Lord of Rot

He took off his clothes and tried to contact the Corpse Ghosts in Waterfall Land. When that failed, he decided not to waste any more time and went straight to sleep.

The next day, Leech opened his eyes to a cool morning.

Two figures were shuffling back and forth in front of his window.

Leech rubbed his eyes and asked, ”Aina? Ah Yamei? What are you two doing?”

The two Corpse Ghosts were wandering aimlessly. They only stopped when they heard Leech’s voice.

”I don’t know,” Aina said.

”Alright,” Leech said, exasperated. ”But if you’re going to come out, remember to put some clothes on first.”

’They’re just two corpses, but they both have better figures than the last. It’s practically a provocation.’

While the two Corpse Ghosts went to get dressed, Leech’s consciousness connected with the Black King.

He didn’t plan on turning the Black King into a Corpse Ghost; he only needed the memories in the man’s head.

In a flash, Leech found himself inside the memory.

He learned the Black King’s name—Kaven. However, at the start of the memory, he wasn’t a king yet.

Leech was witnessing everything from a first-person perspective. ’Is this outside Iron Wall Castle?’ He found himself standing in front of a church.

Looking out, he saw a building in the distance the size of a fingernail—that had to be Iron Wall Castle, which meant he was extremely far away.

The Black King in the memory had already started to move, and Leech’s vision followed him into the church. Beneath a massive portrait of the four gods lay a long table, and on it, the corpse of a woman.

”Where’s the thing?” the Black King, Kaven, shouted as he turned around.

”My lord, it does indeed bring great life force, but it comes from an evil witch,” the Priest said, trembling. He held a small flower in both hands, trying to persuade the Black King to abandon his plan.

”Bring it here!” the Black King roared.

The Priest tremblingly brought the flower to the Black King, Kaven.

He took the flower, pried open the female corpse’s mouth, and placed it inside.

THUMP-THUMP!

Kaven tilted his head and pressed his ear to the woman’s chest. He could hear a heartbeat!

”It’s really working!”

The Priest at his side raised a sleeve to wipe away his sweat, grateful to have kept his life.

THUMP-THUMP-THUMP! The heartbeat grew faster and faster. The female corpse’s fingers twitched slightly.

An excited Kaven grabbed the corpse’s hand.

GASP!

He suddenly gasped in pain and looked down at his hands. To his shock, several bloody holes had been punctured into his palms.

”What’s going on?”

Things were getting strange.

Kaven tried to grab the female corpse’s hand again, only to discover that sharp spikes were growing out of her pores.

The corpse’s eyelids began to flutter.

”Could it be... she’s waking up?” Kaven whispered, overjoyed.

’As long as my beloved can wake up, it doesn’t matter if I can never touch her again.’

The eyelids opened, and both eyeballs popped out!

While Kaven was still stunned, two flower buds twisted their way out of the bloody eye sockets.

They tentatively reached out, as if to touch the world.

They seemed frightened.

Kaven and the Priest both held their breath. Neither had ever witnessed such a bizarre scene, and they had no idea how to react.

As if confirming the outside world was safe, the two buds slowly unfurled, blooming into small red flowers that perfectly covered the corpse’s bloody eye sockets.

Even the well-traveled Leech shuddered at this sight. He could completely understand all of Kaven’s subsequent reactions.

’You take a treasure you believe to be your last hope, thinking you can save the one you love, only for it to turn even her corpse into something monstrous.’

After that, Kaven’s memories became chaotic.

He began calling himself the Black King.

Then he went on a killing spree, slaughtering men and women indiscriminately.

Leech opened his eyes.

’The problem must have been the flower. But where did it come from? Why doesn’t Kaven have any memory of that part?’

’There are only two reasons why I can’t read a memory. Either that’s all the other person remembers, or my own Spiritual Power is too weak to read any deeper.’

’Whatever. I’ll deal with matters in Iron Wall Castle first.’

He got out of bed. The two Corpse Ghosts had already put on their clothes and armor.

As he left his room and went downstairs, Leech couldn’t help but find the massive throne odd every time he passed it.

’This throne would be much more impressive if it were reforged from thousands upon thousands of swords.’

After a simple breakfast, Leech immediately got to work.

First, he had the carpenters start making tools. With his experience from managing production in Porcupine Territory, replicating the tools wasn’t difficult.

At the same time, he led a group of people to make paper.

After a flurry of activity, noon arrived quickly. The first batch of paper was successfully put out to dry and would probably be ready for use the day after tomorrow.

”You don’t know what ’carving’ is?”

Leech stood to the side, holding a wooden plank. He told the carpenter, ”The design I drew has raised parts and indented parts. That’s right, just do exactly as I say.”

Although the carpenter was completely baffled, he still followed Leech’s orders and began to carve with a Little Knife.

It took him quite a while to finish the carving.

”Someone, bring me ink!”

The ink was brought over quickly. Leech poured a little into a dish. He then took the wooden block the carpenter had made, dipped it in the ink, and dabbed off the excess to make sure it wouldn’t drip. Finally, he pressed it onto a prepared sheet of paper.

This was the simplest form of letterpress printing.

’How could the Four Great Inventions be complete without printing? I just never expected that the reason I’d introduce it to this world would be for food stamps.’

The carpenter stared in astonishment at the pattern printed on the paper.

”Understand now?” Leech asked.

The carpenter nodded.

”Then go make this one,” Leech said, handing him another template.

There were currently five versions of the food stamps, and all of them had to be made.

Of course, simply printing the food stamps wasn’t enough. They needed an anti-counterfeiting measure. Each would bear a red seal—the Porcupine family Emblem—and Leech was the only one who had the seal.

Only food stamps stamped with the Porcupine seal would have purchasing power.

Just as Leech was watching the carpenter work, Quick Blade galloped over on his horse. ”My lord!”

”What is it?” Leech asked.

”There are five Mercenaries outside. They’re asking us to open the city gates.”