Lord of Rot

It melted smoothly, with no trace of ice. The flavor wasn’t overly sweet and still retained that characteristic hint of strawberry tartness.

It was cool and refreshing, lifting his spirits.

”You’re getting better and better at this!” Leech offered his praise generously.

A smile immediately appeared on Oakwood Basin’s face. The Lord’s praise was the very reason she dedicated herself to studying fine cuisine.

”Is there something else?” Leech asked, noticing she hadn’t left.

She said, ”The crabs you specifically ordered to be captured have been piling up. They’re getting bigger and bigger, and they’ve started eating each other...”

Leech suddenly remembered that he had indeed been sending people to the island in the High Magic Land to capture young Giant Crabs. This was to prevent their population from growing too large and potentially destroying the island.

”We’ll have crab tonight! Give the Soldiers an extra course as well—crab for everyone!”

”Yes!”

After Oakwood Basin left, Leech had a few more spoonfuls of ice cream. He hadn’t eaten it in a long time, and the sugar intake noticeably improved his mood.

He took out *Lena’s Travelogue*, the book his cousin Bode had given him for his birthday. But in the middle of the day, the atmosphere wasn’t right, and he couldn’t get into it.

”Come on, I’ll take you out for a walk.”

Leech stood up and casually pinched the Brass Dragon.

The Brass Dragon struggled for a moment, but it couldn’t escape his two fingers. Leech placed it on his shoulder, where it settled in as a little accessory.

...

Leech first went to find Toma the scholar. When he arrived, Toma was still painstakingly studying a Magic Scroll.

He was so engrossed that he failed to notice Leech coughing four or five times right behind him.

Seeing this, Leech had no choice but to walk around and stand in front of Toma.

”Lord, when did you get here?” Toma looked up at Leech, completely surprised.

”I just arrived,” Leech said.

”Oh, that’s good,” Toma said, sighing in relief. ”I was afraid I had been neglecting you.”

Leech’s mouth twitched slightly. ”Of course you haven’t been neglecting me, my friend.”

’There’s no point in explaining. I see now that I should never wait for Toma to stop on his own. Instead, I just have to find the right moment to appear in his line of sight. Otherwise, I’ll just be ignored.’

Leech decided to move on from the awkward exchange.

He looked down at the diagram on the Magic Scroll on Toma’s desk and asked, ”Have you made any particular breakthroughs?”

”Of course, Lord.” A faint smile touched Toma’s face. He said, with some pride, ”While I haven’t made any progress on the Magic Scroll itself, by combining my studies of Magic Scrolls and Runes, I have successfully determined the prerequisites for creating mature Runes and putting them to use!”

”Oh?” Leech’s interest was suddenly piqued.

”How do we use these Runes?”

’Ever since he’d obtained that Rune Book from the rune scholar’s laboratory, Leech had imagined the immense impact it could have. Unfortunately, he had lacked the technical skill to replicate its contents. If they could successfully craft these Runes into defensive gear, or accessories that enhanced weapons, and equip the Soldiers with them, then even Soldiers without the talent to become Transcendents could possess some of a Transcendent’s abilities. And it didn’t stop there. Transcendents could also use Runes to strengthen their own powers. The combination of the two could produce even more wondrous effects. This was destined to be an incredibly important technology. Speaking of magical forging techniques, that set of magical Secret Silver Armor belonging to Tyler Rose, the Baron of Steel Domain, might hold the knowledge he needed. Unfortunately, it was Tyler Rose’s most prized possession; he would never hand it over to Leech for research.’

”These Runes need to be inscribed on the surface of a living being’s body,” Toma said. ”My initial guess is that only someone with very high spiritual strength can withstand it, and each use will consume Spiritual Power.”

Leech nodded. ’So that’s why so many people died, unable to withstand the power of the Runes.’

”But if we can solve the Rune’s energy problem, we could recharge the Rune periodically,” Toma said excitedly. ”Then even ordinary people could use the power of Runes!”

”Recharge?” Leech said. ”I actually have a way to do that, but it means the Runes can’t be used on a large scale.”

’Recharging with Spiritual Power... at the moment, I’m the only one who can do it, using my own supply. To use one Rune, you’d need a group of Casters to recharge it? The cost is too high.’

Toma completely ignored the second half of Leech’s sentence. ”What is this recharging method you mentioned?” he asked.

”This,” Leech said, placing the energy-storing staff he carried on the table. ”Can’t the Casting Crystal be charged as well?”

”No, no, it’s different,” Toma said, grabbing the energy-storing staff and immediately lowering his head to study it.

He had completely forgotten Leech was even there.

Leech didn’t hold out much hope for Toma’s research. He simply got up and left, figuring he’d just come back for the staff tomorrow.

...

「Deep in the dense forest.」

The once-impenetrable forest now had vast, open clearings.

Silkworm cocoons hung one after another between the tree trunks.

The silkworms had already spun their silk and formed cocoons.

’The silk spun by several hundred of these silkworms should produce at least a dozen tons of silk.’

A number of slaves were working with their heads down.

GRUMBLE. A stomach growled nearby. Leech turned his head and saw a boy, thin as skin and bones.

He was holding a knife, cutting the silk threads from a tree trunk to detach a cocoon.

Once others came over, they would use a two-wheeled handcart to haul the cocoons away together.

A single handcart could haul four or five cocoons at most.