Chapter 537: She Even Gave Me the Back Door Key

The bustling Iron Stone City truly lived up to its hallowed reputation. Even in the dead of winter, there was no shortage of travelers drawn by its fame.

Two travelers, who were clearly not East Gorge People, stood in line at the town’s main gate, chatting with one another in peculiar accents.

“At this rate, we’ll never get in before dark,” one complained, frustrated by the excruciatingly slow inspection process. “The gates close at night. Are we supposed to just sleep out here? It looks like they’re just trying to run out the clock until the gates close so they can shut us all out!”

The winter sun was pleasantly warm, but everyone trying to get into Iron Stone City had been traveling for days and was utterly exhausted.

The buzz of arguments in the crowd was incessant.

One of the two suddenly asked, “Are you really sure?”

The other nodded. “Of course. The moment I saw her, I knew. I have to marry her.”

“How old is she?”

“How should I know? All I know is she’s a looker, heh!”

“What does she do?”

“How should I know? All I know is she’s a looker, heh!”

“Make way, make way!” Someone shoved past them from behind. The two men, interrupted in their excited conversation, spun around angrily. They were about to let loose a string of curses when they saw fully armored Soldiers approaching with Longswords at their sides. The light of the setting sun gilded their armor, creating a glare so bright it hurt to look at.

They swallowed the curses that had been on the tips of their tongues.

The crowd parted automatically, watching the procession enter the main gate of Iron Stone City.

“What noble family is that?” The two men put their heads together and whispered. They didn’t recall ever seeing a porcupine banner before, but curiosity got the better of them.

“From out of town?” the man in front of them asked, turning his head after overhearing their conversation.

The two men nodded. “From Soaring Valley.”

“That’s Baron Porcupine,” the man in front said, lowering his voice. “He’s infamous. Keep your voices down so he doesn’t notice you. Cross him, and you’re dead.”

‘Baron Porcupine? I’ve heard the name, but he’s from too far away from Soaring Valley. I don’t know much about him.’

“How infamous?” the two asked, their curiosity piqued.

The man in front put on an air of, ‘I shouldn’t say, but since you’ve asked so sincerely, I’ll graciously tell you.’ He cleared his throat and whispered, “Heard of the Bills from Monkey Territory?”

“Heard of them.” In truth, the two knew next to nothing about noble families, but they knew that if you wanted to hear good gossip, you had to play the part of an eager audience.

“Wiped out,” the man said, his eyes wide and his voice dropping to a chilling whisper. “Baron Porcupine led an army and razed their castle to the ground.”

The two men sucked in a breath of cold air.

‘We’ve heard of castle sieges, but someone can just demolish a castle?’

“Why did they fight?” one of them asked.

The man still had the air of someone holding a great secret. “The story goes that Baron Porcupine took a fancy to the three young ladies of Monkey Territory. He wanted to take them all as his concubines, but their family refused. So… Well, I hear those three ladies are his concubines now.”

“Heard of Iron Valley?” the man asked again.

The two were shocked. “Yes. Don’t tell me Baron Porcupine also…”

“That’s right. Baron Porcupine massacred everyone in the castle. Killed several thousand people, clean. Then he just took Iron Valley for himself and became its new lord.”

“And the Duke doesn’t do anything? The King doesn’t do anything?”

“Do anything?” The man sneered. “They don’t do jack shit. You know the Tuna family from Monkey Island?”

They both shook their heads. ‘We might hear a Baron’s name now and then, but we know absolutely nothing about Knightly families.’

“Well, if you did a little digging, you’d know that the Tuna family pledged allegiance to the Eldest Prince.”

“Don’t tell me the Tuna family was wiped out too?”

“No, but it was a near thing. They were almost wiped out. The Eldest Prince himself had to go and plead with Baron Porcupine, who only reluctantly granted him the favor.”

The two men gasped again. They’d lost count of how many times they’d done so. ‘Baron Porcupine is a natural-born killing machine,’ one thought.

“And that’s not all.”

Seeing their horrified expressions, the man grunted in satisfaction. “You know what happened in the desert?”

“The desert… we’ve heard some things.” Soaring Valley was closer to the desert than the East Gorge was.

“I remember now!” one of them exclaimed, drawing stares from everyone else in line. He flushed and ducked his head, lowering his voice to a whisper. “I remember hearing that last year, someone called the Bloodsand Lord united the desert tribes and even killed a Count Buffalo.”

“Really? I thought I heard it was Princess Sophia’s daughter who united the desert,” the other one said, scratching his head.

“The Bloodsand Lord is definitely Baron Porcupine,” the man from the East Gorge said with conviction, even though he’d never actually heard any details of the desert war—the story was too remote to have reached the ears of common folk. “But what’s this about Princess Sophia?”

The three of them continued to trade rumors and tidbits of information, bonding so quickly you’d think they were about to become sworn brothers.

Perhaps because Baron Porcupine had just passed through, the guard Soldiers, who had been performing their inspections with deliberate laziness, suddenly picked up the pace. The gossiping trio actually managed to get into Iron Stone City before dark, which only made them complain that the line had moved too fast, cutting their conversation short.

…

Returning to Iron Stone Castle after so long, Leech felt a wave of wistfulness. ‘Back then,’ he thought, ‘all I wanted was to use Iron Stone City to sell some Little Pills, earn a few Jinri, and live a comfortable life.’

The castle hadn’t changed, but he was a different man.

A squire took the reins of his horse.

“My lord, please come this way. A room has been prepared for you,” a manservant said, stepping forward to greet him.

He nodded slightly. “Alright. Lead the way.”

As he entered the castle proper, Leech unexpectedly ran into a few nobles who looked vaguely familiar. They made no effort to hide their friendly intentions toward him.