Lord of Rot

Leech said, "Tell me the details."

He adopted a casual, conversational posture to put Joe at ease.

"Yes," Joe nodded, took another swig of beer, and continued, "We were passing through Waterfall Land, looking to rent a boat to cross the river. As it happened, we ran into a group of peasants blocking the road. Luckily, we were better armed and had a good number of men."

Joe said, a lingering fear in his voice, "But we were still harassed. We lost quite a few men to sneak attacks, though we killed many of them in return."

"After a difficult river crossing, I ran into Lord Wisdom’s troops. Miss Wisdom was the one leading them."

Perhaps knowing his lord might marry that young lady, Joe glanced at Leech, only to find his expression unchanged.

In reality, a million questions were racing through Leech’s mind.

’Could Cousin Stacy be two-faced? From her letters, she seems like a gentle, artistic young noblewoman. Why would she be out leading patrols?’

’Don’t tell me my cousin—the one who could make me cry for ages with a single slap—has a split personality?’

Joe continued, "After asking around, I found out that Baron Shuijian died from an illness a while back. The Baron had no heirs and left no will. The Baroness is temporarily in control of Longship Castle."

This kind of situation was rare; the Lu Leiyi Continent probably had no experience handling such matters.

When a noble dies, they look for an heir among illegitimate children, collateral branches, and so on. No illegitimate children, no collateral branches? Are you kidding me? Are you even a noble?

Without her husband, the Baroness of Waterfall Land could not possibly control Longship Castle. She didn’t have Wado family blood; she was an outsider.

Even if the other nobles wouldn’t act openly—for the sake of appearances and because they lacked a legitimate claim—they would definitely be eyeing her position with envy from the shadows, plotting to bring her down or force her to concede most of her interests, gradually carving up Waterfall Land.

Leech could even quickly list a whole batch of minor lords with no land or money. Only those pathetic types would swarm toward a sliver of profit like flies to filth, as if that land was ever going to be divided among them.

"The serfs and commoners won’t revolt over this," Leech said.

Even if the lord is a woman, life goes on the same. What’s the difference? It’s a game for nobles. Commoners are better off staying out of it. At most, it just gives them something new to gossip about.

"Exactly," Joe nodded. "The reason things are getting stirred up is because someone is claiming to be the late Baron Shuijian’s illegitimate son."

"An illegitimate son?"

’He had the ability to produce an illegitimate son, but couldn’t get his own wife to bear a son or a daughter?’

If the Baroness were infertile, the scholars could have determined it. The medicine on Lu Leiyi might not be systematic—some fools even still used bloodletting or bile-drawing—but they had their ways when it came to fertility.

’The illegitimate son is probably a fake.’

Joe nodded helplessly. "The guy stirring up trouble when we passed through Waterfall Land was supposedly the sixteenth person to claim to be the illegitimate son. But that man didn’t look like Baron Shuijian’s son... he looked more like his... father."

"Hahaha!" Leech couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

"Wado the Sixteenth? A son older than his own father?"

Joe nodded helplessly. Although he also found it inexplicably funny, they were talking about a noble. His own lord could laugh, but he certainly couldn’t. "Every so often, Longship Castle sends out soldiers to wipe out the so-called illegitimate son’s followers. They capture them, interrogate them, and after getting a signed confession and making a public announcement, they execute them."

Leech nodded in agreement.

’Even if everyone knows the illegitimate son is a fake, you can’t just kill him outright. You have to interrogate him, get a confession signed, announce it publicly, and *then* execute him. That way, no one can use it against you.’

’That Baroness has some patience, but I’d guess she’s about at her limit.’

’The people behind this know she’s in a bind. Her control over Longship Castle isn’t legitimate, so they can keep using these disgusting tactics to cause trouble.’

Leech said, "Her best move right now is to get pregnant, though that won’t solve her immediate predicament."

Joe nodded. "Yes, just as you said, my lord. The Baroness of Waterfall Land has announced that she is pregnant. One month along, she says. The seed was sown a few days before Baron Shuijian’s death."

’A man dying in his sickbed still had the energy for that? Well, it doesn’t matter.’

"We don’t know if the pregnancy is real or not," Leech said. "It can only be considered a stalling tactic. And while kingdom law states that an illegitimate child has no right of inheritance, laws are..."

An illegitimate son may not have inheritance rights, but if the nobles backing the pretender all push together, it wouldn’t be difficult for him to be legitimized and granted the family name.

All it would take is a nod from Leopold, the liege lord to whom Waterfall Land owes fealty.

From what Leech had seen of the Leopold siblings and their attitude toward their own illegitimate half-sibling, they couldn’t care less who the lord was. And rather than assign a wealthy territory to another noble family and strengthen their wings, it would be far better to install a puppet—an illegitimate son—to hold the place, occupy the seat, and then remove him and reclaim the territory whenever it suited them.

So, the chances of the Golden Thorn giving his approval were very high.

"If the Baroness can’t hold them off, and the illegitimate son successfully captures Longship Castle, then," Leech paused, then continued, "that fellow, Wado the sixteenth or twentieth or whatever, will be able to shed his illegitimate status and become the new Baron of Longship Castle. And the unborn child... will have no reason to be born at all."

That’s just how reality is. If the Baroness is truly pregnant and gives birth to a child, all this noise will die down. The illegitimate son will slink back to the fields and go back to grubbing for food.

As for whether the child the Baroness gives birth to is actually Baron Shuijian’s... anything that comes from the Baroness’s womb is, by definition, the Baron’s child!

In contrast, some old man who crawled out of who-knows-what woman’s belly can only ever be an illegitimate son.

The current situation is that sixteen illegitimate sons have already popped up, but the Baroness only claims to be one month pregnant. Even if the baby comes prematurely, that’s still eight months away. Eight months is more than enough time for Longship Castle to change hands.

It sounds complicated, but in reality, it all comes down to who has the bigger fist.

Having finished discussing Waterfall Land, Joe moved on to his trip to Green Forest Castle. A trade route with Linta Bay had been essentially secured. Porcupine Territory will supply Green Forest Castle with honey, but they have been forbidden from selling honey directly to the merchants of Linta Bay.

Green Forest Castle wants all the honey—as much as they can get.

’Looks like my grandfather, the Old Crocodile, is also bullish on honey. He wants to use Porcupine Territory as his supplier—buy wholesale from me and sell it retail at a high markup.’

"Don’t worry," Leech said. "We have the honey. You think buyers won’t come to us?"

The merchants from Linta Bay will soon follow the sweet scent of honey here. It’ll happen after three or four trades with Green Forest Castle at the latest.

"You can sell the honey to Green Forest Castle a bit cheaper, let my grandfather earn a little more," Leech instructed. "If any merchants ask you about honey, you can tell them that Porcupine Territory has it, but in Linta Bay, *only* Green Forest Castle has it!"

For the sake of profit, merchants will not refuse a long journey.

As long as there is enough profit to be made.

This was the perfect way to attract a group of merchants and stimulate economic growth in Porcupine Territory.

"Oh, right. Lord Wisdom asked me to tell you that there will be a ball in July. It’s Miss Stacy’s 20th birthday ball," Joe said.

"Looks like I’m being set up."

Leech shrugged.

He wasn’t in such a hurry to live off a wealthy wife anymore.

Before, Porcupine Territory was poor and deserted.

Now, he had honey, and a small mountain of gold and silver in the cavern on the headland.

His soldiers had returned, and their numbers had expanded to one hundred men.

’How nice it would be to live a comfortable life on my own terms. I don’t want someone else coming in and telling me what to do. Still, now that Porcupine Territory has honey, my grandfather isn’t about to let such a good match get away. I’m not afraid, though. Worst comes to worst, I’ll just marry my cousin. But as for who calls the shots, well, that’ll depend on our respective skills. Honestly, I just want my territory to be my own one-man show. No scheming, just quietly building infrastructure, farming the land, and happily leading my people to a future where they are well-fed and well-clothed. Isn’t that the dream?’

’The problem is, external factors don’t just appear when you need them, nor can you simply cast them aside when you don’t.’