Chapter 521: All Bugs Belong to Arkke

“Of course, my lady. If not for the urgent matters awaiting my attention in my domain, and a mountain of troubles causing me no end of headaches, I would be truly loath to miss the opportunity to dine with you.”

Leech smiled, gently pulling away the noblewoman who was practically plastering herself against him.

Pleasantries were necessary. He couldn’t possibly speak harshly to victims of a kidnapping, especially since this had given him the chance to meet a group of noblewomen who had, both overtly and covertly, expressed interest in having their families’ children swear fealty to him.

He had been poaching talent for a while now, but peasants and nobles were two different things. It wasn’t just about their level of knowledge; nobles came with their own inherent influence. It was a venture that was all profit, no loss.

He had just pushed one away when his left arm was immediately clamped down upon.

She hugged Leech’s arm tightly, whimpering, “I really don’t know how to thank you. I was so scared.”

Leech thought to himself, ‘Now *I’m* the one who’s scared. Are you all secretly spiders, planning to play with me before killing and eating me?’

He maintained his smile as he extracted his arm from the tight space. “I’ve already sent someone to contact Vito. He’ll be here with his men soon.”

After using every trick in the book, Leech finally managed to break free from the encirclement of sirens.

To be honest, they didn’t smell very pleasant. Even if they were once refined, elegant, and infinitely charming ladies, they were now no better than streetwalkers from the slums.

Two of them even carried the distinct smell of urine from stress-induced incontinence, but Leech remained perfectly gentle, not letting himself show any sign of revulsion.

If they hadn’t kept closing in with such intimate expressions, their faces practically screaming ‘you’re not a boy anymore’, Leech wouldn’t have been so scared. He suspected they were doing it on purpose.

‘Perhaps after such a harrowing experience, people just crave a release?’

In the distance, the Tangkx Scholar, who was sitting in a carriage, opened the door and watched Leech surrounded by a crowd of “disheveled” and “stinky” women. She shook her head with a “tsk tsk.” While she had some idea of the Baron’s popularity, today’s events were beyond her expectations.

Several small heads popped out from behind her, watching curiously.

“Nothing for kids to see here.” The Tangkx Scholar reached out, pushed the small heads back, and shut the carriage door.

…

Vito arrived in a flurry. His expression changed noticeably when he saw the noblewomen with Leech.

It seemed he had already guessed who the mole was but felt it was inappropriate to say so in front of Leech.

“Thank you so much for your help!” Vito said formally. “The situation is a bit unstable right now, and the trouble I’m dealing with… Otherwise, I would definitely…”

Leech shook his head. “It was nothing.”

‘The situation in Giant’s Foot is worse than I imagined. To think the prince’s number one fixer would be this constrained… East Gorge is just as chaotic. The pot’s calling the kettle black. Everyone’s itching for a fight right now. It’s been four or five years without a war, and many are getting restless.’

After seeing Vito and his men off, Leech resumed his journey home. He had given the corpses and the Rhino Horns to the Water Nymph. She would finish collecting everything, then wait for Leech to pick up the items at Horse-headed Eagle.

After a long journey, he finally set foot in the territory of Iron Valley. The road ahead was undulating, but the surface was relatively smooth.

Leech looked with satisfaction at his much-changed domain. The lifeblood of the territory was its migrant workers, who bustled to and fro, creating a lively atmosphere.

Black smoke billowed wantonly from the brick kiln, making Iron Valley look anything but idle.

「That night.」

Two items, carried by the wind, were delivered into Leech’s hands.

One was the Extraordinary precipitate from the Eagle-headed Bear, and the other was a strange iron box.

“It’s magically sealed. There’s a complex mechanism on it. Unlocking it would require not only outstanding Magic Ability, but also powerful computational skills.” Leech held the iron box and shook it, but he couldn’t hear any sound from within.

He tried to unlock it but, as expected, had no success.

‘They were just a tribe of desperate people at the end of their rope. Why would they have something like this?’

‘They probably found it or stole it. Most likely, they got it from one of the noblewomen.’

However, from what Leech knew, those noblewomen were from average families. The wealthiest among them was a Baroness whose family was quite ordinary, with an estimated annual income of no more than 50 Jinri. It was impossible for her to obtain such a sophisticated item. Besides, what could she possibly own that was valuable enough to store inside?

‘Wait, my own year-end summary showed my income was only about 50, right? Come to think of it, I’m not that rich either.’

After several fruitless attempts, Leech decided to wait until morning and give it to the Tangkx Scholar to study.

‘I still need to make a trip to the desert.’ There was still a small red dot in his vision. Establishing a secure burrow was very important. It wasn’t just about a clever rabbit having three burrows; as someone with a mild case of OCD, letting that red dot linger in his sight for so long was making him very uncomfortable.

‘Should I open a portal?’

‘Never mind. Best not to go teleporting around until Du Ao’s Teleportation Skill is fully mastered.’

He was close to mastering the Teleportation Skill himself. His would be safer and more stable.

‘Magic… it really isn’t that hard.’

…

「Giant’s Foot, near the Koso Mountain Range.」

A crowd of people had squeezed together to form a large circle.

More and more people gathered.

The waitress from the Minotaur Tavern, a face Leech knew quite well, struggled through the crowd. Gazing at the barefoot man in tattered clothes, her cheeks were flushed and her voice was filled with emotion. “Saint Ron, I wish to pray to you.”

The man smiled. “Of course, madam.”

People clustered together. No matter how wild they were outside the circle, they consciously lowered their voices as they drew near him. The effect spread from one person to another. The small village, usually home to the most Barbarians, madmen, and scoundrels, was now completely silent.

The man called Saint Ron listened gently to each person’s prayer and offered his response.

The Night could not stop the crowd’s piety. Even some adventurers who did not originally believe in nature, who had approached with a “since I’m here anyway” attitude and offered a prayer, were soon overcome by the cathartic release of their pent-up emotions and chose to become Believers of Naturalism.

This unexpected ceremony continued until dawn.

After the last person had spoken, Saint Ron stood up and left. By the time people came to their senses, he was long gone. But the peace in their hearts was undeniable, and so their faith in nature grew even more devout.

In a clearing not far from the Koso Mountain Range, Saint Ron, who had just been listening to prayers moments before, now had a person kneeling before him.

“The body was found, but the item is gone.”

“The Holy Water is precious. It is a gift from the gods to the world.”

“Too many people are involved in this,” the kneeling person said. “It’s impossible to investigate. It’s all because of those damned tribesmen. If it weren’t for them, the person would have been delivered to East Gorge long ago. I also asked the survivors; no one saw the box containing the Holy Water.”

Saint Ron pondered for a moment. “Then let’s wait. Perhaps this failure is also guidance from the gods.”

“You’re right!” the kneeling person said, pleasantly surprised.

“The next batch of Holy Water will hatch soon,” he said. “I need you to deliver it as quickly as possible.”

“Yes, yes, of course!”

…

“It’s open!”

After sunrise, Leech went to find the Tangkx Scholar with the mindset of ‘why not use the tool person you have on hand?’. With her Magic Mastery, they succeeded in opening the box after a few experiments.

“What is this stuff?”

Leech stared at the contents of the box.

A mass of writhing, viscous black liquid.

He was about to lean in for a closer look when a “droplet” suddenly flew up and shot toward his eyeball. Thankfully, he reacted quickly, jumping back and slamming the box shut.

The black droplet traced a parabola through the air, landed on the floor, and continued to writhe.

He looked at the Tangkx Scholar. She shook her head, indicating she had no idea what this strange thing was.

So Leech had someone bring a long needle and used it to pick the thing up. “It looks like some kind of parasite. I guess coelenterates have a strong Life Force?”

“I’ll take it to East Gorge later and have Arkke take a look.”

She should be able to control any conceptual “bug.”