Lord of Rot

The temperature rose sharply near the exit of Bonta Canyon.

The sand and rocks rapidly absorbed heat under the sun. It was June, and before the party had even emerged from the canyon’s maw, its members were already drenched in sweat.

Transcendent beings like Leech were in better shape, but the ordinary Soldiers were exhausted. Fortunately, the Cavalry had spare mounts to switch to; otherwise, the whole column would have been forced to a halt.

Emerging from the canyon, the view opened up dramatically.

Sunlight fell upon an endless sea of yellow sand, its golden reflection stinging the eyes.

The intense heat distorted the air.

The armored Soldiers quickly threw on outer cloaks. Otherwise, their metal shells would absorb the heat and cook them alive inside.

Leech shaded his eyes with a hand, squinting into the distance.

Endless emptiness. There was nothing to see.

The head of the merchant caravan approached with a map in hand, looked up at Leech, and said, ”My lord, there’s an outpost about a half-day’s journey ahead.”

He took the map and glanced at it. The outpost was still dozens of miles away, and their destination for this trip, the Bonta Market, was even farther.

If they didn’t rest and replenish their fresh water and food stores, the road ahead would be difficult.

Handing the map back to the merchant, Leech said, ”Alright. We’ll rest at the outpost.”

He had already connected the three locations of Iron Valley, Burning City, and Waterfall Land via the Shuijian River and its bay.

Following its tributaries, he could also connect to his grandfather’s Linta Bay and the friendly Three-fork River territory.

The sea directly linked Porcupine Territory and Iron Valley.

The entire southeastern part of the Eastern Gorge was now an interconnected, accessible network. If he wanted to expand deeper and make more money, a venture into the desert was inevitable.

Besides, Leech coveted the 500,000 slaves of Gaoxue City in the desert. For one, he could free those poor souls. For two, he’d gain a population of 500,000, becoming rich in one fell swoop.

He also happened to remember the offer from Kuer Oasis: they were willing to pay a hiring fee of 30 Jinri for each Transcendent. Counting himself, he now had eight Transcendents with him. That was 240 Jinri, an amount equal to five times Porcupine Territory’s entire surplus from last year.

Since it was on the way, he might as well do everything he could.

He thought to himself, ’They say the desert is paved with gold. I’d like to be a gold miner myself and dig a little.’

No one in the entire column had ever been to the desert before.

In his past life, Leech had been to the edge of a desert on vacation, where he’d stood in line with camels. But this was his first time in this life.

None of the others in the party had ever traveled this far, either.

The Corpse Ghosts, of course, didn’t count. They were already dead, so no one cared how they felt.

’It would’ve been great if I’d brought Kro Camel along. He could have been a local guide.’

His thoughts turned to the Desert Noble who was living off him in his territory. Well, not exactly living off him for free—the man was a valuable educational resource. Leech had plenty of nobles under him, but almost none were like Kro Camel, who admitted he had no great skills and was willing to teach people how to read and write. They all had lofty ambitions, wanting only to command a group of people and run things, but were utterly unwilling to waste their energy being teachers.

After passing through Bonta Canyon, the world truly transformed.

A sudden sandstorm blasted them, and the whole party immediately started spitting nonstop. PTHOOEY! PTHOOEY!

The wind was thick with sand, filling their mouths with a dry, gritty taste. When they opened their mouths to spit it out, they sometimes accidentally swallowed another mouthful.

The unlucky ones got sand in their noses, their clothes, and their eyes, which was true misery.

It didn’t take long for everyone to learn their lesson. They pulled old clothes from their luggage to cover their mouths and faces. Otherwise, they wouldn’t need to eat dinner—they’d be full from eating sand.

As the sun began to set, an outpost with smoke rising from its chimneys finally appeared before them, along with a small tributary stream.

The four-armed Mercenary, Trevor, had already rushed over, scooping up water and splashing it on his face.

The stream was only calf-deep and less than ten feet wide. If not for a reservoir farther away, it would have dried up completely in a single day.

The water was indeed fresh and flowing.

Leech looked at the outpost, guessing that the main flow of water must be dammed up inside it, with only the overflow trickling out.

A dozen or so buildings were clustered together; it was less an outpost and more a small village.

If the Bonta trade route’s economy was truly that prosperous, it was only natural for a place like this to develop.

Some people weren’t staying in the village but had pitched tents outside. A horse or two was tied up outside the tents, and campfires were lit, giving Leech the feeling that he had stepped into another world.

As he watched this group, a few scattered individuals watched them in return.

The arrival of a powerful contingent would always inspire a certain amount of fear.

Leech certainly didn’t need to worry about matters like food and lodging. His men took the initiative to negotiate accommodations with the outpost’s owner.

Once night fell and the sun set, the heat was rapidly drawn out of the sand. The June air actually became somewhat chilly. It wasn’t freezing, but compared to the daytime heat that threatened to roast a man until he sizzled, the rapid change was disorienting.

The party had already been organized for the night. The merchants and Soldiers needed to guard the goods they had brought on the trip.

There wasn’t a large quantity of goods, but they had a little bit of almost everything.

Therefore, they had to eat and rest in shifts.

No one was naive enough to trust the outpost for their complete protection. If they looked like a fat sheep, the outpost staff might just draw their blades and moonlight as desert bandits.

Leech took a seat inside the inn, flanked by a row of his Transcendents.

Onlookers couldn’t identify them as Transcendents, but one look at their heavy, fine-quality armor and weapons told them it was best not to cause trouble. Especially since a man with four arms was sitting at another table.

He took his Little Knife and gently sliced into the roasted leg of lamb before him.

He then picked up a crispy, palm-sized flatbread. He gave it a gentle squeeze with his fingers, and the flaky crust crumbled away.

Eating meat without garlic cuts the flavor in half.

Baron Leech never bothered with noble etiquette when he ate. He ate potatoes, and he ate garlic.

He rolled some meat and garlic into the flatbread, lowered his head, and took a bite.

Delicious!

”This bite alone made the trip worthwhile!” he couldn’t help but exclaim.

Even if he trained a whole team of chefs, it could never compare to traveling far and wide to eat an authentic, home-cooked meal.

As he was happily eating, a figure approached, carrying a scent as scorching as the desert sand.

Leech turned to look. It was a tall woman. Her skin was slightly tanned by the sun, but her features were well-proportioned. She lacked the noble air of the women from the Eastern Gorge, possessing instead a different, hard-to-describe charm—a bold and open confidence.

She was the inn’s proprietress, in charge of pouring wine and refilling water.

”My lord, this is our Bonta wine.”

She bent over to pour the wine. Whether it was intentional or not, her open collar was aimed right at Leech. Her clothes happened to be very loose, and as she leaned down, Leech got a clear view of two locally-grown Bonta white melons.

Swaying and jiggling.

The woman raised her head and her eyes met Leech’s.

Leech acted as if there was nothing wrong with his gaze. ’She’s willing to show them,’ he thought, ’it would be rude of me not to look. I’m a man of principle, after all.’

When the proprietress straightened up, he didn’t feel it was a particular pity.

”Alright, I’ll have a taste.”

Lifting the cup and taking a sip, Leech nodded slightly. ”It does taste quite good. How much for a bottle?”

”One Silver Moon.”

’Charging a meat price for a vegetable dish!’

The wine was indeed decent, but Leech ate good meat and drank fine wine all day; of course he could tell it was watered down.

Leech waved his hand. ”This wine doesn’t suit my palate.”

He would never go for overpriced products. A Porcupine always prioritized cost-effectiveness.

’Robbing people of their property takes effort and manpower,’ he thought. ’My own money doesn’t grow on trees.’

The woman turned away with a smile, which immediately vanished from her face. She didn’t dare say anything, but she was undoubtedly cursing him in her head.

Leech didn’t doubt that if he spent a little more money, he could get the ”meat dish,” but the cost was all wrong. For one Silver Moon back with his old neighbors, he could have a much better time, with guaranteed quality.

As he was eating, shouts and curses suddenly erupted from outside.

Horses neighed, and a noisy commotion broke out.

Then, two men entered. One of them took off his hat as he came through the door, revealing a bald head and a face full of brutish flesh.

Leech, however, noticed the club the other man was carrying.

’Slavers from Gaoxue City!’

The slaver turned his head and shouted toward the doorway, ”Watch the cage! Don’t let those two bastards get out!”

”Yes, sir!” a voice responded from outside.

The shout was followed by the sound of a club striking an iron cage.

The two slavers glanced at Leech and the tables of his men, realizing they had run into a noble lord. They proactively took a table in the corner and waved to the proprietress. ”Food, and wine!”

”Yessir~” The proprietress swayed her hips as she walked over. Leech wondered if walking like that would give her a herniated disc when she got older.

SMACK!

The bald man slapped the proprietress on the rear and gave it a hard squeeze.

The proprietress let out a cry and quickly dodged away, but she still had a smile on her face. After setting down the food, she turned and left. Judging by her expression, though, Leech knew the price of this meal was definitely going up. A butt couldn’t be groped for free.

Leech quietly listened to the two slavers chat. Although they kept their voices low, nothing could be hidden from Leech’s Extraordinary hearing.

”If you ask me, we should just kill those two bastards! They killed so many of our men and we lost over thirty slaves.”

”What’s the use in killing them? We’d be better off selling them to a gladiatorial arena for a deathmatch. Didn’t they say they were Wandering Knights? A Knight should sell for at least a dozen Silver Moons.”

”Heh, good point. We can’t let those two bastards get off easy!”

”Fuck, this wine is watered down! Goddammit!”