Lord of Rot

Radish and his sister split a loaf of black bread, then hid the other one. They couldn’t count on getting food every day. Even if the Lord was telling the truth, the overseers wouldn’t necessarily follow his orders.

Many others, like Radish and his sister, couldn’t bring themselves to eat everything and hid their bread away. Everyone cherished this food.

At night, they huddled together and fell asleep.

Aside from the ravens that often flew overhead, it was a quiet night.

With full bellies, they slept soundly.

Early the next morning, just as the sky began to lighten, the slaves were ordered to get up.

It was the same limping slave overseer. Radish heard others call the man "Mad Dog"—a mad dog who bit indiscriminately.

The crowd gathered together. The limping Mad Dog was being supported by his son.

"Yesterday, a slave ignored the Lord’s command!" the limping overseer shouted. "Everyone received a loaf of black bread, yet someone dared to steal from another!"

The slaves were silent. This sort of thing happened from time to time.

The overseers usually wouldn’t have cared, and no one would seek justice for a slave. But today, something seemed different.

Radish quietly felt for the black bread tucked into his clothes. ’Thank goodness it’s still here,’ he thought. ’Those bad guys didn’t target us.’

"Bring him here!"

Radish recognized the one who had stolen the black bread. The man had no name, but he was blind in one eye, so everyone called him "Blind-Eye."

Blind-Eye was pinned to the ground by several other slaves. He was already covered in wounds; it looked like he had been thoroughly whipped before being dragged out.

"This is the one." The limping man’s gaze swept over the rows of numb faces. His eyes met Radish’s, and a jolt of terror shot through the boy, as if the overseer was about to kill him right there.

Radish then heard the man shout, "What the master gives you is yours! You are not permitted to steal what you have not been given!"

The limping overseer said, "Chop off his hand!"

They had no knives, but they had stones. One of the slaves walked to the side, hoisted up a large rock, and slowly approached.

"I was wrong! I was wrong! I’ll never do it again, I was wrong!" Blind-Eye screamed, but his hand was pinned, and he couldn’t pull it back.

Radish instinctively covered his sister’s eyes. He knew what was coming would be bloody.

"The Lord is here!"

"The master is here!"

The sound of horse hooves approached from the distance.

The slave holding the rock and the limping overseer immediately knelt. Seeing this, the other slaves quickly knelt as well. Radish pulled his sister down to her knees. He dared a quick glance: it was the nobleman who had bought them, the one he had secretly peeked at once before.

Just one glance!

To look any longer meant getting a beating.

"Ark, what is going on here?" the Lord asked without dismounting.

Ark, still kneeling, answered, "A slave stole another’s bread yesterday. I was going to chop off one of his hands."

"That’s too drastic," the Lord said. "A minor punishment will do for now. If he offends again, the punishment will be severe."

"Thank you, Master!" Blind-Eye slammed his forehead against the ground in gratitude.

"Yes," Ark replied, not daring to show the slightest hint of doubt.

"I need to speak with you," the Lord said.

Mad Dog followed the Lord away, and the slaves breathed a collective sigh of relief. Even though the limping man in charge of them was a mad dog, at least their Lord was kind-hearted.

As long as they were careful not to make mistakes, Mad Dog wouldn’t dare to do much to them, lest he face the Lord’s wrath.

Leech dismounted and watched as Ark was helped toward him.

"Master."

"I met a Knight on my trip to Iron Stone City," Leech said, getting straight to the point. There was no need to beat around the bush with his own slave. "Years ago, he encountered a group of people. A woman was tied to a wooden frame, her stomach had been cut open, and insects—endless insects—were crawling out. Do you know anything about that?"

Ark nodded. "You must be referring to the Wild Insect Tribe."

"The Wild Insect Tribe?"

"In the Giant’s Foot, in the south of the Lu Leiyi Continent," Ark said. "We are the last of the Wild Insect Tribe. What you described must be some kind of demonic Magic Spell they used."

"Can you do it?" Leech asked.

Ark shook his head. "I and my three children can control insects, but only those within a few paces of us."

’If I wanted to know whether Ark was telling the truth,’ Leech thought, ’the easiest way would be to kill him or one of his sons and control the corpse. I might be able to obtain a memory fragment.’

Leech didn’t do it, however. He was merely curious about that memory. Besides, if Ark truly possessed such power, how could he have ended up a slave? ’Maybe your abilities can bring change to Porcupine Territory,’ he thought. "Go back to your work," he said aloud. "Perhaps your children will one day be able to escape their status as slaves."

"Yes!" Ark replied, overjoyed. ’For my children, I can keep being the Mad Dog. A limping dog, yes, but the most vicious, ruthless, and terrifying one of them all!’

"Gelan has a task for you," the Baron said before riding away.

Ark returned and got back to work, having received his orders from Gelan.

"Men and women, separate!" Ark commanded. "Children, stand here! Women and the elderly, over here!"

Though just a boy, Radish was of average height and was put into the men’s group. His sister joined the children’s group.

"Sister!" He wanted to stay with her, afraid she’d be bullied. A whip cracked—WHIP!—and he quickly drew back his hand. All he could do was call out a warning: "Be good!"

Yes, be good.

’Be good and you get black bread. Be good and you don’t get beaten. In Porcupine Territory, you have to be good.’ This was the path to survival he had discovered. Otherwise, even someone as strong as Blind-Eye would only get a whipping for disobedience.

The groups split up. Radish followed his team to cut down trees. Armed with saws and axes, they worked with all their might in the forest.

One by one, the trees were felled.

They were ordered to carry the logs to a designated spot, working under the direction of someone called Black Ears. ’Is he a carpenter? Or a mason?’ Radish wondered. ’His building skills are terrible.’

Radish could only think such things, of course. He would never dare say them aloud.

At noon, just as their stomachs were rumbling, black bread and hot soup were delivered.

Radish looked into his bowl and saw, to his surprise, a small shred of meat.

He quickly ate the meat. ’So good!’

Licking his bowl clean, he savored the lingering taste. He had already eaten the bread from last night, so he decided to save this new loaf for his sister.

That evening, when he returned to the slave quarters exhausted, Radish saw his sister.

"I saved something for you," he said, walking over and whispering.

"I’m full," his sister said, patting her belly. "I ate a lot."

"We spent the day logging. What did you do?" Radish couldn’t imagine what work a group of children could possibly do.

"Picking up dung."

His sister explained, "We each got a basket and picked up all the dung in the territory. We also went to the seashore to gather shells and catch sea spiders!"

’That doesn’t sound like work at all,’ he thought. ’It sounds like they were playing.’

’Well, whatever. As long as we can eat our fill, it’s good.’

’This life is so good,’ Radish thought, holding his sister as they fell asleep.

A raven flew overhead.

’It’s that one again.’ Radish recognized the raven. It came often, stopping for just a moment before flying off again.

The raven beat its wings and flew off into the distance.

In the castle study, Leech opened his eyes.

’As long as no one is making trouble, it’s fine.’

Indeed, all he asked was that no one cause trouble. Porcupine Territory had a population of around 200, and now nearly 100 new slaves had been added. He didn’t even have any Soldiers. If the slaves truly wanted to hang their Lord, the few men in the town watch would be utterly useless.

Men building houses, women digging sand for roads, children collecting dung and foraging at the shoreline.

Everyone having a job was essential right now. It was a solution for the surplus labor, a problem created by the lack of skilled personnel needed for more formal development.

With work to do and food to eat, people wouldn’t make trouble, and Porcupine Territory would get a decent road out of it.

Since Porcupine Territory had no masons or carpenters, the blacksmith’s apprentice, Black Ears, who knew a little bit about everything, was put on the job again. As long as no one cared how they looked, he should be able to build some houses for the slaves to live in.

He picked up his pen and continued to write and sketch at his desk.