Lord of Rot

While the caravan was resting in their arranged rooms.

Lisu Muma returned to the City Lord’s hall and told her father everything that had just happened.

”My pearl,” Lion Ma Ma asked after listening. ”When a chicken and a rabbit have a dispute, which side do you think will win? The one helped by the lion?”

Lisu shook her head. ”They’ll both die.”

The lion wants to eat both the chicken and the rabbit. Just one of them isn’t enough to fill its stomach.

What was even more tragic was that even if they set aside their differences and worked together, they still couldn’t defeat the lion.

”What should we do now?” Lisu Muma asked her father. He hadn’t involved himself in the town’s affairs for a long time, but she refused to believe that Lion Ma Ma, with the blood of desert robbers in his veins, would truly remain despondent.

”Feed the horses well,” Lion Ma Ma said. ”He specifically had someone deliver grain, so he must value our horses. I remember he bought a batch of horses from us last year. Our horses have better stamina and are cheaper than the warhorses from the East Gorge. Even his fiancée’s family has always traded horses with us.”

He had also tried to ask Old Crocodile of Linta Bay for help, but the man had already set out for the Endor Plateau.

The betrayal of the Water Buffalo Count had already put him in a difficult position. Their usual plundering as desert robbers had left them isolated and without allies. Finding a powerful backer now was a stroke of luck amidst their misfortune.

So, taking the hint, Lisu Muma went to find the resting caravan.

”The vicious Wild Boar Mercenary Corps is attempting to attack a lord’s territory. We hope to receive Lord Leech’s assistance.”

As she spoke, the merchants huddled to the side, unsure whether to leave or stay. On the surface, they were in charge, but they knew that the ones in the ”tin can” armor were the Lord’s true confidants.

Merchants were not to be consulted on important territorial matters. This was an unspoken rule everyone understood. Even Joe, the Lord’s highest-ranking merchant, known as ’Lucky Kid’, was no exception.

Lisu Muma noticed that everyone else’s gazes were directed at the motionless, tin-can-clad Knights sitting off to the side. Their armor was bright and ornate, yet sealed airtight.

Even a Transcendent with a special constitution would feel stuffy in it, yet they never once removed their helmets.

But they remained unresponsive from start to finish.

Vendra gently kicked a nearby merchant, who came to his senses. ”Our apologies, miss. We are only merchants responsible for selling grain. We cannot give you any promises, but we will report this matter to our Lord.”

Lisu Muma nodded and took her leave.

The atmosphere in the room, however, did not return to its previous ease. They had always harbored a faint suspicion that the escorting Knights had some way of communicating with their Lord. The recent exchange felt as if everyone had just silently acknowledged that suspicion!

Although the escorting Knights had shown no reaction, their silence only served to strengthen the belief.

”Our Lord is so powerful!” Trevor leaned against the wall with his arms behind his head, holding a wine cup in one hand and a date in the other. ”His name alone is enough to scare the Wild Boar Mercenary Corps and Mama City into submission. It is truly my honor to serve the Lord! HAHAHAHA!”

Everyone present shot Trevor a look of contempt.

...

Leech rubbed his brow and severed his connection to the Corpse Ghost.

’How did this suddenly turn into a bootlicking session about me? Trevor’s sycophancy is normal. He doesn’t have Vendra’s hit-or-miss death premonition ability, but for a flesh-enhanced Transcendent, he has absolutely no backbone. He’ll kneel at the drop of a hat.’

’The other person to join the bootlicking festival was Vendra, which isn’t surprising either.’

’What surprised Leech the most was young Black Sand. He was as excited as some rabid fanboy back on Earth.’

’I hope Mama City doesn’t starve my warhorses.’

He had no intention of conquering Mama City for now. Even though they didn’t have many Transcendents, sieging a city was never as simple as just charging in. It would consume a great deal of his time and energy. His most pressing concern at the moment was figuring out how to deal with the Half-Beastman Expeditionary Corps.

Besides, he had more important things to do.

After waiting for so many days, the equipment delivery team from Prince George Kaine had finally arrived.

...

Dusk light shot straight into the fissure of Bonta Canyon from the west.

The party, struggling through the canyon, watched the light ahead grow from the size of an ant to the thickness of a finger, then to the size of a person, until finally, the light completely filled their vision.

The members of the party instinctively squinted or shielded their eyes with their hands.

Once their eyes adjusted, they emerged completely from the canyon.

Billowing heat waves shimmered over the yellow sand. Their thick-soled leather boots crunched on the sand as if stepping on hot coals, the searing heat drilling up from the soles of their feet.

Stomping his feet in discomfort, the man in the lead took off his helmet, revealing a head of shoulder-length yellow hair. ”Ah, it’s hot as hell! I swear I’m never coming to the desert again. Even if ten naked chicks were writhing in front of me, I wouldn’t come. Cold Winter City is so much better... Though, if there were twenty, I might consider another trip. No, no, no, fifteen would be enough. Eleven would work too... On second thought, ten feisty, hard-to-tame chicks doesn’t sound too bad, hehehe.”

He turned and knocked on the faceplate of the Knight behind him.

”How much farther until we get to the chicks?”

A weary voice came from under the faceplate. ”Sir, there are no chicks. Only Half-Beastmen.”

”Half-Beastmen?” He grabbed his yellow hair. ”Why Half-Beastmen? I’d rather battle two chicks than see an ugly Half-Beastman. By the way, what do Half-Beastmen even look like?”

The other Knights in the party were already used to this. As soon as he started talking, it was best to pretend they couldn’t hear him.

In just that short time, he had already rattled off another long-winded tirade.

”Am I right or am I right?” the yellow-haired man asked, grabbing a random person.

The person immediately nodded. ”Right!”

It was the standard, prescribed answer.

The party continued on. After the sky had turned completely dark, they saw a post station ahead.

”Sir, should we stop at the station to rest?”

”Of course, we are!”

”You cannot!” A sudden voice came from his right. The yellow-haired man turned to see a figure who had appeared out of thin air. ”Dumb Crow, what are you doing here? Why the hell can’t I rest at the station? Do you have any idea how little rest I got back in Waterfall Land? That Baroness of Wado acted like she had a personal grudge against me, wouldn’t let me in the castle. Same thing in Monkey Territory, they wouldn’t let me rest in the castle either. Now that I’ve finally found a place to rest, you pop up!”

Dumb Crow said in a low voice, ”The Lord said there can be no mistakes.”

”I’m leading over two hundred men,” the yellow-haired man said, turning to point at the elite soldiers behind him. ”And we’re flying the Golden Bear Banner! Who on the Lu Leiyi main road would dare to rob us? Fine, I’m not actually flying the Golden Bear Banner, but still, who would dare?”

”...” Dumb Crow fell silent, whether unwilling to argue with him or tacitly agreeing.

An escort of over two hundred elite soldiers, and all the major nobles along the route had been ”handled” by the Prince.

Petty bandits wouldn’t dare approach the elite troops and court death, while the major nobles would cover their eyes and ears and pretend not to know. Indeed, nothing was likely to go wrong.

”Hehe, nothing to say now, huh? Then shut your mouth!” The yellow-haired man waved his hand smugly. He was about to shout the order to move out when he heard Dumb Crow speak again. ”We cannot afford any complications.”

”Fine, let’s just get it delivered!” The yellow-haired man said helplessly, not daring to delay the Prince’s important business. ”A little hardship is just a little hardship.”

The Dumb Crow at his side vanished.

The yellow-haired man waved his hand. ”Keep moving!”