Lord of Rot

Kro Camel’s return was a pleasant surprise. Talent could be cultivated, but not everyone possessed such extraordinary courage. Loyalty was paramount.

In Leech’s eyes, Kro’s do-or-die attitude made him not only loyal but also incredibly useful. ’I’ll have to give him similar jobs in the future. At worst, I’ll just ban him from taverns. Or maybe I’ll hang a sign: "Drunken Rampages Will Be Met With a Whipping." That should limit his actions and stop him from running wild.’

Wado Nineteen, Wado Twenty, and those who followed had not shown themselves.

The previous rout and defeat of their "grand army" of tens of thousands had likely robbed them of the courage to appear. Or perhaps they were busy plotting a new conspiracy.

After a brief chat with Kro, Leech mounted his horse and rode to a town in Waterfall Land to recruit craftsmen and sailors.

Miss Yi Lin accompanied him on horseback.

The mood on the road was a little awkward. Leech hadn’t expected someone to stand guard outside his door all night—especially not the sister of the woman in his bed.

’So her sister was right outside the door?’

Yi Lin, on the other hand, was quite relaxed about it. As a member of the nobility, she was used to such things.

Waterfall Land had no large towns.

On the entire Lu Leiyi Continent, there were only a few dozen large towns the size of Iron Stone City. There were hundreds of lords who possessed their own castles, but countless more "village-chief level" lords. As for lords who didn’t even have a small village to their name, there was no telling how many existed.

The town’s buildings were generally low-rise, but it was certainly more prosperous than the current Porcupine Territory. People bustled back and forth, and the shouts of vendors filled the air. However, their faces were grim, etched with worry for the future.

A network of small rivers crisscrossed the area. Some people walked along the paths, while others traveled by boat on the water, occasionally passing under a bridge.

Although the war had ended yesterday, its consequences would not disappear overnight.

Crucially, most of the serfs, slaves, beggars, and even commoners had joined the war. Now, they were all in hiding, not daring to show their faces, terrified that Lady Jie Lin would settle scores now that the fighting was over. Some were already preparing to move, to flee to Linta Bay or Pig Spine Valley.

The war was over, but it was hard to say Lady Jie Lin had won. Her economy had taken a severe hit.

Leech naturally didn’t have to handle the recruitment of craftsmen himself. Yi Lin would find the local headmen, who would then gather qualified candidates for Leech to select from.

"Go buy more seeds," Leech ordered his men. The first order of business was to gather any plantable crops; agriculture remained the absolute top priority for development.

When Leech had first awoken in a bed in the Otherworld, Porcupine Territory’s population was just over two hundred. Due to his father Lieder’s mismanagement, the territory had no serfs or slaves.

After winning a war, Lieder would only take money and grain, never slaves or prisoners.

If his good-for-nothing father had been a little smarter, Leech wouldn’t be having such a headache over population now.

Since then, Leech had purchased slaves several times, bringing the total population to six or seven hundred, from which he had selected a number of Soldiers.

His maternal grandfather from Green Forest Castle had sent five hundred slaves. A little over four hundred arrived, but many had died en route or were gravely ill, so the actual number was even lower.

It wasn’t as if no one died in Porcupine Territory. People succumbed to construction accidents, fevers, colds, tetanus from work-related injuries, and more. Deaths were a continuous occurrence.

After Leech forbade the Alchemists from using bloodletting, the number of people killed by malpractice decreased. However, the Alchemists knew no other treatments, so those who fell gravely ill still couldn’t be saved.

Now, with the addition of over five hundred of his own prisoners and five hundred more from Longship Castle, the population of Porcupine Territory had surpassed two thousand.

To feed over two thousand mouths, he had to develop agriculture aggressively. Food was the foundation of everything.

’I have to assign a large portion of the slaves to farming. They need to grow not just the main crops, but also other produce according to the season.’

’Short-term vegetables like cabbages, long-term crops like wheat, combined with animal husbandry... I can’t say their nutrition will be perfect, but people should be able to live relatively healthy lives.’

’I can start by planting potatoes.’

The Lu Leiyans were very resistant to eating potatoes, because they grew underground.

One could tell how stubborn these people were from their refusal to use manure as fertilizer.

However, potatoes did occasionally appear on Leech’s own dinner table. He absolutely loved mashed potatoes, not to mention stir-fried potato slivers, french fries, and chicken and potato stew. They were delicious no matter how you cooked them.

’They have high yields, are easy to grow, and they fill people’s bellies.’

It wasn’t just Leech; other nobles also knew potatoes had high yields and could feed more people, but they still strictly prohibited their cultivation.

A "devil’s fruit" grown underground was not fit for a noble’s elegant table. Farmers grew grain, and the vast majority of their harvest was sent to the castle. If the nobles didn’t want potatoes, all they had to do was issue a strict order not to plant them.

If the nobles forbade it, the farmers wouldn’t dare plant them, not even if they had the courage of ten thousand men. They could only plant low-yield wheat and barley, send the already meager harvest to the castle, and live with their families in a state of near-starvation.

’I don’t care about any of that,’ Leech thought. ’I’ll just grow them for my own people to eat. As long as I don’t advertise it, it should be fine.’

He could guess, though, that if the other nobles found out he was planting potatoes, they’d probably nickname him the "Potato Baron."

’The population has doubled. If I don’t plant potatoes, what are we going to eat?’

’I have to plant potatoes!’

Unfortunately, he hadn’t found any sweet potatoes yet. He figured that, like regular potatoes, they were probably looked down upon and not sold in the markets.

He wouldn’t mind adding "Baron Sweet Potato" to his list of titles. ’Roasted sweet potatoes... it’s been a while, and I’m really starting to crave them.’

Soon, a group of craftsmen was gathered before Leech.

In the past, a recruitment drive for Porcupine Territory would never have been this popular. The war was likely the reason. Waterfall Land was in chaos, and while craftsmen could make a good living anywhere, they were too afraid of being robbed by rogue soldiers to leave. The chance to leave with Baron Porcupine was an excellent opportunity.

"Blacksmiths? Of course, the more the merrier!"

Leech declared without even looking at them, "Blacksmiths. I’ll take every last one who’s willing to come!"

With a few more experienced, senior blacksmiths, the smithy could open several more production lines, and some metal products could be put on the schedule much sooner.

Whether they were masons, blacksmiths, or carpenters, Leech turned no one away. Still, their numbers were small.

The sailors were the most numerous. A dense crowd of them had formed, and it was still growing.

It couldn’t be helped. Leech’s sweeping recruitment of craftsmen had been astonishing. Whether old or young, as long as you were a craftsman, he would ask a few cursory questions and approve you.

He had even taken a blacksmith who was missing an arm.

’Can you still smith with only one arm?’

Leech didn’t care if the man could still forge. ’An old master has experience. It’s enough if he can train others on the production line. He can also serve as a line inspector.’

But to others, this meant something different: Leech wasn’t being picky at all. He’d take anyone who came forward.

"You’re a sailor?" Leech asked, looking at the boy before him, who couldn’t have been more than fifteen or sixteen. His skin was stretched so tight his ribs showed, and his arms were no thicker than sticks. Leech doubted he could even pull an oar.

"Yes, my lord!" the boy answered loudly. "I can row!"

"Can you hold your breath underwater?" Leech asked.

"I can!" With that, the boy turned and leaped into the adjacent river. The scrawny youth moved like a fish; with a single splash, he vanished beneath the surface.

A moment later, his head popped back up.

He wiped the water from his face with his hand, climbed back onto the bank, and looked at Leech with anticipation.

"Room and board provided, but no pay for now," Leech said. "We’ll see how you perform. If you pass, you can continue as a sailor."

Leech had no specific requirements for a "qualified" sailor, but that didn’t stop him from establishing the *concept* of qualification. ’The final right of interpretation belongs to the Baron, of course. First, I’ll say there are rules. As for what those rules are... I can fill in the details later.’

’Even if he doesn’t qualify, it doesn’t matter. Once he’s in Porcupine Territory, he’s my man. If he can’t be a sailor, he can be a mason, a farmer, or an apprentice. In any case, I’m definitely not letting him go.’

The boy nodded eagerly. Room and board were more than enough.

The next person to step forward was a woman.

Leech didn’t discriminate against women, but in this world, their status was extremely low.

Only upon reaching the ranks of the nobility did women become "respected."

This woman had a sturdy build, and her exposed arms were pure muscle.

"My lord, my name is Jenny," the woman said.

’She has a name!’

’That means her parents were at least literate.’

"Have you worked as a sailor?"

Jenny nodded. "My husband was a Captain."

"Then have your husband come forward."

He needed sailors, and he needed a Captain even more. What he didn’t need was a Captain’s wife.

"My lord, he’s dead."

"Are *you* a sailor?" Leech asked.

’I want sailors and Captains, not a dead man.’

’Unless he just died and hasn’t started to decompose yet.’

He had no interest in hearing the story of a Captain’s wife.

"I’m not a sailor," Jenny said, "but my lord, I have a ship’s log. It records the location of my husband’s lifelong treasure. If you’re willing to assemble a fleet for me, I can help you find it."

Leech gave her a long look, then said, "If you’re not a sailor, please leave."

’Why is a non-sailor even in this line?’

’A ship’s log? Treasure? What’s that got to do with me? There’s a small mountain of gold and a pile of silver in the Cape Grotto, and I can’t get my hands on that either, can I?’

’Besides,’ he thought, observing the woman, ’she doesn’t look like a sailor’s wife. She looks more like a Mercenary. She probably got her hands on some treasure map somewhere, just like Betty and her group of Mercenaries. I’m not about to be played for a fool.’

’Mercenaries have no professional ethics. You give them money for support, and they’ll just up and vanish the next day, leaving you with nothing to show for it.’

Jenny didn’t press the issue. After a simple, "My apologies for bothering you," she turned and walked away.

The next several prospective sailors were all unqualified; they were either trying to bluff their way in or weren’t sailors at all.

Others simply scoffed at the terms Leech was offering.

After some picking and choosing, he managed to gather a dozen or so people.

The objective was more or less complete.

Just as Leech was celebrating the success of his trip, the tale of the "Baron of Luck" was already spreading among the nobles of the East Gorge.

"He really is lucky," Becky mused from her bed. "The Divine Favored, the Baron of Luck, those pills, and now the honey."

Lately, the number of pills arriving from Porcupine Territory had started to dwindle. Becky had to order her Alchemists to divide the pills Leech sent into even smaller pieces, which naturally made them less effective. This had led to some minor disturbances, but Becky had forcefully suppressed them all.

She didn’t have the power to move against Leech. Her one capable subordinate, Kolan Fosak, had suddenly gone crazy, stolen a jeweled ring, and fled, only to be killed by the sword of an Iron Stone City Soldier.

Leech was also on close terms with the "Crocodiles" of Linta Bay. Even her own father wouldn’t want to start a conflict with Leech over a trivial matter of a few Jinri.

No, her father likely wouldn’t bat an eye even if it were several hundred Jinri.

A head rose from below her, gasping for air. "GASP! GASP!"

Becky reached out, grabbed the man’s head, and forcefully pushed it back down. "Put some effort into it! Don’t be lazy!"

His sudden movement had completely broken her train of thought.

The man whose head was being held down mumbled, "Yesmmph... SLURP."