Lord of Rot

Only after throwing him did Stacy realize what she had just done.

”COUGH, COUGH. Give me a hand!”

Hearing Leech’s coughing, Stacy snapped back to reality and immediately reached out to pull him up.

Leech looked miserable, but he wasn’t seriously injured. Stacy hadn’t used any Extraordinary power in her attack—it was just a normal throw, something he could handle.

He wasn’t bothered about being thrown, because he had been trying to do the same to Stacy. She had just managed to turn the tables on him.

’Otherwise, the one lying on the ground right now definitely wouldn’t be me!’

”Did you just channel your Extraordinary power into your hands?” More than the throw itself, Leech was focused on Stacy’s sudden burst of strength.

”Yes...”

Stacy’s eyes widened in sudden realization.

She had somehow, without realizing it, improved her control over her Extraordinary power. Before, she could only channel it through her entire body for a full charge—a massive drain that limited how many times she could do it.

But channeling it like she just did—a focused burst of strength in just her hands—or applying it to specific actions like a kick or a sword swing, wouldn’t diminish its might by much, yet would conserve a great deal of energy.

A look of delight spread across her face. She never imagined that a single throw would help her achieve a breakthrough and evolve her power.

”Thank you for training with me!” She knew full well that it was only because Leech’s strength had pushed her to the edge that she was able to achieve a breakthrough.

”You won this time!” Leech said seriously. ”But that won’t happen next time. I’ll definitely beat you until you cry!”

Stacy huffed. ”I’ll still thrash you next time!”

Having been rendered completely invisible, Lewis suddenly felt a bit like a third wheel.

’It looks a bit like young people flirting, but the scene just feels wrong. Do people actually court each other by fighting?’

”Ah, Leech...”

Lewis sighed with feigned helplessness. ”I was hoping you and Stacy would get married, but she doesn’t seem willing. No matter. I can help you find someone who doesn’t fight. As it happens, what did you think of that young lady at the banquet today? She’s only fifteen...”

”I’m willing!” Stacy said, her tone as resolute as a Soldier on the training grounds.

That was just her way. When things were uncertain, she wouldn’t dwell on them. But once she made a decision, she would charge forward boldly and never look back.

”What?” Lewis froze, wondering if he was hearing things. ’Did Stacy just throw me instead of Leech?’

Lewis subconsciously rubbed his neck. ”Excellent! We’ll hold the engagement banquet tomorrow!”

Leech was left completely bewildered. He had come here with a similar idea in mind, but still... ’Don’t I, the groom, get a say in this at all?’

The process had been convoluted, but the outcome was a good one.

When Lewis returned to the banquet, his face was beaming as he went to announce the joyous news of the engagement banquet to be held the next day.

He had waited for so many years, and this day had finally arrived. If not for the lack of time and the presence of more important matters, Lewis would have had them married that very day.

Since Stacy had torn her own gown, she had to go back and change.

Leech was robust; the bruises on his face had already healed. He quickly changed his clothes and returned to the banquet.

When he returned, he found that the ladies at the banquet had lost all interest in him. Even the madams and misses who wouldn’t mind a night of pleasure didn’t dare make a move on someone in the Old Crocodile’s territory.

The men, however, gathered around him excitedly.

”Did you really beat Stacy?”

Among the crowd, an estimated eighty percent were her past victims.

”No,” Leech shook his head. ”She threw me, and I lost.”

’He gets to marry Stacy even though he lost? On what grounds?’

The young noblemen who had once pursued Stacy, only to be defeated by her, were deeply resentful.

Before, they were all losers together, united by a common foe. Now, one of their own—a fellow loser—had somehow succeeded in winning the beauty’s hand, and with the Old Crocodile as his powerful backer, no less. The men were thoroughly displeased and indignant.

Leech, however, was gloating internally. ’It’s called personal charm. Marriage isn’t decided by who has the bigger fist. Do you get it? Charm!’

When the birthday banquet ended, the focus of the entire event hadn’t been Stacy, but rather a certain young lady from a minor noble family.

It was certainly a novelty on the Lu Leiyi Continent: the guest of honor skipping her own party to go pick a fight.

Leech, meanwhile, was summoned to the study in Green Forest Castle.

When he reached the study, he raised his hand and knocked gently on the door.

A voice from within called out, ”Come in.”

Leech pushed the door open.

Knight Wisdom was sitting in a chair, a massive grin on his face as he watched the doorway. It made one wonder if he was so pleased with himself that he’d taken another wife.

Lewis was smiling too, as was Bode, who stood beside him with a sinister grin.

The three generations—one sitting, two standing—all turned to Leech with smiles on their faces. It was like a bizarre family portrait from a horror movie, and utterly terrifying.

”...” Leech opened his mouth, feeling like he had to say something.

”Leech, have a seat.” Knight Wisdom finally let his smile fade. ”I expect you and Stacy to marry as soon as possible. However, we didn’t call you here tonight to discuss her.”

”Yes, sir!” Leech sat in the chair that had been placed for him.

The Old Crocodile asked, ”How much do you know about the current situation in the kingdom?”

”The kingdom?” Leech considered for a moment. ”King Bor II is in the prime of his life. Duke Leopold, to whom we’ve sworn fealty, can still hold on for a while, despite his poor health from an old ailment. In the future, Lord Pine will inherit the Eastern Gorge, which will remain the most powerful domain in the kingdom. Prince Hoffman of Giant’s Foot is highly enigmatic; there may be changes there in the future, but it’s difficult for outsiders to understand what goes on in Giant’s Foot. The Lion of the Northern Territory, Varrion de Storm, is old, but his reputation is undiminished. As for Endor... I don’t know much.”

It wasn’t that Endor was mysterious, but that the Endor Plateau, like Giant’s Foot before it, was simply too chaotic. It was so chaotic that no one could figure out what was actually happening there.

His grandfather nodded gently. ”The King appointed a Duke to Endor, but that Duke was killed.”

”Killed?” Leech had heard nothing about such a major event. Perhaps the upper echelons had suppressed the news, but it was more likely that a minor lord ruling over just two hundred people wasn’t qualified to know. It was like how he’d only learned much later that Prince Hoffman had unified Giant’s Foot, using absolute power to crush all who opposed him.

”That’s right. We all know it was those steppe Barbarians,” the Old Crocodile nodded. ”They believe in the law of the jungle out there. The strongest among them is a group called the Barbarian Tribe. Their chieftain, Bloodhoof, commands fifty thousand elite Cavalry. They’re fierce and skilled warriors. It would be no exaggeration to call him the true Duke of Endor.”

”Fifty thousand...”

’They can’t be heavy cavalry,’ Leech thought. Based on his limited knowledge of Endor, its people wouldn’t fight in heavy armor. But even as light cavalry, fifty thousand was a terrifying number, especially since the people of Endor were masters of mounted combat and horse archery, making them incredibly formidable fighters.

He recalled Stacy’s words and asked, ”Are you going to fight the Barbarian Tribe?”

It wasn’t that Leech looked down on them, but even with another hundred Extraordinary Giant Lizards, Linta Bay couldn’t possibly win against fifty thousand Cavalry.

”Just a small tribe that crossed the border,” his grandfather said, signaling for Leech not to worry.

The Old Crocodile went on to tell Leech many more things, such as the fact that the largest city on the Lu Leiyi Continent was Storm City in the Northern Territory, about the Golden Grassland in Endor, and Thunder City in Giant’s Foot. Although it was all information one could look up, hearing it from him provided Leech with a completely new perspective.

He began to understand the roles these powers would play if war broke out, and the roles they would play if it didn’t.

It was an eye-opening opportunity, filling in the vast empty spaces on Leech’s mental map of the world beyond the Eastern Gorge.

Lewis then spoke up. ”There’s something else we wanted to discuss with you. Both the Eldest Prince and the younger Prince are trying to win our family’s support.”

Leech’s head snapped up.

A lord’s power isn’t determined by their title.

A title determines the size of one’s fief, but a family like the Old Crocodile’s, the Visdom family, had been rooted in Linta Bay for generations, diligently managing their domain. Though they held the same Baron rank as Leech, their true power was unfathomable.

Just look at Bode, who had quietly acquired an Extraordinary Giant Lizard as a mount. They surely had other hidden sources of strength.

”Ultimately, we are part of the Eastern Gorge,” Lewis said. ”And between the two princes, we are leaning toward the Eldest Prince...”

The first statement about belonging to the Eastern Gorge, the second about leaning toward the Eldest Prince—Leech understood perfectly. It meant that as soon as the Duke of Radiant Sun died, the Crocodile Clan would immediately turn coat and throw in their lot with the Eldest Prince.

He also agreed that the Golden Stallion wouldn’t make a good liege lord, but wasn’t jumping ship this early a bit too drastic?

’Or is the Eastern Gorge really in that precarious of a position?’

Leech’s first reaction wasn’t to doubt Lewis’s judgment. Instead, he suspected that his own circumstances had caused him to miss crucial information, leading him to the erroneous conclusion that the Eastern Gorge would remain powerful after the Duke of Radiant Sun’s death.

But for a vassal, unless there was a knife to their throat or the reward was too great to refuse, no one would normally betray their lord so prematurely.

Lewis said, ”Long before Bor II put down the rebellion, we Wisdoms were from the Central Lands.”

’So that’s how it is,’ Leech realized.

In other words, they planned to use the power vacuum after the Duke of Radiant Sun’s death to ”return to their homeland” in name, effectively splitting Linta Bay off from the Eastern Gorge once more.

As for the deeper entanglements involved, he couldn’t begin to guess.

Leech stated bluntly, ”I’ve met the Eldest Prince. I don’t believe he is a worthy monarch.”

’We don’t get along,’ he thought. ’Once he becomes King, he’ll definitely look for ways to screw me over. The guy seems just as petty as I am.’

’Whether the Crocodiles pledge allegiance to the Eldest Prince or not, I certainly can’t.’

The rumors that the Eldest Prince resembled King Bor II were utter nonsense. Aside from a foul temper, he possessed none of Bor II’s competence. He was just a hot-headed daddy’s boy who’d been coddled his entire life.

”The younger Prince is even worse,” his grandfather, who had been silent until now, finally couldn’t help but interject. ”His... preferences... are enough to disqualify him from ever being a true King.”

”Father...” Lewis sounded exasperated by the older generation’s rigid mindset.

”I haven’t met the younger Prince,” Leech said. ”If the rumors about him preferring men are true, it isn’t a huge problem. As long as he is willing to ’sacrifice’ himself to produce an heir for the kingdom, he can still be a competent monarch.”

”So you’re betting on the younger Prince?”

”I don’t know the younger Prince,” Leech shook his head. ”I’ve never met him, so I can’t make a choice.”

The Old Crocodile asked, ”Then tell us, who should we pledge our allegiance to? A choice must be made. The Eldest Prince, or the younger Prince?”

It sounded like a test.

Leech answered decisively, ”Pledge allegiance to the King!”

The Old Crocodile remained silent. Leech could guess what he was thinking. ’If they want to successfully break away from the Eastern Gorge and rejoin the noble circles of the central capital, they need a major accomplishment. Pledging allegiance to the King is the safest route, but it yields no great rewards.’

Leech wisely kept his mouth shut. It wasn’t his place to meddle in Linta Bay’s affairs; his answer had merely been the safest one.

His real plan was to lie low and build his own strength, then see what the new king was made of. If all options were terrible, he’d just have to fabricate an omen and raise the banner of rebellion himself.

BANG!

The door burst open, and an anxious Stacy rushed in.

After shouting ”I’m willing!”, Stacy had returned to her room, growing shyer and shyer the more she thought about it. She was at a loss for what to do when her maid told her Leech had been summoned to the study. She immediately guessed they were discussing the wedding, which felt too sudden. She didn’t feel ready.

”About the wedding...”

She burst through the door and got halfway through her sentence before she realized something was wrong. The four men didn’t look like they were planning a wedding; they looked like they were discussing a matter of grave importance.

Four pairs of eyes turned to her, and she froze in the doorway.

Lewis was very pleased with his daughter’s initiative. ”We’ve just finished our discussion with Leech. So let’s take this opportunity to set a date for the wedding.”