Lord of Rot

”BOOM!”

An explosion rang out, and thick smoke billowed upward.

Corpse Ghost Aina and the Red-haired Earthlings, who were carrying things into the cavern on the headland, heard the sound and looked toward the other side of the plaza.

Betty was clad in a suit of heavy armor, holding an iron pipe shaped like a ”gun.”

The iron pipe was attached to a wooden stock. Both the barrel and the stock were made by the craftsmen of Porcupine Territory, but Betty had to assemble it herself. The development of this firearm was top secret and could not be exposed under any circumstances.

Leech planned to turn it into a superweapon. The idea was to keep it hidden until it was time to unveil it, at which point it had to strike fear into his enemies.

She lifted her helmet’s visor, pursed her lips, and blew a puff of air at the smoking muzzle of the iron pipe. Then she took out a powder horn and poured gunpowder down the barrel.

Next, she took out a piece of paper, used it to wrap a bullet, and stuffed the package into the barrel.

She had learned this technique from Leech. With the talking Corpse Ghost Aina acting as an intermediary, communication between Betty and Leech had become much simpler, and the pace of research and development had also quickened.

She then picked up a wooden rod and tamped everything down the muzzle.

Once she was sure everything was in place, Betty raised the firearm and braced the stock against her shoulder pauldron.

She squinted, aiming at a distant wooden target.

Her lips moved slightly as she recited a Spell.

BOOM!

Thick smoke spewed from the muzzle. If not for the heavy armor, her small frame would have likely been knocked over by the recoil.

Betty’s body shook violently, and she stumbled back two steps before regaining her footing.

The thick smoke obscured her vision, making it impossible to see anything clearly.

”Cough, cough!”

Covering her mouth and nose, she walked over to inspect the result.

The wooden target was completely unscathed, just as she had expected.

After constant innovations, the firearm—while still clumsy, difficult to aim, and lacking a proper firing mechanism—could at least be fired without issue. The barrel no longer randomly exploded, either.

Putting the gun down, Betty saw the two Corpse Ghosts and quickly raised a hand in greeting. ”Aina!”

”Want to test my bullets? You’re already dead, so you won’t feel any pain.”

Her face was lit with a brilliant smile, but her words were terrifying enough to frighten even a Corpse Ghost.

”We’re here on business,” Aina said.

Betty’s attention was drawn to what Aina had brought in.

”A dragon?” Taking short steps, her heavy armor scraping with each movement, she arrived in front of the Giant Lizard’s corpse.

Having spent so long in the cavern, Betty’s mental state had undergone a massive shift. Of course, she quite liked this environment; it was like being back in the scholar’s tower, where she could research day and night without being disturbed by the outside world.

Leech, however, suspected she might have a twisted, reclusive personality. But after the appearance of Aina, who could communicate with her, Betty was able to interact normally, and her cognitive functions seemed perfectly fine.

Since she wasn’t causing any major problems, he didn’t worry about it. Betty and the other Mercenaries had invaded Porcupine Territory and trespassed on the lord’s property, making them thieves. Upon capture, they became slaves.

He was quite satisfied that Betty was content to be his tool.

”Are you going to make this one come alive, too?” Betty asked.

She knew the person behind the scenes could resurrect corpses. A Giant Lizard that felt no fear and could not die would probably be even more terrifying than the long-haired monster in the underground castle.

”Mhm,” Aina nodded.

”When it comes back to life, you have to let it help me,” Betty said. ”I’m planning to research a large-caliber firearm. The recoil would probably liquefy a normal person’s internal organs, but with this big guy...!”

”He has to agree.”

”I’ll get him to agree,” Betty said, full of confidence.

Inside the underground castle was a massive Magic Array. Atop it sat a stone-lined pool—this was the Giant Lizard’s ”coffin.”

Aina stood guard to one side, watching as Leech directed the Red-haired Corpse Ghost to first stitch up the Giant Lizard’s tongue with a needle and thread, then place Jinri coins one by one on its wounds.

He used over forty Jinri on the head wound and the severed tongue alone.

Leech was wealthy, but he still felt the sting.

But for an Extraordinary Giant Lizard, the expense was necessary!

The stalk of Griffin Grass was placed on the Giant Lizard’s body. Aina and the Red-haired Corpse Ghost then worked together to bring over wooden planks and seal the ”coffin.”

Next came the Corpse Ghost refinement process. This time, the refinement took far longer than ever before. ’Does the size of the corpse affect the transformation?’

All he could do was wait.

「Porcupine Castle.」

”Rocket! Over here!”

Leech opened his arms.

The Little Horse-headed Eagle, now covered in fluffy white down, flapped its wings and charged toward Leech, crashing heavily into his embrace.

”Haha, good boy!”

Leech stroked the Horse-headed Eagle’s head, and Rocket affectionately rubbed the side of its beak against Leech’s face.

In less than a month, the Little Horse-headed Eagle had grown several times larger. Its clever eagle head already possessed the majestic air of a king of the skies.

Looking at Rocket’s beak, Leech guessed that even a Knight in plate armor probably couldn’t withstand a single peck.

’The elite troop strategy is the right way to go.’

Leech reaffirmed his inner conviction. The future of warfare would undoubtedly be a stage for Transcendents. Low-tier troops like militia and padded-armor soldiers probably wouldn’t even qualify as cannon fodder.

It was better to have the populace farm the land; using them as cannon fodder was too much of a waste.

”Coo, coo~” Rocket flapped its wings, left Leech’s side, and suddenly accelerated toward a corner of the room.

As it ran, its wings were slightly spread. Though it couldn’t fly yet, its small wings already allowed it to leap into the air and glide for a short distance.

’It won’t be long before it can take flight, right?’

A colt takes three to five years before it can be ridden. Although Rocket was a Horse-headed Eagle, riding it at one year of age was likely impossible. It would still be a long time before he could fly it into the sky.

”Wait, what are you eating?!”

Leech snapped out of his reverie when he saw Rocket pecking at something and whipping its head back and forth.

A mouse!

”Rocket! Spit it out!”

It was fed plenty of chicken and fish every day, yet here it was, eating a mouse.

”Coo! Coo!”

Rocket pinned the mouse with its front claws and lowered its head to peck. The mouse’s head was instantly crushed. It had moved its beak so fast that the mouse’s body was still twitching, not yet realizing it was already dead.

By the time Leech rushed over, Rocket had already tilted its head back and swallowed half the mouse.

”Coo, coo,” it chirped, pecking at the mouse’s tail and offering the half-eaten, still-dripping-with-blood carcass to Leech.

”I don’t eat that,” Leech said, waving his hand dismissively.

Rocket lowered its head and continued tearing at the mouse’s corpse, eating with great relish.

’I can’t keep this Horse-headed Eagle!’

Leech summoned the Groom and asked him about the mouse-eating incident.

”Eating mice?” The Groom looked completely bewildered.

He had no idea what Leech was talking about.

”I pick out lively sand worms every day, and I even buy live fish,” the Groom hastily explained. He really wasn’t brave enough to skim off the top. At most... at most, the things Rocket ate were a bit similar to what he himself liked to eat, and when Rocket had leftovers, he might take them to stir-fry a dish for himself so nothing went to waste.

He would never be so bold as to change Rocket’s diet. If Rocket was a picky eater and refused to eat something, he wouldn’t dare force-feed it.

He just... nudged Rocket’s preferred foods a little closer to his own tastes.

Seeing the Groom hemming and hawing, Leech guessed there were indeed some minor issues.

Leech said, ”Rocket likes to eat its food live.”

A Horse-headed Eagle had Griffin blood, and weren’t lions just big cats? Tracing back its ancestry, it made sense that Rocket shared some feline preferences, like playing with its food before eating.

There was also a more rational explanation: Rocket, much like a child, enjoyed playing with its food more than eating it.

”Start feeding it rabbits tomorrow. If Rocket likes them, have the pastures start raising some.”

It was just a small upfront investment for his future flying mount.

Leech instructed, ”Guide Rocket properly. Teach it what it can and cannot do.”

He didn’t want Rocket to grow up, learn to fly, and start ”playing” with live humans instead of mice. Leech certainly wasn’t going to feed it people, so it was crucial to educate it from a young age, while it still couldn’t fly.

”Yes, my lord!” the Groom nodded repeatedly.

He thought to himself, ’Rabbits, huh? They should be pretty tasty.’