Chapter 524: Ice Blades and Snowball Fight

When Leech opened his eyes in the morning, he immediately noticed the change in the temperature outside.

It was a heavy snow, one that had held off until December.

He got up, threw on some clothes, and opened the window to look outside.

The entire Porcupine Territory was already covered in a thick white blanket.

Thick flakes of snow were still falling. Outside the castle, he saw several young children rolling around in the snow. But they were soon pursued by women wielding sticks, and none managed to escape. After a good spanking, they all obediently followed their mothers home.

“Watching them makes me want to go out and play, too.”

He picked up the bell on the table and shook it lightly. Soon, his manservant, Hayfork, came trotting over. “My lord.”

“Help me find an outfit,” Leech said. “And get the fireplace going.”

The issue in the castle wasn’t as simple as a lack of heating. The rooms were vast, and the heat from a fire would quickly rise to the high ceilings, making it very difficult to warm the space.

Fortunately, he was the lord and didn’t need to worry about wasting resources. His comfort was the top priority.

‘If Du Ao weren’t a black dragon but a Fire Dragon, I’d have my own personal hand warmer right now.’

“Yes, my lord.”

With his manservant’s help, Leech changed his clothes and put on a thick fur coat.

After a hot breakfast, Leech took a book and sat before the fireplace. He spent the leisurely snowy day sipping hot milk tea and idly flipping through the pages.

Though he appeared to be reading, his mind was actually focused on observing the exploration of the underground world.

Kaqi was a Corpse Ghost Leech could rely on. Palace Level Corpse Ghosts all possessed outstanding abilities. But as Kaqi’s party grew ever larger, problems inevitably began to emerge.

‘But the more subordinates I have, the greater the inevitable strain on the food supply. Using a portal to send food into the underground world is highly impractical.’

‘With my current income, feeding a hundred or so of these chaotic creatures isn’t an issue. But for a much larger number, the portal would have to stay open for too long. The cost would outweigh the benefit.’

‘Then there’s the problem of discipline. I can’t let all the chaotic creatures live together. Otherwise, the less intelligent ones, like ogres—or the even dumber Giants—would easily see centaurs and cave gnomes as little snacks.’

Then, his attention shifted to the desert.

In Leon City, one of the Corpse Ghosts serving as a city guard patrolled the streets. It suddenly stopped and turned its gaze toward the lord’s hall.

On the throne, Desert Pearl, dressed in a lavish golden outfit, stared blankly at a lamp. He couldn’t tell who she was thinking about.

‘Next year, I can’t spare Gaoxue City. I need to take control of the desert as soon as possible. Once that’s done, establishing a connection with Linta Bay will be much easier.’

Leech withdrew his consciousness and shifted it to Longship Castle in Waterfall Land.

A corpse bird landed on the window.

Peeking through a crack in the window, he saw Yi Lin in front of the burning fireplace. She was holding Little Lierde’s chubby arm, playfully swinging it back and forth.

Yi Lin cooed, “Doo-doo-doo, da-da-da.”

“Giggle, giggle,” Little Lierde replied, his face lighting up with a smile.

“Da-da-da!”

“Giggle, giggle.”

Yi Lin was a very dedicated aunt.

When Leech next located Lady Jie Lin, she was sitting by her bed, leaning against it with a wine glass in hand. Her eyes were vacant. Unlike Desert Pearl, they held no trace of hope or expectation.

‘People make their choices and must bear the consequences. What little affection I had left for her has faded. Now, only Little Lierde maintains the veneer of friendliness between us.’

‘Perhaps I’ll still pretend to be a loving couple in front of the child, but what’s broken can’t be mended.’

He turned another page.

“This is so listless and boring. There’s no energy.”

He placed a bookmark between the pages and threw off the blanket covering his legs.

The heavy snow outside had stopped. He pushed open the doors to the great hall, and his manservant, Hayfork, immediately trotted over to drape another coat over his shoulders.

“My lord, are you going out? To the tavern?”

“Have the smithies stopped working?” Leech asked instead.

‘In this weather, the tavern is sure to be packed. Even though they’ve started expanding it, there’s still not enough room.’

‘Good thing people enjoy visiting each other’s homes, so it’s not like the tavern is the only option.’

“The river’s frozen, so the factory has probably shut down,” said his squire, Carrot. The boy wasn’t so short anymore and had even started to grow a beard.

“Find a couple of blacksmiths for me… actually, never mind. I’ll go myself. This sort of thing is more fun when you do it with your own hands.”

He mounted his horse and rode straight for the foundry, with Carrot hurrying to keep up.

As expected, the foundry had ceased operations. Its main power source, the river, was frozen solid, which meant the water-powered trip hammers had stopped running. They wouldn’t be able to resume normal work for at least a month.

Seeing that the visitor was their lord, the gatekeeper immediately unlocked the gate and welcomed him inside.

‘I have to speed up research on the steam engine. I’ll replace these water-powered trip hammers by next year.’

In truth, Leech himself wasn’t sure what would ultimately be more beneficial: the steam engine or Magic. Judging by the results of his recent magical research, Magic could accomplish a great many things, freeing up a vast workforce from pointless labor.

Perceptively, Carrot started stoking the forge for Leech.

Heating, hammering.

Leech swung the sledgehammer with a single hand, his efficiency no less than that of a water-powered trip hammer—in fact, it was much better. A single swing from his powerful arm could smash a living person into paste.

After all, he had once forged weapons alongside Master Jin Kai. He had also watched the local blacksmiths at work before, so the process went smoothly without any major issues.

He hammered two irregular iron sheets into curved blades, drilled holes in them, and then fastened them between wooden planks.

“Ice skates. Done!”

Leech was delighted. “Let’s go. Time to try them out.”

The river beside the foundry was completely frozen over. Leech picked up a rock and tossed it onto the surface to test it. The ice dented but didn’t crack. It was solid.