Lord of Rot

The housing allocation in Porcupine Territory had ended.

Unsurprisingly, Little Antelope—a new commoner with no special status, nor a craftsman—had no hope of buying one of the scarce and highly sought-after red brick houses.

But seeing the pair’s triumphant swagger made her furious.

’I should probably just go back to the market and get to work. I didn’t get a house, but life has to go on.’

”Little Antelope?”

Hearing someone call her name from behind, Little Antelope turned around to see the chief steward of Porcupine Territory standing right there.

”Lord Gelan!” she said nervously, subconsciously clutching and twisting the hem of her clothes.

’Could it be about the line-cutting incident? The Lord definitely looked unhappy back then.’

”The Lord holds you in high regard,” Gelan said, a statement that made Little Antelope’s eyes widen. ”Would you be interested in becoming an Honorary Knight of Porcupine Territory?”

...

「Sometime earlier.」

Seeing that Claude and Deni were eager to get back on the road, Leech didn’t keep them for idle chatter. He had them try some ice cream, then sent them off to rest.

Soon after, the member of the town watch entered the castle.

Upon hearing what had transpired, Gelan handed off his remaining odd jobs to his apprentices and hurried into the castle after him.

The member of the town watch kept his head lowered nervously as he gave an honest account of the incident. He wasn’t familiar with either party and had no reason to lie for them.

”Alright, I understand,” Leech said with a wave of his hand. ”You may go.”

”Yes!”

Relieved that he wasn’t in any trouble, the member of the town watch let out a sigh, turned, and quickly departed.

Gelan brushed past the watchman on his way out. Upon seeing Leech, he began, ”My Lord...”

”It’s just a small matter, don’t worry too much,” Leech said.

The issue could be seen as either major or minor.

Cutting in line is merely an issue of character; it’s not illegal. So it really wasn’t a major incident, just something that leads to an argument.

But it could also be considered a major issue. One moment, Leech was happily boasting about his people to the two merchants, and the next, he was publicly humiliated. Any other lord would likely have the gallows prepared by now.

Gelan asked, ”Are you concerned the two merchants will have a poor impression of Porcupine Territory?”

”Porcupine Territory is what it is,” Leech said, shaking his head. ”No matter what we say, it can’t compare to what they see with their own eyes and experience firsthand. If we could change people’s impressions with just words, why would we need to work so hard at construction? We might as well have the entire populace follow Pilite and become Minstrels. Singing is more pleasant than talking, after all. Maybe we could sing Porcupine Territory into being the richest, most powerful place in the world.”

Although he spoke in a joking tone, Gelan could tell that Leech was not in a good mood.

”What is troubling you?”

Having worked with Leech for a long time, Gelan knew his Lord’s way of thinking was highly unconventional.

It seemed that in his Lord’s eyes, the world was filled with all sorts of backward ideas and mistakes. Moreover, one point shocked Gelan immensely: he believed that deep down, his Lord might not care about social class at all.

Even though his Lord clearly enjoyed the privileges of his station, when it came to getting things done, he would concern himself with matters that ordinary people took for granted.

”Exclusion,” Leech said.

”Exclusion?” Gelan was puzzled.

”The commoners of Porcupine Territory see themselves as natives,” Leech explained. ”They’re loyal, but also extremely exclusive toward outsiders. The line-cutting was a minor incident, but what those women said, they meant.”

Little Antelope was now a legal commoner of Porcupine Territory, but her past as a slave couldn’t be erased. She was ostracized for not being a local.

The fact that most apprentice positions were currently held by Porcupine Territory natives only reinforced this attitude.

”I will punish the ones who cut in line,” Gelan said immediately.

”Hmm,” Leech nodded. ”Find someone to give them some moral instruction. Criticize them a little. It’s perfectly normal for uneducated people to act this way.”

Aside from the fact that he was publicly humiliated, their actions weren’t a huge problem. It was a far cry from murder, arson, or other serious crimes. They were just ill-mannered, that’s all.

If they’re ill-mannered, then they just need to be educated. There’s no other way around it.

Gelan nodded, but sighed internally. ’Moral instruction? This job will definitely fall to me again.’

’Have Kuai Ren do it? With his fiery temper, if he found out they’d displeased the Lord, he’d probably just kill them on the spot.’

”Oh,” an idea suddenly struck Leech. ”We could create a ’model citizen’ award.”

”Model citizen?”

The natives of Porcupine Territory were exclusionary towards non-natives, and outsiders struggled to find a sense of belonging here.

So, he would establish a role model.

Actually, speaking of role models, the most suitable one would be Luobo. He came from a slave background, but many people just saw him as lucky. They thought that if they were in his shoes, they could have done the same.

That’s why he needed to establish a new kind of role model.

”’Model Citizen’ doesn’t sound quite right,” Leech mused. ”Let’s call it ’Honorary Knight’ instead.”

Gelan asked in surprise, ”You want to create a Knight?”

”No, not create a Knight in the traditional sense,” Leech shook his head, explaining, ”It’s just a title. Anyone can become an Honorary Knight. We’ll establish a set of moral standards and a code of conduct—things like unity, fellowship, self-reliance, and striving for betterment. Then, each month, we’ll select one person in the territory as the Honorary Knight and present them with a medal.”

Whatever virtues the people of Porcupine Territory lacked, he would add them to the criteria. He would set up a role model and show them that if they followed this example, they too could have a chance to become an Honorary Knight.

It wouldn’t fix their character or their exclusionary mindset overnight, but it could certainly help reduce it.

Especially for the children, if they did something long enough, it would become a habit.