Lord of Rot

He could obtain rare items from both places.

However, Leech was more interested in the Round Table than the Black Market. The Black Market was just a private amusement for a few nobles.

In comparison, it was easier to acquire good things at a Round Table gathering of Transcendents.

After leaving the secret chamber, Leech headed to the main dungeon, where the two Transcendent mercenaries who had surrendered were being held.

”My lord!” Trevor greeted Leech proactively upon seeing him approach.

Leech gave a slight nod. ”Good work.”

Trevor had successfully captured a Transcendent, which was a great accomplishment.

”This is the preliminary interrogation report.” Trevor handed two sheets of paper to Leech.

In Leech’s domain, the cost of producing paper was very low, so it had become an unwritten rule that all submitted materials had to be organized first.

With these files, Leech could save a lot of time.

He flipped through the documents, then looked at the scrawny man waiting obediently in the cell.

His skin was very pale, and he gave off a rather gloomy impression.

”You’re Allen?”

”Yes, my lord,” Allen replied.

Leech continued reading, a brow slightly raised. ”From the capital?”

’A true city dweller,’ Leech thought.

”I grew up in Stinky Rat Alley,” Allen explained, hoping to avoid any misunderstanding from Leech. ”It’s the poorest part of the capital. Whenever something was stolen, the Golden Bear Soldiers would just grab someone to take the blame.”

’No wonder someone who grew up in the slums became a mercenary,’ Leech mused.

Leech read on. The man was eight years older than him, in the prime of his life.

His ability was ”Scorpion,” which allowed him to numb and sting the limbs of anyone who touched him. He called this process ”injecting venom.”

’Probably a neurotoxin,’ Leech thought to himself.

A natural-born assassin.

Leech said, ”You now have three choices. Because you surrendered willingly, and as a Transcendent, you will receive the treatment a powerful individual deserves.”

He rolled the papers into a tube and tapped it gently against his palm. ”One, you can pay a sufficient ransom: 100 Jinri.”

”I don’t have the money, my lord.”

”Then let’s discuss the second option,” Leech said. ”Work for me. I’ll give you a partial salary and provide lodging.”

”I am willing to pledge my loyalty to you!” said Allen, the ’Scorpion’.

”No, not loyalty!” Leech shook his head. ”You’re a mercenary. I don’t trust a mercenary’s loyalty! My soldiers can be captured, they can be defeated, but they would never willingly surrender before the battle is over. You have no credibility in my eyes.”

Allen asked, ”Then why are you still willing to let me work for you?”

”Ours is a monetary transaction. You work for me, I pay you,” Leech said. ”You can also choose to work for others, even accept a contract to assassinate me... If someone really does hire you to kill me, I hope you’ll come directly to me with the news. It is my life, after all. No matter how high their offer is, I’m willing to pay more.”

Allen, the ’Scorpion,’ gave a bitter smile. Based on the combat prowess Baron Porcupine had displayed on the battlefield, he was no match for him at all.

Leech’s words were harsh, but he was right.

Mercenaries were a group of people with no loyalty, no faith, and no bottom line.

They would accept a contract from an enemy to invade their own homeland, just as they would pry open the legs of a poor peasant woman for some young nobleman.

”I am willing to work for you!” He lowered his head.

”I haven’t told you the third option yet,” Leech said. ”You might want to hear it.”

Allen, the ’Scorpion,’ shook his head. ”I already know what the third option is.”

Refuse to pay the ransom, refuse to bow your head... the only thing left is death.

”Then you’ll follow Trevor for now.” Leech appreciated his decisiveness. ”Unlock the cell.”

’The good thing about mercenaries is that they know how to adapt to the circumstances. It saves me a lot of effort,’ Leech thought.

Leech then walked to the adjacent cell, where the ’orc’ was being held.

He was a bit ugly, but he was definitely human.

Similar to Trevor, his Extraordinary power must have caused a physical mutation.

Glancing at the document, Leech asked Trevor, who was unlocking the cell, ”What’s going on? Why is this completely blank?”

”He’s not all there in the head. A bit dumb,” Trevor said. ”He stumbles over the common tongue and doesn’t understand most of the questions, so we couldn’t get anything out of him.”

”I’m dumb?!”

Unexpectedly, Trevor’s comment made the previously quiet ’orc’ in the next cell fly into a rage, jumping up and shouting.

He looked like he was about to erupt, but then he noticed Leech and let out a chuckle. ”To be honest, truly honest, I, Pig, am short, fat, and ugly. I stink, too. Not like you—you’re handsome, smart, and tall. You don’t smell, and you’ve even got four arms, so you can hold two more weapons than anyone else in a fight.”

”Eh?” Leech looked at the ’orc’ Pig, who was clearly bottling up a bellyful of rage, and was confused.

’He had expected the man to be sarcastic and say the opposite of what he meant. He hadn’t expected him to speak the complete truth. I was so moved by his sincerity that I almost exclaimed, ’What an honest man!’’

Trevor was well-built and tall, with thick eyebrows and large eyes—his features were regular and handsome.

Pig the ’orc,’ on the other hand, was just plain ugly. Otherwise, Leech wouldn’t have mistaken him for an orc at first glance.

Moreover, he carried a foul stench that was even more noticeable in the narrow dungeon.

Allen, the ’Scorpion,’ who had just walked out of his cell, said with a sigh, ”My lord, he’s being sarcastic.”

”Sarcastic?”

Leech genuinely hadn’t detected any sarcasm.

He was beginning to understand why Trevor had called him dumb. The man’s self-awareness was completely off.

His mind wasn’t right, and his strength was average. It would be difficult to entrust such a Transcendent with important tasks, and even harder to control him.

But since the man had already surrendered, he couldn’t go back on his word and kill him now.

”Which do you choose?” Leech asked.

Pig the ’orc’ immediately said, ”I want to work for you!”

”Mm, fine.” Leech had little interest in Pig.

In terms of abilities, Pig was similar to him—a simple physical enhancement-type Transcendent, the dime-a-dozen kind.

He had almost no combat skill, relying entirely on brute force to overwhelm his opponents.

’To be honest, I was rather hoping Pig would shout ”Orcs will never be slaves!” and then I could finish him off stylishly with a single sword strike.’

’Forget rendering the corpse for oil; even just turning it into a brainless, Extraordinary undead to charge into battle would be very useful.’

But he was a Transcendent, after all. If he was willing to work, Leech would let him stay.

Leech said, ”Have them both follow you for now. We’ll assign their jobs when we get back to Iron Valley.”

”Yes!” Trevor, now promoted to a minor leader, was very excited. Pig the ’orc,’ on the other hand, looked uninterested.

He left the dungeon. Outside, the sky was already dark.

He mounted Rocket and flew directly away from the castle.

「By the water’s edge.」

The Water Nymph emerged from the water and handed a corpse to Leech.

”COO COO,” Rocket lowered its head.

”Hello, Rocket.” The Water Nymph raised a hand and gently stroked Rocket’s head with her sharp, metallic palm. Only Rocket’s tough feathers could withstand such a deadly enchantment.

Leech examined the body. It was a clear case of drowning, without a single wound. This would save him a lot of gold.

He said, ”Thank you.”

”You’re welcome, Leech,” the Water Nymph said, shaking her head gently.

Leech asked, ”How do you feel? Do you want to stay in the streams of Waterfall Land, or in the sea?”

The Water Nymph said, ”This place is more suitable for me. There are many people, and I can hear some of them singing. It’s very relaxing.”

”Then stay here.”

’The Water Nymph must be a Freshwater Elf of the rivers, different from a siren. And I really need a power that can help me force a connection between Iron Wall Castle and Longship Castle.’

With her in the Shuijian River, not only would Longship Castle be safe, but Leech could even gain control over the main waterways of all of Waterfall Land.

After the Water Nymph left, Leech flew back to the castle with the male corpse that bore a slight resemblance to La Bill.

He needed to extract some of its memories to see what was happening at Shanzhang Castle.

He had to find out if old Wells Bill was truly the only one left in the Monkey Clan, now that both of his sons had died at Leech’s hands.

Since they were already enemies, Leech didn’t mind being a bit more ruthless.

After returning to the castle, Leech quickly placed the corpse into a coffin, poured in the materials, and closed the lid to wait for it to ”marinate.”