Chapter 490 - 432: It Was Me Who Came First

Leech was quite self-aware. He knew becoming a King with this power was impossible, but becoming a Duke who dominated a region shouldn’t be too difficult.

His relationship with the Duke of Radiant Sun was good, so there was no reason to go to war with him for now. This newfound power just gave him more confidence.

However, more than expanding his sphere of influence or conquering territory, Leech was concerned with something else.

’Once Kaqi’s corpse is turned into a Corpse Ghost, I might be able to glean some experience on how to become Palace Level.’

The experience he’d gained before was completely unreliable, probably because the Palace Level Corpse Ghosts under his command had all gained their power through artificial means. In any case, it left him with a very vague understanding of the realms beyond the Transcendent level, and he had yet to find an opportunity to reach Palace Level himself.

But Leech was philosophical about it. If it wasn’t necessary, he didn’t have to be on the front lines.

There wasn’t a single other Lord who charged to the front in every battle like he did.

He had gone to the front this time mainly to boost morale. If he didn’t risk his life, his men certainly wouldn’t risk theirs.

Now, with Isis’s help, he could be a completely hands-off manager and go back to developing his land. As long as he had enough powerful subordinates, morale wasn’t all that important.

For instance, Isis was currently controlling the Demon Beastman Corpse Ghosts, organizing the defeated remnants of the army to find a place in the desert to set up camp and recuperate. The short Half-Beastmen of low intelligence and the completely witless Mad Beastmen could only obediently follow her commands.

SPLASH!

A boar-bristle brush swished in the bucket. The Porcupine Brand noble’s soap from Porcupine Territory filled the entire room with a refreshing citrus fragrance.

The bath was over.

Leech stood up and stepped out of the wooden tub.

He had the male servants dry his body and help him into his clothes.

This life of being waited on hand and foot might have felt shameful at first, but after a while, it felt like nothing at all. He just had to make it clear that certain... special areas were off-limits for washing. Rumor had it that Prince Little George only started liking men because he spent too much time with his male servants. A vocal group firmly believed that the servants had ulterior motives and had deliberately twisted the young prince’s orientation.

After all, compared to a life of desperate, dead-end struggle, plenty of male servants were willing to offer up their backsides for a chance at greater rewards.

For the sake of outward ’purity,’ male nobles could only have male servants, and females could only have female servants. This was the rule, and the consequence was a generation of people who developed twisted orientations from childhood.

He had the male servants help with his bath purely because he was exhausted.

As everyone knows, a good soak and a scrub is one of life’s greatest pleasures. Why else would so many adult men on Earth love going to bathhouses and getting foot massages? Right?

Feeling refreshed, Leech shook his hair. It was getting a little long, but he hadn’t had time for a trim these past few days.

He went to the dungeons alone.

The dungeons were already piled high with coffins.

Leech hadn’t tried to hide these activities from many people, because he knew he couldn’t. He didn’t have a private crypt in Mama City, so some secrets were bound to be discovered.

But no one dared to question him. This was the benefit of absolute power and absolute strength.

Too many versions of stories about Baron Porcupine and corpses circulated in the outside world. Leech had even heard a rumor that he collected the bodies of women to revive succubi from the Abyssal Hell. He scoffed at the idea.

’I’m surrounded by countless living beauties. My status as a Baron alone is enough to make innumerable women—and even men—throw themselves into my bed. Why would I need to be so twisted?’

He went deeper into the dungeons.

Leech looked at the figure standing with its back to him, completely naked.

He vaguely recalled the body belonging to a female Transcendent mercenary, but that didn’t matter. The Flower of Isis had already taken complete control, transforming it into an entirely new undead life-form.

The young woman turned around, her eyes shut tight.

"Isis?"

"I am here."

Her voice was clear and cold, a stark difference from perceiving her through his Spiritual Power.

Leech walked over to her and looked her up and down.

Ignoring the two oversized lumps of flesh and the absurdly slender waist... Leech didn’t remember the original corpse’s figure being this ridiculously good, but that wasn’t important.

Leech asked, "Can you open your eyes?"

"Alright."

Isis opened her eyes.

Two small, blooming flowers extended out from her eye sockets.

The sight of a delicate face with flowers blooming from its eye sockets gave him goosebumps. It felt as if he were back in Iron Valley, facing the strange female corpse that could control thorny bodies.

"Okay, you can close your eyes now!" Leech said hastily.

Isis closed her eyes, and the unnerving sensation vanished. Leech let out a soft sigh of relief.

He knew Isis hadn’t meant to attack him. It was like how even a Transcendent who was terrible at fighting could easily slaughter a master Knight. In the same way, even a Palace Level being who wasn’t skilled in combat wouldn’t find it too difficult to kill a Transcendent in a one-on-one fight. It was a difference in their Life Level, a gap that was nearly impossible to bridge.

"Your eyes must be blindfolded. I’m afraid no one can withstand your gaze," Leech said. "Oh, and clothes. I’ll arrange for a set of clothes for you. Would you prefer a dress or armor?"

’It’s just the flowers in her eye sockets that can’t be seen by others.’

Her appearance was so vastly different from the female mercenary’s in life that there was no need to conceal her features.

Besides, Leech was quite interested in a Corpse Ghost that could converse with him.

Just as Water Nymphs loved to hear sailors sing, he hoped Isis would possess independent thought. It would mean that Corpse Ghosts were truly a new race.

"A dress," Isis said.

Leech nodded, smiling. "I agree, a dress would suit you better."

...

Hahn rubbed his sore shoulders. Report in hand, he had just reached the entrance of the Lord’s hall when he saw the "Desert Pearl," Lisu Muma, hurrying toward him.

He glanced down at the report in his hand, recalling the expression on the face of the barbarian woman, Lin Nuo, when she’d shoved it into his hands. ’Have I been set up?’ he wondered.

’I’m not about to interrupt the Lord’s private affairs again, am I?’

Look at Lisu, dressed in a slender, form-fitting gown.

She wore an exquisite necklace of interlocking, horseshoe-shaped clasps intricately carved from gold. A massive sapphire hung just below her collarbone, flanked on either side by an incredibly precious pearl.

With his expert eye as a noble of the East Gorge, Hahn estimated the exquisite gold necklace was worth no less than 5 Jinri!

Then there were her bracelets and rings.

’She’s dressed up so elaborately. There’s definitely a reason.’

Hahn was increasingly certain he’d been set up. He shouldn’t have come. ’Those damned mercenaries... Ah, I, a noble, am far too naive.’

He grumbled internally.

"Yarrn, Lord Hahn," the Desert Pearl said with a nod, seeing Hahn stop in his tracks from a distance.

Now that she had greeted him, turning back would just make him look suspicious.

’I’m here to report to the Lord. I’m here to report to the Lord.’ After repeating the line to himself a few times, Hahn took a deep breath and walked toward the main doors.

He held up the papers in his hand as if to explain himself and said, "Yarrn."

The two of them entered the Lord’s hall together.

Just inside the doors, they saw Leech sitting in a chair, flipping through a thick book. It was clearly the work of some anonymous but cash-strapped Tangkx Scholar.

Hahn knew full well how obsessed his Lord was with subjects like Magic, alchemy, and Runes. He’d spent a fortune on them, but no one had the courage to advise him against it.

It was said that even before the ’Widow’ Gelan, one of his oldest retainers, was recruited to his service, the Lord was obsessed with scholars and magical knowledge. He would spend a fortune on books even when his territory couldn’t spare a single Jinri.

Their gazes shifted to the person standing at Leech’s side.

It was a woman in a long black dress. Her hands were clasped over her stomach in an elegant posture.

Her eyes were covered by a black cloth, revealing only the lower half of her face.

For some reason, Hahn found himself captivated by the woman’s elegant bearing. She seemed to embody all the beauty in the world, a brilliantly blooming flower that inspired yearning.

’It probably... had nothing to do with her prominent figure,’ Hahn told himself, though he wasn’t entirely sure.

Hahn was completely bewildered by this sudden new woman. But he quickly realized something and turned to look at Lisu Muma.

Sure enough, the beautiful "Desert Pearl’s" expression had changed ever so slightly. This situation was clearly not what she had expected.

After the kiss she’d shared with Leech yesterday, she had made special preparations for today.

As the wild desert mare who was so difficult to tame, she was willing to bow her head for the knight who had captured her heart.

But it had only been one day! She had just finished her work, and another woman was already standing behind him.

’But I was here first!’