Lord of Rot

”My lord, you can leave this to me,” Deni offered. ”I’ll be heading to Porcupine Territory this month, so I can take them with me.”

”Thank you so much!”

Leech, of course, didn’t need to go buy the corn himself. Deni dispatched one of his young apprentices to accompany the little girl; the apprentice would report back with the results once the purchase was complete.

The group’s stroll through East Port couldn’t be interrupted by such a small matter, even though Leech was very eager to see the amount of corn with his own eyes.

If there was enough corn for him to plant in April, he wouldn’t have to worry so much about food when the 4,000 slaves arrived in the future.

’New fields need to be cleared,’ Leech thought to himself. ’To feed more people, I’ll have to expand the scale of winemaking, textiles, honey production, and so on.’

Expanding honey production would probably be the easiest. Arkke’s commands superseded a queen bee’s, and could even allow multiple queens to coexist. As long as Leech gave the order, the queen bees could produce without limit.

Winemaking was limited by the grain supply; the population was a minor issue in comparison.

A little girl was holding an iron basin filled to the brim with oysters.

”Hold on!”

Deni stopped her. ”I’ll have a few servings of oysters with vinegar.”

”Yes, sir.”

The little girl set down the iron basin, took out a small knife, and skillfully shucked an oyster. Then she took a vinegar pouch from her waist and poured a little onto the meat.

The sour vinegar, mixed with a hint of lemon, was enough to make one’s mouth water just from the smell.

Deni offered an oyster to Leech, but Leech gently waved his hand. ”Sorry, I don’t eat raw food.”

Even with his Extraordinary constitution, Leech didn’t want to swallow any parasites.

The level of medical care in this world was very low, after all.

”That’s a real shame,” said Hawke Wood, who had just taken an oyster. ”You can’t get delicacies like this at the Three-fork River. All I can get are river clams.”

He savored it, tipping the oyster meat and vinegar into his mouth.

Deni popped the one he had offered Leech into his own mouth and said with a meaningful smile, ”For a man, these are a true treasure.”

Hawke Wood roared with laughter. ”HAHAHAHA!”

After Deni paid, they continued on their way.

”The East Port harbor is just ahead,” Deni said, gesturing.

Leech looked at the enormous harbor ahead, and his heart began to beat a little faster.

Porcupine Territory, at best, could only build a pier that could dock two ships. But East Port had more than a dozen piers like this, and that was just what he could see.

There were probably dozens more in other directions.

Most ships from the eastern, northern, and southern coastal regions of the Lu Leiyi Continent passed through here.

The ships flew flags of all colors and symbols.

Some belonged to noble families, others bore the crests of merchant guilds, and some might even belong to pirates.

People were everywhere, loading and unloading cargo from the ships.

It was noisy and chaotic.

The weather hadn’t warmed up yet, but some men had already taken off their shirts from the hard work, their bodies covered in sweat.

”In East Port, I’m only considered a mid-sized merchant,” Deni said. ”I just have a few of my own ships and a couple of my own caravans. I can’t compare to the big merchants.”

You really had to see it with your own eyes to understand the terrifying scale of East Port. A man like Deni, who could pull out several thousand Jinri, really didn’t count as a major merchant here.

Never mind the taxes the port collected for docking; the sheer volume of trade from these merchants in East Port generated an astronomical sum.

Suddenly, the 633 Jinri and 75 Silver Moons he had earned today didn’t seem so impressive anymore.

Oh, that feeling was jealousy.

They walked around for a while longer before Leech suddenly asked, ”How much would it cost to buy a ship?”

”That depends on what type of ship you need,” Deni said.

Leech said, ”One like the Porcupine.”

”That won’t be cheap.” Deni shook his head slightly. ”Around 300 to 400 Jinri.”

Leech was surprised. ”Why such a large price range?”

”Sometimes you come across a cheap one, like when an owner is suddenly desperate for cash. You can even haggle the price down to 200 Jinri!” Deni smiled, then added, ”But most of the time, the price will be above 300 Jinri.”

”What about an older ship?”

”Older ships are cheaper, but they’re patched up and always have some kind of problem. Some people will sell their ship after it gets old or is heavily damaged and repaired, hiding its issues from the buyer, and then use the money to buy a new one for themselves.”

Leech nodded. ”I’ve heard stories like that.”

”I don’t buy ships often either,” Deni said. ”Maintenance, sailors, a captain, and so on... if a ship can’t bring in enough profit, I won’t consider buying it, no matter how cheap it is.”

Porcupine Territory needed multiple ships, not just for shipping, but also for frequent trips to and from the islands in the High Magic Land.

”Perhaps you could hire someone to build a ship for you,” Deni suggested.

”Build one myself?”

”Yes, there are skilled craftsmen who can build ships. As long as you pay enough and provide the materials, the cost could be as low as 150 Jinri or so.”

Leech asked, ”How long would it take to build a ship? One the size of the Porcupine.”

”About half a year, I’d say, if you have enough craftsmen.”

That was too long.

Porcupine Territory was developing rapidly. Half a year was enough time for the territory to undergo earth-shattering changes. By then, a common two-masted cargo ship might not be enough to meet his needs.

’I’d better just buy a ship.’

He happened to have the money on hand.

’Once you’ve earned money, you have to make it generate value.’

Deni said, ”If you want to buy a ship, I have a friend who happens to be selling one.”

Leech looked at the smiling Deni. Merchants could always create business opportunities at a moment’s notice.

Leech even suspected that if he had said he wanted to build a new ship, Deni would have immediately recommended a craftsman.

Leech said, ”If your friend’s price is low enough and the ship is in good condition, I’ll consider it.”

”I can contact him to come over right now,” Deni said.

The whole process of buying the ship was quick. Even someone like Leech, who didn’t know much about ships, could tell that this one was in excellent condition—better than the Porcupine, at least.

Apparently, Deni’s friend was selling the ship because his daughter was marrying the second son of a minor noble.

His daughter was going to be married off to Mama City in the desert, where a ship would be of little use. He figured he might as well get into the business of selling horses, but he needed startup capital.

The ambitious merchant planned to use his noble son-in-law’s status to sell horses.

Deni managed to haggle the final price down to 203 Jinri. He couldn’t get the seller to budge on those last 3 Jinri, so Leech had no choice but to accept.

The seller had one other condition: payment had to be made entirely in Jinri, in full, on the spot.

Leech understood the man’s reasoning; by converting 203 Jinri into Silver Moons, he could turn another profit.

The merchant selling the ship was no fool; while Leech might be getting a deal, the seller certainly wasn’t losing money on it.

’I really should have let Joe handle buying the ship,’ he thought to himself. ’If a merchant had negotiated with another merchant, the price might have been even lower.’

Still, he wouldn’t have been able to save those 97 Jinri if he had paid in copper stars, so he was more than happy to pay with Jinri.

Leech magnanimously paid up and wished the man a safe journey.

There was no shortage of merchants who dreamed of becoming nobles, only to end up bankrupt.

The true local nobles looked down on them, but these merchants believed that nobles from other regions might be ”blind” enough to accept them. So they would joyfully leave to live the noble life, only to find out it was completely different from what they had imagined.

A large portion of these nobles lived lives not even comparable to that of a small soap merchant in East Port.

Some might even have to pick up a hoe and farm the land themselves.

Only after arriving would they discover it was all a sham. They wouldn’t be living in a castle being served by servants, there would be no luxurious banquets or balls, no pleasantries exchanged with noble ladies and misses. Instead, they would be living like refugees in mud huts.

But one thing was true: the children born from the union would have noble blood. He would have achieved a leap in social class.

”Thanks for helping me haggle just now. You saved me a lot of money,” Leech said to Deni.

”It was for my friend’s good as well,” Deni smiled. ”When he hits rock bottom in the future, perhaps I’ll feel guilty for squeezing him today and lend him some money so he can get back on his feet.”

Leech’s mouth twitched. ”You are more merciful than I, my friend.”

Hawke Wood had been standing far off, having deliberately kept his distance during Leech’s transaction. But after Leech and Deni disembarked from the ship, he said, ”That merchant is probably in for a disappointment.”

He had been chatting with the ship’s Captain below and learned why the merchant was selling.

”More than just disappointment,” Leech said.

No one in the Eastern Gorge knew Mama City better than Leech.

Mama City was a den of bandits. Kro Camel was from there, and the heir of Mama City had died at the hands of the Corpse Ghosts under Leech’s control.

A truly terrible place.