Lord of Rot

The December days grew colder and colder.

When he woke in the morning, a layer of white frost coated the ground.

Leech had already switched to his thicker clothes. He was draped in a greatcoat made from red fox fur.

The fur was courtesy of the foxes of Porcupine Territory.

It was hard to say whether Pitz’s abilities were lacking, as if she hadn’t invested enough points in her language talent, or if the foxes simply refused to communicate with her. Either way, Pitz had never been able to converse with the foxes.

Not that the foxes were completely useless. They had provided Leech with plenty of new, warm clothes for the winter, and he was very satisfied with the tailor’s craftsmanship.

Today was a good day.

The Ghost Finger Grass in the Cape Grotto had ripened.

Following the records in his books, he had the Corpse Ghosts harvest the Ghost Grass.

The Cape Grotto was now filled with a spreading toxic gas, making it unsuitable for any living creature to enter.

Leech had been planning to visit the female Hunter he’d spoken with on the Black Market before the snow started to fall. Now that the Ghost Finger Grass was ripe, he had even more reason to go.

He traveled light, riding a horse and bringing only a single attendant, Luobo.

It would be a quick trip.

Lately, the roads in Porcupine Territory had seen frequent traffic from small merchants.

This was especially true for the small merchants from Iron Stone City.

They had discovered that Porcupine Territory, which was so close to them, had undergone a massive transformation and now held many rare and valuable goods.

Unfortunately, their order volumes were small, and Leech couldn’t be bothered to expand production just for them.

’Expanding production meant expanding the scale of operations—building more houses, recruiting and training more hands, and so on. It was all a huge hassle. And if he produced more only for it to go unsold, it would be an even bigger waste.’

The small merchants always bought in small batches, their main strategy being to get in and get out quickly.

The advantage was that Porcupine Territory was relatively close, making it convenient to restock their goods.

On a related note, Leech’s Little Pill business with Becky was still ongoing, but the volume had been steadily decreasing.

Giving Life Medicine Herbs to people would earn a few Jinri at most. But if they were fed to pigs, the resulting piglets were not only all healthy, but they also rarely got sick.

It was obvious at a glance which was more profitable.

Leech also suspected the Life Medicine Herbs might have gene-altering properties. Recently, the pork from Porcupine Territory had lost much of its gamy flavor, tasting almost the same as the pork he remembered from Earth.

By the time the two of them reached Iron Stone City on their swift horses, dusk was approaching.

After stabling their horses at the residence Leech had purchased in Iron Stone City, he led Luobo toward the slums.

Despite Porcupine Territory’s rapid development, it was still a far cry from Iron Stone City, which had been wealthy for many years.

The most obvious difference was that at night, some of Iron Stone City’s shops would light candles or burn bonfires and torches to make it easier to do business after dark.

But when night fell in Porcupine Territory, it was plunged into darkness, with only the castle emitting any light.

「The Slums」

As soon as Leech drew near, he was hit by waves of a foul stench.

’The smell was already this pungent in winter; if he came in summer, it would probably be worse than an outhouse.’

Children who couldn’t afford to eat, the unwilling-to-work, and the physically disabled poor were all crammed together.

A tattered piece of cloth or a pile of straw served as a bed.

This was a corner of Iron Stone City that had been deliberately forgotten.

The moment Leech entered the slums, a group of children swarmed him, approaching with their hands cupped.

Begging.

Luobo immediately stepped forward to shoo them away. He had been eating well and training hard recently; he was stronger, had bulked up quite a bit, and with a wave of his hands, he quickly herded the children to one side.

”Wait,” Leech stopped Luobo. He glanced around before spotting a sharp-looking boy among the children and beckoning him over.

Amidst the envious gazes of his peers, the boy walked over to Leech.

Leech leaned down and asked, ”Do you know Fanong Gold?”

As he spoke, he took out a few copper stars.

The boy’s eyes lit up instantly. ”I know him. He should be at the blacksmith’s shop right now.”

Leech said, ”Take me to him, and this money is yours.”

’He didn’t care if these children were professional beggars or ’little mice’ raised by some noble.’

Some nobles liked to keep ’little mice’ in the city to act as their eyes and ears.

’As long as they could do him this small favor, it was fine.’

The boy took the money and nodded quickly. ”This way!”

Leech followed the boy out of the slums, and they soon arrived at the blacksmith shop he had mentioned.

”That’s Fanong Gold,” the boy said, pointing to a young man who looked to be about sixteen or seventeen.

The young man’s clothes were very neat. He was even wearing a small, well-fitted piece of leather armor.

His face and hair were also clean and well-kept, making him look out of place for someone from the slums.

At that moment, however, Fanong Gold seemed to be in a bit of trouble.

His face was flushed red as he cursed at two Mercenaries in Chain Armor. ”You two bastards! Don’t you know whose turf this is? How dare you lay a hand on my woman!”

The Mercenaries’ faces turned ugly as the young man pointed and cursed at them.

Leech glanced toward the blacksmith shop.

A girl in a blacksmith’s apron was crouching on the ground, her face buried in her hands, seemingly sobbing.

”Get lost, kid!” said the Mercenary on the left. ”You think you’re worthy of causing trouble for us?”

”Don’t you know who I am?”

”Why waste so many words on him?”

As they spoke, the two raised their fists, ready to beat Fanong Gold to a pulp.

Fanong Gold flinched and was about to run, but then he glanced back at the girl crying in the blacksmith shop. He gritted his teeth, balled his fists, and lunged forward.

”OW! Not the face, don’t!”

The situation developed in a completely different way than Leech had expected.

The moment Fanong Gold leaped, he was knocked over by a kick from the Mercenary opposite him. The two Mercenaries then pounced on Fanong Gold and gave him a brutal beatdown of punches and kicks.

Fanong Gold, who had seemed so imposing just a moment ago, was beaten without being able to fight back at all. All he could do was cover his face with his hands, howling in pain and begging them not to hit his face.

”My lord,” Luobo said, looking at Leech.

Leech shook his head. He had noticed something more, and it had nothing to do with Fanong Gold.

The Mercenaries finally seemed satisfied after the beating. Probably afraid of the trouble that would come from killing someone inside Iron Stone City, they stopped.

”Next time you see us, stay far away. Not just anyone can play the hero and save the damsel in distress, kid.”

”Got it?”

Then, the two Mercenaries turned to the girl still crouching and crying on the ground.

One of them had just walked over and opened his mouth to speak when the girl suddenly shot to her feet and slammed a fist into his face.

A tooth went flying as the Mercenary fell to the ground, his mouth full of blood.

The onlookers gasped, startled by the sudden reversal.

Seeing that things had gone wrong, the other Mercenary turned to flee, shouting, ”It was you who—”

But the blacksmith girl suddenly dashed forward, leaped into the air with a long stride, brought her feet together, and landed a flying side-kick squarely on the fleeing Mercenary’s back.

THUD! The man hit the ground like a sack of hammers. The sound of something like cracking bone, a distinct KRAK, could be heard.

The onlookers couldn’t help but suck in another cold breath.

The Mercenary’s words were cut off completely, replaced by a howl of pain.

Fanong Gold, his face already swollen like a pig’s head, stood up, walked over to the two Mercenaries, and spat a mouthful of bloody saliva.

His face swollen, he declared proudly, ”You dared to lay a hand on my woman! My woman would never let you off!”