times, and then went still.

As expected. Any comparison that ignores mass and scale is meaningless.

A bee, for instance, could become an Extraordinary bee just by consuming a bit of sap and pollen from the Griffin Grass.

That giant, fire-red bear he had faced was, in the end, just bigger and stronger than a normal one. If it had been a true Extraordinary bear, the entire Porcupine Territory probably wouldn’t have been enough to sate its bloodlust.

Leech squatted down, observing the mangled corpse of the Extraordinary bee. Its body had red markings, and its wings were threaded with red veins.

”It’s all right now,” he said, using his cane to push himself up. He gave Arkke a smile.

The young maid thought back to the moment her Lord had rushed to save her without a second thought, and the look of concern on his face. Her cheeks reddened. ”Mhm!”

’Extraordinary bees are a no-go. Not worth the trouble.’

Arkke wasn’t a Transcendent, so she couldn’t control an Extraordinary bee. She could easily be harmed by the backlash.

An Extraordinary dog, on the other hand, would certainly be much easier to handle.

Back at the castle, Leech had Arkke get the Wasps settled. The kitchen brought out a few chunks of meat and tossed them on the ground, and the Wasps immediately swarmed over them.

”Can they be domesticated?” Leech asked Arkke, watching the dense swarm.

”They seem to understand my general intentions,” Arkke said. ”I can try to train them.”

She was a human queen bee, the kind even a real queen would have to obey.

”Be careful. If there’s any trouble, burn them immediately.”

Leech reminded her repeatedly. He valued Arkke far more than a swarm of Wasps.

It wasn’t dinnertime yet, but Leech already knew they would be having honey buns tonight. A sudden thought struck him. ’If that wasn’t the first time that Extraordinary bee had visited the Griffin Grass, does that mean the honey from Beekeeping Village also contains its nectar?’

The dose would be minuscule, but every little bit counts.

Even if the amount was negligible, it would be reassuring to consume it.

Leech immediately called for his young secretary. ”Go to Beekeeping Village. Tell Akelie and the others that all honey harvested from today on is to be delivered to the castle.”