Lord of Rot

Unbeknownst to anyone, as the slave ship departed, a pure gold figure gave chase from the depths of the water.

The whole of Porcupine Territory buzzed with activity.

The 4,614 slaves from Gaoxue City were double the entire current population of Porcupine Territory.

Leech couldn’t spare much manpower to manage this group.

May was the perfect season for work. Flowers were in full bloom, which meant the honey trade route was sure to be profitable.

With summer approaching, selling beer would be no problem either.

Not to mention, as the weather warmed, bathing became easier, and soap sales were bound to skyrocket.

Winter crops were nearly ready for harvest, and the carpentry workshop and smithy were busy crafting all manner of things.

Whenever Leech tried to pull people away, his foremen would give him a pained look. They truly couldn’t spare anyone, or the workshops would have to shut down.

No part of Porcupine Territory’s operations could be sacrificed. Everything was stable and improving, so he had to eliminate any risks.

With no other choice, Leech called a meeting with his senior managers.

They eventually came to a barely workable solution: put some of the slaves directly to work on construction projects. Instead of teaching them the rules first, they would learn on the job.

The others, those less capable of work—such as the seriously ill, women, and children—would focus on education and training. Once this group was trained, they could then help teach the other slaves.

This was especially true for the children. Leech even planned, once the economy could support it, to have them begin their studies from a young age. By the time they grew up, they would surely be as capable as any typical, mediocre noble like Kro Camel.

"Everything else can be delayed," Leech stressed to his managers, "but on one point, there is no compromise: if they can be saved, don’t let them die. Ensure no slave starves to death, and do your best to see that none die from sickness."

"Yes, sir!" The managers of Porcupine Territory were filled with vigor.

The population of Porcupine Territory had now leaped to over 6,700. Adding the 4,000-plus people in Iron Valley, Leech now had more than ten thousand mouths to feed.

’How many people are on the whole Lu Leiyi Continent? Sixty or seventy million? Maybe a bit more, but definitely under a hundred million. Well, it could even be two hundred million. The Lu Leiyi Continent has always been in turmoil, and there’s never been a true unification, so a census is out of the question.’

The Lu Leiyi Kingdom, as it is now, is only peaceful on the surface.

’In any case, I must rank among the top one or two thousand lords on the continent now, right?’

’But the most important thing right now is to get these people settled in the shortest time possible, and make sure they don’t cause any trouble.’

Leech’s method was quite simple.

He had the carpenters mass-produce wooden tags, with numbers written on them by hand.

These wooden tags could be used for quick and easy grouping, assigning lodgings, and so on.

A more detailed assignment process could wait until time was less of an issue.

’One step at a time,’ he thought. ’The first priority is to prevent chaos.’

...

"Time to eat!"

The aroma of food drifted over, and the slaves instantly broke into a clamor.

They craned their necks, staring eagerly in the direction the smell was coming from.

Horse-drawn carts approached one after another, piled high with large barrels.

But no one dared to rush forward and snatch the food. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to. After months confined to the ship’s hold, often eating only once every few days, their bodies had long since lost all strength.

"Line up in an orderly fashion to get your food! Form ten lines! Everyone gets a share!" a one-legged, middle-aged man shouted from a high perch, leaning on a staff. "But if you don’t follow the rules, or if you’re caught cutting in line, you’ll lose your meal for today!"

The slaves stared at him, their eyes wide with longing.

At his call, they shuffled forward.

Behave, and you get to eat.

Disobey, and you get beaten.

Anyone who had been a slave for even a day knew the drill, so everyone was well-behaved.

Things went far more smoothly than the slave overseer, Ark, had anticipated. To maintain order, he had even borrowed thirty musketeers and ten cavalrymen from Quickblade, ready to make an example of someone at the first sign of trouble.

’The Lord said no killing, but beating them half to death should be fine, right?’

Having spent every day among the slaves, Ark understood the mindset of these people at the bottom perfectly. They lived hand-to-mouth, scrounging for whatever they could get. Getting caught meant a beating, sure, but the food in their belly was real.

As for tomorrow... a slave never dreams of tomorrow.

’Even if the Lord reprimands me, I’ll still do it this way.’

Ark knew full well how difficult it was to manage so many slaves. Treat them with the Lord’s kind of mercy, and they’d grow audacious—give them an inch and they’d take a mile. Eventually, they would lose all sense of awe.

’And my role,’ Ark thought, ’is to make sure these slaves never lose their reverence for the Lord. To make them know fear, so they can truly understand the Lord’s mercy and greatness...’

A small, thin figure shuffled along with the line, finally reaching the front.

The woman distributing the food looked up at Luca. "A loaf of bread and a bowl of soup," she said. "You’re too thin, child. You need to eat more."

A loaf of dark bread was pressed into Luca’s hands. It was hot and heavy, and his arm dipped slightly under the weight.

Next came a bowl of somewhat murky soup with globules of fat floating on the surface.

He didn’t know what the ingredients were, but he could tell from the smell that it was definitely a meat broth.

’Am I dreaming?’ Luca thought. ’Can a slave like me really eat something like this?’

"Thank you," Luca said, holding the soup bowl.

But the woman distributing the food said to him, "I was a slave once, too."

’She was a slave, too?’

Her clothes were clean and tidy, with no holes or patches. Her hair was neatly styled, and she wore a clean white apron.

’If she hadn’t said so, Luca would have thought she was an elegant maid from a castle, responsible for serving noble lords.’

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