Lord of Rot

Many people were leaving Green Forest Castle today. After the ball, the young nobles would return to their own territories. Some would continue to enjoy their extravagant lives, while others would shed their finery and head to the fields to supervise the work, hoping only for a better harvest.

Stacy and Bode weren’t there. Word was that Fishmen were causing trouble again, but they hadn’t yet been caught.

But one unexpected figure did appear.

The lady from the ivory tower.

Fami Port.

She wore a pale purple gown, like a water hyacinth swaying gently in the wind on a pond.

"Go on ahead and wait for me," Leech said.

"Yes, my lord!" The squire led the horse away, carrying Leech’s sword.

"Good day, Miss Port."

"Good day," Fami Port replied. "Sir Clarence."

People came and went around them, and mules pulled heavy carts away.

The two of them, however, were silent.

’So this is the awkwardness of pen pals meeting in person?’

Leech spoke first, breaking the strange, awkward silence. "For my birthday next year, if you want to see the sea, you can come with Stacy."

"Really? When is it?"

"In May, I think," Leech said.

She clenched her small fists in delight. "Yes, I’ll definitely be there!"

She was like a happy little rabbit, hopping and stomping its feet.

Leech bade farewell to the lady from the ivory tower. ’She’ll probably be engaged by the end of this year or early next,’ he thought. ’By May, she might have even had a child.’

Not every noble lady was as favored as Stacy; they couldn’t choose their own lives.

Their fates were determined at birth: find a good husband and live happily, or learn to endure a cruel one and suffer through each day.

Marriage was their clarion call, the delivery room their battlefield, and childbirth their moment of triumph.

The more they bore, the greater their glory.

It was actually the same for the young noblemen. They had to weigh their options for the sake of various interests; marriage was a social transaction, and love merely a diversion.

Leech hoped that one day he could be free from all these influences, able to choose one—or several—life partners and live a leisurely life.

But for now, he had to be a staunch supporter of the nobility and live under its system.

After bidding farewell to the lady from the ivory tower, Leech felt his spirits lift as he left Green Forest Castle.

Riding his horse, smelling the damp wind, his body felt incredibly light.

They would head east, following their original route past the ravine and Pig Spine Valley, and finally back to Porcupine Territory.

This time, Leech planned to quicken their pace and return as soon as possible.

"Little Joel, was there anything in Linta Bay that you found particularly special?" Leech twisted to his left to look at the young squire beside him.

Far from making him thinner, the recent travels had made Little Joel even stronger. He was now taller than Leech by more than half a head.

’Good genes and plenty of food make you grow tall. Radish, on the other hand, will probably stop growing when he’s half a head shorter than I am.’

Little Joel scratched his head. "The castle here is huge, and there’s lots of good food, but the roads aren’t smooth at all. People live in messy houses, and the streets are full of dung. I want to get back to Porcupine Territory quickly."

Streets full of dung was a bit of an exaggeration, but there was indeed dung hidden in certain nooks and crannies. If you weren’t careful, you could get a nasty surprise on your foot.

Leech laughed. "Haha, I want to get back quickly too."

As they chatted happily, no one could have known that the Baron’s consciousness had already split in two.

「Meanwhile.」

The son of the lord of Mama City, Junma Mama, left Green Forest Castle with his men.

A night of passion had left Junma exhausted. Not everyone could take on five partners at once. He felt as if those terrifying northern women had been insatiable, sucking out a good deal of his bone marrow. Otherwise, his legs wouldn’t feel so weak.

They came to a small path beside a swamp. Their plan was to head to the next village to buy some wine, which they could sell for a good price in Leon City.

"My lord, someone is blocking the road ahead!"

A person in a black robe, holding a scimitar, stood in the very middle of the road.

They were silent and motionless, only their black robe trembled despite the lack of wind.

A commotion rippled through the group, but it quieted down with the sound of swords being drawn from their sheaths.

An invisible stench of blood filled the air.

Junma Mama looked at the figure ahead. The scene felt somewhat familiar, only last time it had happened in a desert. Now, it was taking place on a path beside a swamp in Linta Bay.

The black-robed person gave them no time to think, charging forward with their scimitar.

The Soldiers yelled and charged forward, only to be sent flying one by one by a tremendous force. The scimitar sliced in at a shoulder, cutting diagonally down to the waist and cleaving a man in two!

"It’s her!" the man beside Junma Mama yelled. "I sold her to someone! She should be dead! She was on the brink of death then, so why is she still alive?"

The man’s scalp tingled with fear. It was the same woman who had killed more than half of their group before they even reached Linta Bay.

Now she had appeared here, completely unscathed, while there were not many of them left.

"My lord, we must return to Green Forest Castle immediately," the man said to Junma Mama.

The mentally exhausted Junma snapped back to his senses, yanked on his reins, and turned his horse to flee.

The black-robed person was slaughtering the Soldiers like an agile desert mantis, effortlessly reaping the lives of those who surrounded her with a twirl of her scimitar.

Corpses fell to the ground, scattered like blooming flowers.

Seeing Junma Mama trying to escape, the black-robed person suddenly flicked her wrist. The scimitar spun rapidly, forming a disk in the air as it flew, severing the legs of Junma Mama’s horse along with his own right leg.

Three legs flew into the air and landed in the muddy water by the side of the road.

No one noticed that the three legs were instantly dragged down into the muddy water, disappearing without a trace.

With a loud THUD, the lamed man and horse crashed down by the roadside. The horse whinnied endlessly in agony, while the man howled in pain.

But the remaining Soldiers’ fighting spirit surged. "She has no weapon! Kill her!"

’How strong can an unarmed enemy be?’

’We’re wearing iron armor and holding sharp scimitars!’

The robe on the black-robed person suddenly transformed into a giant, man-sized black claw. It swiped forward, and any Soldier it touched found their armor corroding. Their faces turned ashen as they collapsed, unable to rise again.

Others were swatted away, exploding into a paste of flesh upon hitting the ground, the shredded meat quickly turning black.

A Soldier who realized he was no match for her turned to run, only to be slapped to the ground by the extending black claw.

The battle was over quickly.

The venomous black claw reverted to a black robe, wrapping itself around her.

The black-robed person walked slowly toward Junma Mama, who was crawling with great difficulty in the direction of Green Forest Castle, driven by excruciating pain.

"You again! Why!"

Junma Mama couldn’t understand why this person was so intent on killing him, time and time again, without any fear of death. Did they have such a great feud?

Of course. He didn’t even remember that he had once disguised himself as a desert bandit and slaughtered an entire family. To him, it was just a trivial matter, something he paid no mind to, because Junma Mama’s style had always been to leave no one alive—not even the chickens or dogs.

The face beneath the hood bore a golden scar, looking like newly grown skin, or perhaps a strange, golden Magic sigil.

A hand clamped around his neck, making it difficult to breathe, let alone let out a cry of pain.

He was dragged along, the blood from his severed leg leaving a red trail.

Junma Mama watched as the even more terrifying woman picked up her scimitar. With one slash, she killed the struggling warhorse, putting it out of its misery. Then, she brought the blade down toward him.

Leech had been in control during that entire battle. It was his first time truly feeling the combat prowess of a Transcendent.

Junma Mama’s men were all brave and skilled Cavalry, capable of posing as desert bandits to carry out massacres. Their combat strength was no less than that of the Porcupine Territory Soldiers by Leech’s side. In a battle on open ground, the Porcupine Territory Soldiers would surely have been defeated.

And yet, when facing a Transcendent, this very group of men was slaughtered as easily as chickens and dogs.

Whether it was the [Poisonous Touch] formed from the blood flowing out of Aina’s body, or her superior scimitar skills and powerful throws, everything had allowed the battle to end quickly in an absolute rout.

’The only shame is that the Extraordinary Corpse Ghost Aina isn’t qualified to use Magic,’ Leech thought. ’Otherwise, the fight would have been even more interesting.’

Suddenly, a sloshing sound came from behind. Leech turned and saw that the corpses of the slain Soldiers were being dragged into the water.