Lord of Rot

”What?”

Old White Hair steadied himself against the wooden bucket as he stood up, turning his head to look outside. ”Selling grain?”

A nearby blacksmith’s apprentice, who was busy sharpening a sword, nodded. ”For some reason, the merchants who were hoarding grain a while back have suddenly started selling it cheap. I hear two food vouchers can buy three portions of grain.”

”The city gates must be open,” he said while pouring water into the bucket. ”Maybe the Lord will be shipping in grain soon.”

The apprentice chuckled. ”It’d be great if they really can bring in grain. It’ll definitely be cheap then! I bought a ton of food vouchers from the steward before, enough to feed me for half a year without lifting a finger.”

Old White Hair nodded. He had also saved up quite a few food vouchers.

But he had no intention of just lying around at home. He wanted to build a new house for his family. Once grain was plentiful again, the grain he could buy with his vouchers would be as good as money.

They had essentially bought the food vouchers at a discount. As long as they received the amount of grain printed on the vouchers, they would come out ahead.

”I’m just afraid the Lord won’t honor them when the time comes,” Old White Hair said, quite worried.

The apprentice, who had just been smiling smugly, had a slight change in expression. ”He wouldn’t do that, would he?”

”Haha, of course not!” Old White Hair laughed. ”I was just joking with you.”

Whether he was truly joking or genuinely worried, only Old White Hair himself knew.

「Elsewhere.」

A road construction crew of over a thousand people departed from the main gate of Iron Wall Castle.

”Is it really safe outside?” a short man with a large beard asked, looking left and right.

The gates had been left open during the day recently. Although not many people went in or out of Iron Wall Castle, it seemed no undead had attacked either.

It didn’t take long for people to go from being terrified to subconsciously believing it was truly safe outside.

Walking with Big Beard was a powerfully built woman carrying a hammer on her shoulder. She walked with a commanding stride and looked down at him. ”Aren’t you already outside?”

Big Beard nodded. ”Haha, you’re right.”

”Halt! Quiet!”

Someone at the front suddenly yelled, but quieting a crowd of over a thousand people was no easy task.

Although no one was talking loudly, a constant buzzing like a swarm of flies persisted.

”Quiet!” the person at the front shouted again, and this time, the crew finally fell completely silent.

The man chosen to lead the crew was a local headman, and he carried a natural air of authority.

”Those with tools, to my left! Those without, to my right!”

Someone mustered up the courage to ask, ”How are we getting paid?”

The headman glanced in that direction, but with people packed shoulder to shoulder in a sea of colorful clothes, he couldn’t tell who had spoken.

”I’ll divide you into groups in a moment! Anyone who finishes their work gets three copper stars. Those who don’t finish get one copper star! If you’re reported for doing nothing at all, not only will you not get paid, but you won’t be coming back tomorrow either!”

”Copper stars? Not food vouchers?”

The quick-witted immediately realized what this might mean. ’Could it be that food vouchers are really being abolished?’

Big Beard and the sturdy woman both had tools, so they were assigned to break rocks at the front.

One group used pickaxes and hammers to break rocks, a smaller group chopped down trees, and the vast majority without tools could only make do with what they could find, using large rocks to smash smaller ones and then spreading the gravel over the roadbed.

With over a thousand people at work and each small group having its own task, there was barely even time to stop and catch a breath.

At noon, the workers took out the dry bread they had brought with them for a couple of bites, then drank their fill from a nearby mountain spring. After a short rest, they got back to their busy work.

In the afternoon, the headmen distributed the pay.

By dusk, people were trickling back into Iron Wall Castle.

Some were exhausted after a full day’s work.

Others planned to hurry and check on the grain situation to see if their food vouchers were still usable.

Inside the inner keep of Iron Wall Castle.

Leech pinched a small handful of wheat and placed it in his palm, then squatted down.

Five little chicks and five little ducklings came waddling over, CHIRPING and QUACKING as they crowded into a fluffy ball around his hand, pecking at the wheat grains.

”Lily, what do you think of Hay’s methods?” Leech asked, raising a hand to stroke the head of a little yellow chick. The chick was too focused on eating the wheat to pay him any mind.

Lily replied, ”By conveying your intentions to the freemen, he created an atmosphere of panic and speculation that encouraged them to spend their food vouchers en masse. Then, by leaking information to the grain-hoarding merchants to get them to sell at low prices, he has indeed found the fastest way to reclaim all the food vouchers from the hands of the freemen.”

”But it also creates a strong sense of unease,” Leech said. ”What I need is the stable development of Iron Valley.”

However, it was a necessary evil. He needed a labor force, not a group of people who had hoarded some food vouchers to profit from the price difference and then expected him to pay to support them.

The price of grain fluctuated, but a single food voucher guaranteed the purchase of one pound of grain. Leech couldn’t afford this system now. The state of emergency had passed, so naturally, the monetary policy had to be changed back as quickly as possible.

Soon, the ten fluffy little creatures finished the wheat in Leech’s hand but still refused to leave, instead starting a play-fight with his fingers.

His fingers were pecked gently. As Leech lifted his hand, one little chick even jumped up with it, flapping its wings twice before tumbling onto its bottom.

”PEEP PEEP PEEP!”

”QUACK QUACK!”

Leech stood up and looked at the still-pensive Lily. ”Have someone watch these little ones. See if their growth rate is normal. You must constantly check how much is in their stomachs. Don’t let them get too full, but don’t let them go hungry either.”

”Yes,” Lily nodded quickly.

These ten little ones had been fed the magical herbs from Maoshan Beech Village. It normally takes about three months for chickens and ducks to mature, and Leech was very curious to see what changes these would undergo in that time.

’If I can really raise giant chickens and ducks, similar to the Giant Lizards, maybe they could even be used in battle as mounts.’

’Duck Knights would be amphibious, and Chicken Knights could run and make short flights. They would be every bit as good as those bald Ostrich Eagle Knights.’

At the same time, he held Lily in high regard. Not only did she have good handwriting, but she also knew how to think critically.

Leech intended to groom Lily. Hay was destined to never become a chief steward; his methods were far too unscrupulous. There had to be someone with methods just as effective as Hay’s, but who also had a moral compass, to keep him in check.

’For now, though, Lily is quite reassuring to have just as a secretary...’

The personnel to be sent to Maoshan Beech Village, Lilac Village, and Hazelnut Village had been mostly decided.

The populations of the three villages were destined to be small. Aside from the Petroleum Ore mine, the other two villages would focus on animal husbandry, so each village would be assigned about 100 people at most.

Only Hazelnut Village was assigned 200 people, primarily to protect the Petroleum Ore mine.

The remaining 3,600-plus people would stay behind to work. The construction of Iron Valley required their strength.

That night, just as Leech sat down at the table for dinner, he suddenly saw a castle servant running towards him.

”My Lord! A letter!”

He took the letter, broke the seal, and saw it was from Guy.

’The Monkey Clan found out Guy took control of over 200 elite soldiers and had no reaction? By moving his troops away from Longship Castle, Guy has effectively betrayed the Monkey Territory.’

Leech didn’t fully believe what was written.

’Because La Bill is worried his brother will kill him for the crown and threaten his position, he’s choosing to tolerate the traitor Guy, all to gather useful forces to first eliminate his already-dead-as-a-doornail brother, Dreden.’

The Monkey Clan had their eyes on Waterfall Land for a long time. Even if La wanted to claim he didn’t care, Baron Monkey, Wells, certainly wouldn’t give it up.

Moreover, they had invested far too much manpower and resources to back out now.

’There are only two possibilities.’

Leech thought to himself, ’One, Wells is no longer in power and doesn’t have long to live. La plans to consolidate his own position first and then slowly plot for Waterfall Land. After all, in his eyes, the illegitimate son Guy is already the uncrowned lord of Waterfall Land, so it’s already their property.’

’Two, they are gathering their strength, preparing to attack Longship Castle directly. The current peace is just an illusion.’

Which of these possibilities would ultimately unfold was actually simple to figure out. It would all be determined by whether Lady Jie Lin gave in when the Monkey Clan demanded benefits from Waterfall Land.

As long as she was willing to give, the real situation wouldn’t matter; their goal of bleeding it dry would have been achieved.

If she didn’t give, it wouldn’t matter if Guy was still loyal to the Monkey Clan or not. If they couldn’t get what they wanted, they’d just take it by force and tear off a piece of flesh.

The letter mentioned that La wanted to buy some Pills of Immortality with money.

’Magic Potion? I use that stuff to feed chickens.’

’That flower is definitely not an option. And the Magic Potion I feed to the chickens... even less of an option!’

After all, if they ate the flower, it would just lead to disaster and mass death in the Monkey Territory. It was basically a magical bioweapon.

But as for the potion that could turn lizards into Giant Lizards... if the old monkey really ate it, became a giant, and broke through his lifespan limit, that would be a huge problem.

It was too late to build a temporary Maria’s Wall now.

’Have someone pick some Purple Clove Mushrooms and send them to the old monkey. A little Vitamin B1 supplement. Maybe it’ll help him live a few more days.’