Lord of Rot

”We’re taking advantage of the situation.”

As Lisu Muma stood on the city wall and leaned down to speak with the merchant below, she suspected she had misheard him. The intent to exploit their predicament was written all over his face.

A merchant caravan from Bonta Market, under the command of Baron Porcupine, had brought a large amount of grain—a timely relief—and specifically requested to sell it to Mama City.

And the Wild Boar Mercenary Corps had actually agreed.

Lisu Muma couldn’t put her feelings into words. The enemy she saw as a mortal threat had acted like a coward in the face of others, which made her acutely aware of her own weakness.

It was just... the price was a bit excessive.

Thirty copper stars per pound of grain.

But being able to buy grain would, to some extent, alleviate Mama City’s plight.

Furthermore, if she could use this as an opportunity to gain Baron Porcupine’s aid, turning the tables on the Wild Boar Mercenary Corps wouldn’t be impossible.

Selling them grain was a sign of goodwill!

Perhaps Baron Porcupine wanted her for himself, but regardless, gaining such a powerful ally was like a lion appearing during a fight between a chicken and a rabbit. Whichever side the lion chose would be the victor.

”Alright!” Lisu Muma called down to the merchant. ”We’ll take it all!”

The merchant shouted up to Lisu Muma on the wall, his voice strained. ”Apologies, but they just offered 30 copper stars per pound as well. If you want the grain, your price will have to be higher.”

He was jacking up the price on the spot.

Lisu Muma’s chest heaved with anger. The nobles from the Eastern Gorge were as greedy as the bloodsucking leeches in the Sapphire River.

But she believed she still had an advantage over the Wild Boar Mercenary Corps. At the very least, she had no feud with Baron Porcupine; Mama City had never plundered his caravans, and he had never killed any of her people.

”We can offer 31 copper stars per pound!” she said through clenched teeth.

She needed to spend money to buy Baron Porcupine’s goodwill, even though the price of grain had been inflated to several times its actual value.

The commander of the Wild Boar Mercenary Corps, watching from a distance, didn’t raise the bid. Instead, he sneered. ’How could the renowned Wild Boar Mercenary Corps possibly have only a few hundred men? These are just the mercenaries currently around Mama City. Rather than spending money to satisfy Baron Porcupine’s massive appetite, I’d be better off spending it to hire more men.’

’More than a thousand mercenaries will set out from other desert towns and villages and make their way to Mama City.’

’Not only will I pay the mercenaries well, but I’ve also promised to turn Mama City into a haven of pleasure for them, second only to Iron Stone City in the Eastern Gorge!’

’Even if starving them out doesn’t work, fifteen hundred mercenaries can take the city by force.’

At the same time, he felt a pang of regret. ’If it weren’t for the need to capture Bonta Market, I’d have twenty Transcendents. A direct assault on Mama City would be faster and have a greater chance of success.’

Another voice, however, echoed in the back of his mind... ’Even if I do manage to take Mama City, can I defend it from Baron Porcupine’s army?’

’He’s a noble! He can’t just start a war for no reason!’

When it came to certain critical questions, the mercenary commander, already terrified of Baron Porcupine, chose to bury his head in the sand. ’If I don’t think about it, it won’t happen.’

The city gate opened. Lisu Muma, the ”Desert Pearl,” stood before the wagons. She had just agreed to buy the grain at a price of 40 copper stars per pound.

The Transcendents guarding the caravan released their auras. Her fear that the Wild Boar Mercenary Corps would seize the opportunity to attack did not materialize. They simply stood in the distance, sneering, as if Mama City was already theirs for the taking.

The grain wagons entered the city, and Soldiers gathered around.

She walked to the front, opened a sack of grain, and her expression changed.

Unhulled oats!

The people of Mama City were experts at raising horses and typically used such oats for their warhorses. This was, in part, why their current situation was so desperate.

Mama City had a large number of horses. They had no fresh pasture, and their only lake had been seized by the Wild Boar Mercenary Corps outside the city.

For now, they could only be fed hay.

Horses have simple digestive tracts; it’s difficult for them to get adequate nutrition from hay alone. It would force the warhorses to spend most of their day just eating.

A superior warhorse was worth more than gold, and it was essential to ensure they received proper nutrition. But with the grain supply failing and the people themselves on the verge of starvation, the warhorses had to be neglected.

If they couldn’t hold the city in the end, they would likely just slaughter the warhorses for meat and defend the city to the death.

The arrival of this grain was crucial; for the time being, it put a stop to any thoughts of slaughtering the horses for meat.

”This costs 40 copper stars per pound, too?” she demanded.

Oats were grown in the central and northern parts of Lu Leiyi, as well as some parts of the south—basically, everywhere but the desert. This was because they had a short growing season, produced high yields, and were extremely cheap. At its cheapest, oat cost about one copper star per pound. Even in the desert, where grain was difficult to produce, the price would never exceed three or four copper stars, and that would be the absolute maximum.

For three to four copper stars, you could buy unhulled wheat in the desert. However, merchants rarely made the arduous journey just to transport raw wheat, as one pound of it sold for only four copper stars, whereas wheat flour could fetch eight.

Only Mama City, which needed to raise a large number of warhorses and had clear partnerships with merchant caravans, had a stable supply of unhulled grains like oats and wheat.

Lisu Muma even suspected this was the very same grain the merchants had taken with them when they evacuated the city on the orders of the Wild Boar Mercenary Corps.

”Yes.”

The merchant glanced at the Soldiers and Transcendents behind him and felt reassured.

’He even began to wonder if, should Lisu Muma actually lose control and kill him, he could use his last words to make even more outrageous demands. For instance, securing a ”phase two” housing unit for each of his two children, and grabbing a street-front shop in the commercial district for his brother.’

’If he could also get his brother’s daughter a position as a maid in the castle, then his death would be even more valuable.’

Lisu Muma did not actually make a move. She had people come weigh the grain, calculate the total, and prepare the payment.

There was still some flour on the wagons. The merchant, perhaps sensing Lisu Muma’s fury, didn’t dare to raise the price further. Flour, oats, wheat, and so on—everything was 40 copper stars per pound.

This shipment of grain had been acquired for an average of 3 copper stars per pound. At roughly 20,000 pounds, the total cost was about 30 Jinri—in reality, slightly less.

Yet, it was sold in Mama City for 40 copper stars per pound, which, by the official exchange rate, totaled 400 Jinri. After deducting the 30 Jinri cost, the standard fee of 10 Jinri per hired Transcendent, and the expenses for the caravan, guards, and horse fodder, the profit from this single trip was between 120 and 130 Jinri.

This assumed everything was based on official currency exchange rates. However, they had purchased the grain using copper stars and Silver Moons, while Mama City was paying in gold. Therefore, the actual profit was 20% to 30% higher than the estimate.

Making such a fortune made the merchant tremble.

He knew full well that pulling off such a domineering deal—one that bordered on open robbery—was only possible due to a unique set of circumstances.

If the Wild Boar Mercenary Corps hadn’t been afraid of his lord, if Mama City hadn’t been in such a dire crisis, and most importantly, if his own lord weren’t so powerful that neither side dared to provoke him—a deal this outrageous would have been utterly impossible.

Had it been anyone else, like Baron Jin Fu, they would likely have been riddled with arrows by the Wild Boar Mercenary Corps before even setting foot off the dunes.

A sense of pride and honor welled up in the merchant’s heart, and he straightened his back.

He was proud to be a merchant under Lord Leech.

No one dared to bully him, and no one dared to take advantage of him. He even began to fantasize that one day, the Porcupine Banner might become like the Golden Bear Banner: once raised, no one would dare challenge it, and all would clear a path.