Lord of Rot

The weather outside was wonderful.

Leech had already given the compass to the old Captain Piri, who understood just how precious a tool that could point the way regardless of one’s location truly was.

To put it simply, the compass Leech had created could single-handedly usher the entire Lu Leiyi Continent into a new era.

People would no longer have to hug the coastline; they could explore the farthest reaches of the deep sea.

However, the Water Nymph had gone out again, and Leech couldn’t get in touch with her.

So even with the compass in hand, he didn’t plan on letting Piri set sail. Without a Freshwater Elf to watch over them, he just didn’t feel at ease.

Baron Leech was a creature of habit when it came to caution.

The construction of the docks continued.

The work at the brick kiln, however, still couldn’t begin. It was too cold. Although the river hadn’t frozen over, kneading the ice-cold, stiff clay with bare hands was torturous.

After his meal, Leech grabbed his ”tea pet” Brass Dragon, tossed it onto his shoulder, and rode his horse to the training grounds.

”SCREECH!”

A figure shot across the sky, kicking up a gust of wind.

When it was about ten meters away from Leech, the figure folded its wings and switched to running on the ground.

Leech leaped off his horse, his arms spread wide.

”Rocket!”

The Horse-headed Eagle Rocket barreled into Leech’s embrace, the massive impact nearly knocking him over.

’Worthy of his Griffin bloodline.’

To be able to make him stagger, Rocket’s strength was already not far from that of an ordinary Extraordinary. He was born in September, making him only a few months old. If he waited until he was an adult at three to five years old, he would definitely be an Extraordinary creature—and a rather powerful one at that.

Leech mentally classified his strength. ’Probably equivalent to the Great Perfection stage of the Extraordinary realm?’

’Heh, that’s actually pretty weird.’

”Come on, let’s go see how the training is going,” Leech said.

As long as the weather was good, the cavalry training would proceed. Leech had already given full authority over the cavalry training to Kuai Ren and Little Joel.

Little Joel was the best trainee among the cavalry because he was hardworking and highly talented.

His father, Old Joel, was a veteran, and he had the gift for combat in his blood.

Kuai Ren, on the other hand, focused more on the infantry’s musket training. Even though Betty had helped solve the problem of gunpowder costs, the maintenance from firing, the musket balls, and various other expenses were not low.

It was impossible to conduct unlimited live-fire training every day. After managing to equip every two men with one musket, they spent most of their time on rapid-reloading drills, aiming practice, and the like.

Every shot produced thick smoke, making it quite difficult to aim. So, getting a rough idea of the target was enough; there was no need for pinpoint accuracy.

When a whole line of men fired, the world turned into a white blur. Even a sharpshooter would be useless.

Just then, Leech saw a cavalryman training to clear an obstacle.

’Is that... a cheval de frise?’

Leech thought he had seen wrong, but it was unmistakably a cheval de frise.

Interlocking wooden beams, with sharpened ends.

To ride a horse into that was certain death.

Some chevaux de frise were even decorated with nasty things to prevent infantry from crossing as well.

He had indeed added some obstacles before, since future battlefields were unlikely to be perfectly flat, but he had never asked for a cheval de frise.

If a horse could jump over it, it wouldn’t be called a cheval de frise.

During the war at Pebble Castle, if they’d had chevaux de frise, they definitely would have had half as many casualties.

Sure enough, as the cavalryman approached on his horse, his mount suddenly stopped short and reared up, nearly throwing the rider from its back.

”SCREECH!” Standing beside Leech, Rocket suddenly threw his head back and let out an eagle’s cry.

The agitated, struggling horse immediately calmed down and stood still obediently.

Leech gasped in amazement, looking at Rocket. ”You little rascal, have you become the king of horses?”

”COO COO.” Rocket raised his head proudly.

”Alright, you win.”

Little Joel rode over, dismounting nimbly. ”Good day, my Lord!”

Leech nodded and asked, ”Who wanted to add those chevaux de frise? Even a warhorse couldn’t jump over them.”

”COO COO.” Beside him, Rocket suddenly lowered his head and gently tugged on Leech’s sleeve with his beak.

Leech turned to look at Rocket.

From the look in Rocket’s eyes, he seemed to be saying, ’It was my idea.’

”You?” Leech found his own thought a bit absurd.

Rocket was quite smart and could even understand him, but... he was actually helping to train the cavalry?

’This is just... too magical!’

Although Leech couldn’t understand his vocalizations, thanks to their rapport and Rocket’s high intelligence, there was little barrier to their communication. ”Are you saying those horses can jump over it?”

”COO COO.” Rocket nodded.

”Do you have any idea how easily someone could get killed if they’re not careful?”

”COO COO!”

”I may not know much about horses, but you, you little rascal, can get over it because you have wings! Even if they stacked the chevaux de frise to the sky, you’d just flap your wings and fly over!”

”COO COO,” Rocket lowered his head.

Little Joel watched from the side, dumbfounded.

’So it’s not just Pitz who can talk to animals. The Lord has mastered this skill too! As expected of him! There’s nothing he can’t do!’

”Can any of the horses jump over it?” Leech turned and asked Little Joel.

”Yes.”

”Just as I thought...” Leech nodded, then paused. ”Huh? There are?!”

If a horse could jump a cheval de frise, it wouldn’t be called a cheval de frise. It’d just be an obstacle.

”Yes,” Little Joel nodded. ”At first, even though the horses were fast and could jump high, crashing into the cheval de frise was a dead end. Not to mention with one of our cavalrymen on top, the horse couldn’t clear it even at a full run.”

”But after training for a while, something started happening with the horses,” Little Joel said. ”Under Lord Rocket’s command, a portion of the horses began to easily clear the chevaux de frise.”

Leech was just about to ask why he hadn’t been told about something so important.

Then he suddenly remembered that he had pretty much been a hands-off manager.

Whether it was cavalry training or infantry training, he simply couldn’t be bothered to manage it.

On such a cold day, sitting in front of a fire and petting a cat was what a Baron should be doing. Besides, it wasn’t as if the Baron was just slacking off; there was a lot of work waiting for him, and he was busy every day.

”You can clear it too?” Leech was still a bit incredulous.

”Yes,” Little Joel nodded.

”Alright then, show me.”

”Yes, sir!”

Little Joel vaulted nimbly onto his horse, clamped his legs against its belly, and shot off with a flick of the reins.

An afterimage, moving at extreme speed, immediately appeared on the training grounds.

”That speed isn’t right,” Leech clicked his tongue in amazement.

Was that still a fast horse? It felt like its speed was already comparable to a warhorse.

”It must be the influence of a bloodline,” said the tea pet perched on Leech’s shoulder.

Leech looked at the Brass Dragon. ”A bloodline?”

”The Magic Tide is surging. You didn’t think only humans could become Transcendents, did you?”

”Are you saying these horses will become Extraordinary?”

”Of course not! But under the influence of the Horse-headed Eagle’s aura, the ancient bloodlines within them have been stimulated. Those remnants of ancient bloodlines are causing them to evolve toward magical beasts.”

’So it really is because of Rocket after all.’

In that short time, Little Joel had already galloped to the cheval de frise.

He leaped.

The man and horse practically flew.

They had really, truly cleared it!