Lord of Rot

Inside Iron Wall Castle, Leech stared at the raven’s message in his hand, his expression grave.

It was a single sentence.

"Besiege Longship Castle."

Leech crumpled the paper into a ball and turned to face Pitz, who had delivered the message.

He said, "Go and gather all the managers at once. I have something important to discuss."

"Yes, Lord!" Pitz nodded.

She let out a whistle, and one by one, black birds flew in and landed on the windowsill.

They had tufted feathers on their foreheads. Pitz had discovered them by chance and, after bringing them back, had used them as ordinary birds to patrol Iron Valley. However, Leech had unexpectedly recognized them and ordered Pitz to train them seriously and teach them how to speak.

That’s right—these large black birds were mynas, capable of learning human speech!

Pitz said to the mynas, "Go tell the managers to return to the castle immediately!"

"Return to the castle! Return to the castle!"

"Return to the castle! Return to the castle!"

The mynas repeated the phrase endlessly as they flew out of Iron Wall Castle.

Meanwhile, Leech was at his desk, writing a quick letter.

He handed it to Pitz. "Get this to Porcupine Territory immediately. The faster, the better!"

"Yes, Lord!" Pitz nodded, quickly finding an energetic raven. After tying the letter, she released the bird.

The managers gathered quickly. Those in the three distant villages certainly couldn’t make it back the same day; they would have to get the news from others when they arrived.

The nearby managers, however, all dropped what they were doing and rushed over.

A group of them stood in the council hall.

Leech’s gaze swept across the faces of the young nobles. After this period of training, some of their aristocratic pretension had been worn away. Their skin was tanner, and a light shone in each of their eyes.

They had thrown themselves wholeheartedly into the development of the territory. Only by truly touching power could they undergo such a transformation.

As for the fat manager, Hay, he had gotten even fatter.

Furthermore, because Lily had been suppressing the fat manager, Hay, on Leech’s orders recently, Hay had become increasingly cautious in his work.

Leech got straight to the point. "We have a war to fight!"

War!

The young nobles were instantly excited.

To win merit, there was only war!

Perhaps Leech had given them a path to gain merit and glory through development and construction, but the education they had received since childhood told them that the honor won in war was the most valuable of all!

Besides, war was also the fastest path to promotion.

’Never mind the distant past,’ they thought. ’Didn’t our own Lord become the master of Iron Valley through war?’

Leech continued, "As you all know, we have a very good relationship with Waterfall Land. More than half of all the grain in Iron Valley is supplied by them."

The crowd nodded. Having been here for a while, such news certainly hadn’t escaped their ears.

They also remembered that last year, the bastard Wado Eighteen had seized Leech’s slaves, and Leech had marched directly into Waterfall Land and chopped off Wado Eighteen’s head.

Their friendship must have been forged at that time.

"The grain in Porcupine Territory will be ready for harvest in a month, but it can’t feed over ten thousand mouths," Leech said. "Our relationship with Monkey Territory has never been good. If we let them capture Longship Castle and take control of Waterfall Land, it will become incredibly difficult for us to buy grain in the future!"

After explaining how this crisis threatened the entire territory’s development, Leech moved on to smaller reasons.

"The family motto of the Porcupines is ’Covered in Spines!’ Longship Castle is our friend. Since they are under siege, we must help them and strike back against those disgusting monkeys!"

Leech knew very well that even if he hadn’t said any of this, the young nobles were eager to follow him to the battlefield right now.

But the reasons for war had to be made clear; a just cause was needed. These reasons weren’t for the young nobles before him. As members of the aristocracy—though they held no titles and seemed low in status—they were still nobles and could share in the spoils of war.

Leech’s words were meant for the soldiers.

’Why should we care about the fate of another territory when our own lives are going well?’

Morale is an intangible thing. Every person is a living, breathing individual, and this sentiment is very real.

It was a case of "if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold." If Waterfall Land falls, Monkey Territory could cut off our grain supply or raise the price. Besides, Waterfall Land is our friend. How could we not fight this war?!

When the motivation shifts from helping others to helping oneself, people are instantly filled with drive.

"I need some of you to stay behind and continue managing Iron Valley’s development. The rest of you will come with me to the battlefield!" Leech said, looking at the young nobles.

"Lord, I want to follow you to the battlefield!"

"Lord, I want to go too!"

"Lord, let us slaughter those treacherous monkeys!"

Leech had almost forgotten that the Monkey Clan had a terrible reputation. Especially in the eyes of Knights, who revered the "charge," the monkeys—who believed "the wise excels at hiding"—were no better than rats hiding in a gutter. Their reputation was abysmal.

Leech said, "I need people to stay. Iron Wall Castle is our rear guard. And if we need reinforcements later, those who remain can receive my message and head directly to the battlefield."

He looked at the crowd and asked, "Alright, who wants to stay?"

...

The raven flew along the coast and finally reached Porcupine Territory.

Gelan, busy arranging work for the newly arrived slaves, suddenly heard someone calling his name. He stopped what he was doing and turned to look.

It was a male servant from the castle.

"What is it?" Gelan asked.

"A letter from the Lord!" The servant handed the letter to Gelan.

Letters sent back by the Lord were usually given to the grand steward, Gelan. If Gelan was unavailable, they might be given to Lacy, Quick-Blade, or Joe.

Kro Camel, on the other hand, was not even considered. He would only be sought out as a last resort.

Taking the letter and unrolling it with his forefinger, Gelan’s expression changed instantly.

He said, "Go inform Sir Quick-Blade and Sir Lacy at once!"

...

The two Knights of Porcupine Territory galloped to the castle as soon as they received the news, but they couldn’t find Gelan anywhere inside.

Just as they were about to ask someone, they saw Gelan running up, out of breath.

"What happened?" Quick-Blade asked.

Gelan handed the letter over directly. Quick-Blade didn’t take it; Lacy, at his side, reached out, took the letter, and quickly scanned the contents.

Facing Quick-Blade, who was staring at him with eager anticipation, Lacy said, "Monkey Territory has made a move against Waterfall Land. The Lord orders us to immediately dispatch a portion of our soldiers to Iron Wall Castle to help Waterfall Land defend against the Monkey Clan!"

"Haha, I’ve been itching for a fight with those monkeys for a long time!" Quick-Blade exclaimed with delight.

He had been ordered to lead a team to Giant’s Foot to participate in the Burning City war, where he’d had dealings with the Monkey Clan. He had no fondness for those sinister people.

"What else?" Quick-Blade asked. "Didn’t the Lord say what we should bring?"

"He did," Lacy nodded. "The Lord said to bring the armor we’ve forged recently, and the firearms."

Quick-Blade immediately said, "Then what are we waiting for! I’ll go select the soldiers! Sir Lacy, I’ll need you to make a trip to the alchemy workshop."

"Alright!"

The entire mobilization process was incredibly fast. From receiving the letter and relaying the orders to all the departing soldiers finishing their assembly, and loading the armor, firearms, Alchemy Bombs, and other weapons onto the ship to await departure—the whole process took less than half an afternoon.

The four-armed Mercenary, Trevor, was also taken along.

A desperate battlefield would be incomplete without him.

At present, neither Lacy nor Quick-Blade could leave Porcupine Territory. More than four thousand slaves were waiting for them; they were tied down.

Besides, their presence or absence wouldn’t have a major impact on this battle.

The Porcupine set sail for Iron Valley.

Meanwhile, after giving all his orders and now just waiting for the weapons and armor from Porcupine Territory to arrive, Leech mounted Rocket and soared into the sky.

Iron Valley and Waterfall Land were adjacent territories, but because Iron Valley was mountainous, the roads were impassable. There were even some peaks so high that not even Rocket had the ability to cross them.

Flying high above the clouds, Rocket flew with all its might. Leech looked down, using the river below to determine his position.

An hour or two later, Leech said, "Descend!"

Rocket immediately descended.

"Stop!"

He could see it clearly from the air. Tents flying the Monkey Banner were already camped outside Longship Castle, a dense, dark mass.

’Is the old monkey planning to throw everything he has into this?’ Leech’s expression was strange.

Based on a rough count of the tents, he estimated there were at least 1,000 to 2,000 soldiers besieging Longship Castle!

Unlike militia, most of these soldiers wore iron armor that glinted in the sunlight.

’The difference in numbers is huge, and they have siege engines. Longship Castle won’t hold out for long.’

Leech couldn’t figure out what the old monkey was thinking, why he would suddenly launch an all-out assault.

He didn’t descend any further. Until he could be certain whether the enemy had a Transcendent capable of threatening an aerial creature, he would absolutely not charge into battle alone.

However, this distance was close enough for Leech to establish a mental connection with the two Corpse Ghosts inside Longship Castle.

In that instant, Leech understood the whole story.

Some time ago, La Bill had come to Longship Castle to discuss a partnership with Guy. He wanted Guy’s help to become the Monkey Lord Baron, and in return, La would use his power to help Guy replace Wado and become the new Baron.

At that time, Corpse Ghost Guy, whose mission was to buy time, agreed without hesitation.

However, not even the Corpse Ghost had expected that La Bill, who had been negotiating a partnership just last month, would suddenly arrive with soldiers. He drove away all the ships in the Shuijian River’s bay, forcibly seized control of the river, and marched north to the outskirts of Longship Castle.

He didn’t launch a full-scale attack, instead focusing on a siege supplemented by harassment.

Aside from a few occasional nighttime attempts to breach the walls, which were discovered and thwarted by the two tireless Corpse Ghosts, there had been no other major actions.

The encampment was stationed right outside.

The Monkey Banner fluttered in the wind.

The 500 soldiers of Longship Castle, clad in leather and cloth armor, stood guard on the walls without a shred of confidence in their hearts. They lived every day in fear.

Countless ravens had been sent out, but only one had been lucky enough to reach Iron Valley with the message.

So, by the time Leech learned of the situation and rushed over, the siege had already been going on for a long time.

"Very good!"

Leech gently patted Rocket and said, "Back to Iron Wall Castle!"

"COO!"

Rocket turned around and flew back toward Iron Valley.

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