Chapter 421: 397 Have you ever been in love?
Compared to wild beasts, the flesh of monsters may not necessarily be delicious, but its nutritional value is certainly higher than that of ordinary animals, and by a large margin.
These creatures, naturally able to utilize Magic Power to nourish their bodies and develop strong physiques, sizes, and even strength, prove to be highly beneficial to humans if not toxic.
Therefore, monster meat is among the most top-tier ingredients in all major cities and countries, with some even serving as alchemical materials for magic potions, producing unique effects like enhancing one’s constitution.
As such, across the continent, there are hunters who specialize in stalking monsters and selling their flesh covertly.
The price of monster flesh is also steep, varying by species, but a pound of it could generally fetch dozens of silver coins, and if the meat is particularly rare and delicious, it might even command dozens of Gold Coins per pound.
In the past, two pounds of dragon flesh were sold on the Akasha continent, not the inferior variety from wyverns or terrestrails, but from a true dragon species, the kind even a Sword Saint could easily subdue.
Those two pounds of dragon meat ultimately fetched a sky-high price of one thousand one hundred and fifty Gold Coins, a story still recounted by many even after so many years.
Under such circumstances, when Reiger brought back a pig-like monster larger than an elephant, one can imagine the astonishment of those present.
Gel rushed over, babbling incoherently at Reiger.
"Is this the food you’ve prepared to aid the refugees? Such precious monster meat? Truly?"
Undoubtedly, Gel was in turmoil.
There was no helping it, given the size and quality of the monster pig Reiger hunted, selling it could easily bring in thousands of Gold Coins.
The meat of pig-like monsters can’t compare to dragon meat, but a monster pig of this size would weigh at least several tens of thousands of pounds. Even if sold for fifty silver coins per pound, ten thousand pounds would bring in five hundred thousand silver coins, which is equal to five thousand Gold Coins.
Five thousand Gold Coins was more than the entire fortune of some minor nobles.
Now, Reiger intended to use such valuable monster meat to feed the refugees, which Gel viewed as an utter waste.
But Reiger seemed unconcerned.
"Let’s use it."
Admittedly, Reiger needed to consider his finances now, but he was not inclined to quibble over such matters in the face of the refugees.
Monster meat, being such a tonic and highly nutritious, could potentially restore the weakened bodies of the refugees from prolonged hunger and exposure, enabling them to last longer.
With this in mind, Reiger hunted monsters instead of ordinary wild beasts to feed the refugees.
After all, as long as monsters existed, he could just continue hunting them. With his current skills, was there any creature he couldn’t hunt?
This situation gave Reiger an idea.
"If I ever run short of money, I’ll just hunt monsters to sell."
With such a lucrative means at hand, as long as there were monsters, he need not worry about money in the land of Akasha, right?
Thinking this, Reiger resolved to have Liz and Gel cook the monster pig he brought back.
Cooking is a skill, and preparing a monster pig larger than an elephant was a major undertaking.
Reiger had some concern about whether Liz, the princess, could handle such a big project.
But Liz took on the task without any hesitation.
"When I used to travel with Granny Mia, I often roasted meat in the wild," she said.
Liz skillfully processed the monster pig, removing its hair, cleaning it, eviscerating, and then, to Gel’s gaping astonishment, she skewered the pig’s body with a log found on the spot and propped it over the fire that Reiger had started with magic, cooking it fluidly without any sign of being out of practice from her years as a deep boudoir princess.
By the way, the knife Liz used to process the monster pig was also created by Reiger with "Advanced Item Creation."
A regular knife simply couldn’t slice through the body of a monster, let alone such a large monster pig. To properly prepare such ingredients, not only did the tools need to be high-grade, the craftsmanship also had to be exceptional.
The monster pig now roasting, if it had still been alive, could have charged through fire a thousand times without an issue, as ordinary flames could never kill such a formidable creature, so how could it possibly be cooked through by merely being roasted?
And even if the pig did cook, could the flesh of a monster whose body was as tough as iron, often resisting swords and blades, really be chewed by the teeth of mere mortals?
Therefore, preparing monster meat was a technical challenge, not something just anyone could accomplish.
Yet Liz performed the task with great proficiency, managing to fully cook the large monster pig with only an ordinary fire lit by Reiger and some unknown technique, sprinkling some salt-like powder on it, scooping out some sauce from a pottery jar, and brushing it onto the pig, which was then perfectly roasted by her.
Reiger could only observe Liz sprinkle the powdered substance on the pig and retrieve some sauce from a jar, after which she managed to roast it.
Her exceptionally skilled processing and methods made Reiger deeply suspect that the little princess might have been raised on monster meat before she turned seven.
"No wonder Liz is so strong," Reiger remembered the first time they met and the match at the Franzers’, where Liz’s strength was evident.
At that time, he felt that the strength of this frail young princess was unreasonably strong, making him, who was comparable to a Lv.7 at the time, numb in the arm after blocking just one sword strike.
Back then, Reiger even thought that Liz might have a special constitution, like Kanroji Mitsuri from the Demon Slayer World, with muscle density far surpassing that of an ordinary person, which explained her incredible arm strength.
Now, it seemed that Liz’s extraordinary strength wasn’t innate, but rather came from eating the flesh of magical beasts in the wild, which nourished her body and thus developed such remarkable arm strength.
This sudden thought struck Reiger.
"Even though it’s not innate, Liz also has a constitution similar to that of Kanroji."
"If that’s the case, how about teaching Liz the Breath of Love?"
"Liz should be able to learn the Breath of Love, right?"
The Breath of Love was a breathing technique invented by Love Pillar Kanroji Mitsuri, and it was a branch of the five main elemental breathing styles, Flame Breathing.
It was gentle yet extremely resilient, a versatile and integrated breathing technique for both offense and defense.
Using Kanroji Mitsuri’s high arm strength, when she used the Breath of Love she could block a barrage of attacks from all directions without moving, using her special flexible sword, and could swiftly slay her enemies with fierce speed when moving.
If Liz learned the Breath of Love, then with her arm strength, she could make her enemies unable to defend when attacking and solid as a wall when defending, making it very difficult for them to be suppressed, right?
"Why not give it a try?"
Reiger was getting a bit restless.
Mainly because Liz had mentioned something inadvertently before departure.
"I want to avoid using the War King Sword Skill in front of others as much as possible, or else my identity will be exposed."
The War King Sword Skill was the royal family’s hereditary sword technique of the Genas Kingdom, renowned abroad and even more so at home. Once used, it would be readily recognized by those who knew their stuff.
In that case, Princess Liz’s identity could not remain hidden.
Therefore, if she wanted to conceal her identity, Liz definitely could not use the War King Sword Skill casually, especially in public. If someone recognized her royal identity, it would inevitably lead to complications.
If not for this, a certain maid wouldn’t have been so secretive and reluctant to go all out in a critical situation like the Battle Festival.
Now, Liz had similar concerns, and unless her life was in danger, she probably wouldn’t be willing to use the War King Sword Skill.
Without using the War King Sword Skill, Liz’s strength would be greatly reduced, and whether she could even perform at a Lv.5 strength was an unknown.
"I remember that time at the Franzer estate, Liz had sparred with Ai En and Ian without using the War King Sword Skill, right?"
At that time, Liz couldn’t beat Ai En and Ian, who had only been True Knights for a year, and was even at a disadvantage.
Although Liz had been a True Knight for an even shorter time than Ai En and Ian, with the support of the War King Sword Skill, she was able to perform at a strength comparable to the highest echelon of Lv.5. Hence, the little princess’s sheer strength was greater than that of Ai En and Ian.
Yet without using the War King Sword Skill, the little princess couldn’t even beat Ai En and Ian, demonstrating how much a special-grade sword skill could enhance a Swordsman’s strength.
The little princess had also told Reiger that the reason she had only recently become a True Knight was that there were royal rules stipulating that one must possess strength comparable to a True Knight without relying on the War King Sword Skill to receive the True Knight Medal and thus become a True Knight.
As to why the royal family had this rule, Liz was not sure. Marilyn, however, had speculated once,
"It could be to avoid suspicions, I guess."
After all, swiftly becoming a True Knight through a powerful hereditary sword skill would breed resentment among grassroots Swordsmen without access to special-grade sword techniques.
It was said that the national policies at the foundation of the Genas Kingdom were not very stable, and to prevent unwarranted disasters, the royal family made many earnest rules, many of which have been preserved to this day.
Thus, whether it’s Liz, Marilyn, or even the mad dog Prince, they all became True Knights without the aid of the War King Sword Skill.
Since Liz had been a True Knight for only a short time, if she did not use the War King Sword Skill, it was quite normal for her strength to be less than that of Ai En and Ian, who had been True Knights for a year.
Of course, Reiger wanted to enhance the strength of his own little follower.
Reiger called Liz, who had just paused her barbecue duties, over to him.
"What is it, Master?"
Liz came running over, her face unexpectedly smeared with a bit of soot, but her expression was very bright.
Clearly, returning to outdoor life and barbecue work made this little princess feel nostalgic.
But in the next second, the little princess panicked.
Because of something Reiger said.
"Have you ever been in love?"