When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist-Chapter 902 - 853: Demon-Loving Fungus Workshop and Magical Beast Meat Supply

Horn was noncommittal about Akatean's speculation.

However, he still asked Zhongsi to pass a note to Lubyanka, asking them to investigate.

According to the longevity of a vampire, Serafe's current age should make him look only about forty.

With King Jiji newly on the throne, he doesn't have many people around him, so a thorough investigation should quickly reveal something.

Even with the intelligence Horn himself has seen, there should be several suspects.

Looking at the sky, Horn waved to Akatean: "We will give you the blood after some time; for now, focus on your Demon Hunter potion detoxification work."

After sending Akatean off, Horn didn't continue with the previous topic but patted his stomach: "It's already evening; if anyone has something to discuss, let's talk over dinner."

Passing through the stone archway built from coarse stone, next to the terraced garden, there was a long table.

Top figures like Qianqian, Marshall, and Busak were already waiting there early.

Chuck and Vite, as new aristocrats, were quite nervous attending such a private meeting for the first time.

Currently, Chuck was the head of the Night Watch Hall of the ry Court Barracks, while Vite was the mayor of the ry Court Barracks.

Seeing Horn pushing Lady Hilof over, the two of them stood up quickly, while the others rose more slowly.

"Please sit," said Horn, pushing the Wolf Woman to her seat while teasing, "Why so reserved, you two? We've shared meals before; why so tense now?"

But Chuck and Vite said nothing; how could it be the same?

The last time they shared a meal with Chuck, Horn was just the leader of a flood-stricken group of refugees.

The last time with Vite, Horn was merely the leader of a peasant rebellion.

After Moliat's downfall, Horn now was the only sun of the Thousand River Valley Holy Alliance.

Even a duke, who occupied the land of a single county, would have to be called "Sir" by old friends.

And Horn had conquered twelve counties' worth of land, wielding power equivalent to that of a king before the century-long war.

If not for the century-long war breaking up and reshaping various claims and territories of the Empire, a single county could have formed a kingdom.

Raising his glass, Horn looked around: "Originally, today was just a casual meal, but I'm making an exception by drinking to celebrate a pleasant event."

Busak, ever clever with words, immediately chimed in: "What delightful event might that be, Your Grace?"

"Our head of the Natural Divine Academy, Lady Hilov, has developed a technology for mass producing Divine Favor, so from now on, we no longer need me to be present to request the Holy Father's blessing."

"Hear, hear!" Marshall was the first to raise his glass.

The others raised their glasses in succession, offering congratulations and words of praise.

Qianqian, however, felt a twinge of unease and tentatively asked Hilov: "What about the output? How much investment is needed?"

"Currently, it's still being cultivated in the lab, so the monthly output is only around 500. If we switch to factory production, it could triple." The Wolf Woman's ears perked up, "It won't be more expensive than the R&D costs."

Qianqian sighed with relief.

Tripling means about eight times, roughly 4,000 a month.

However, when Horn did the math, he found that shouldn't this thing have no limits?

Slimes are plentiful, and Alchemists are also more than enough; why is there a limit to production?

Could Hilov be exaggerating the expenses?

The Wolf Woman seemed to guess Horn's doubt and continued: "Do you think Demon-Loving Fungus doesn't require nutrients for fission? They also need to eat magical creature meat."

Horn nodded slightly but then rubbed his temples in worry: "If we rely solely on hunting, is magical creature meat enough?"

The appearance of magical creatures, unlike others, is extremely random.

If we were to farm them, actually, the Church left quite a bit of relevant technology.

Not to mention the Killing Rabbit on Holy Grail Mountain in the past was a Church scientific project.

From existing data, both the Demon Hunter Castle and the Church have magical creature breeding grounds to varying extents everywhere.

These technologies were all remnants from the century-long war; otherwise, how come there was no warfare, yet the Empire now has more high-tier knights than during the century-long war?

Do you really think they are more diligent than knights from the century-long war period?

They rely on things like magical creature meat and Blue Blood Wine, that kind of "technology" to enhance their own strength.

Of course, magical creature farming doesn't have to be so extreme as to use human meat and blood; some omnivorous magical creatures can be farmed, though the effects aren't as good.

The problem is, Horn has publicly and secretly legitimized Witches and Magic.

But he is dismissive of "magical creatures."

Because magical creatures have done evil for too long, with crimes deeply impacting civilian life.

Magic and heretics are far away from them, but magical creatures are very close.

Public sentiment surveys show that there is strong resistance to magical creature farming among the people.

Thus, in the official narrative, Madlan added "The Saint's Grandson defeated the Giant Killing Rabbit of Holy Grail Mountain with a branch."

In the consensus built by the Thousand River Valley Holy Alliance, "actively breeding living magical creatures" is denied and despised.

This causes some boomerang obstacles in the Holy Alliance when it comes to breeding magical creatures.

However, Horn heard a different answer.

"It's enough."

Busak, on the side, reminded: "We can purchase from Falan merchants."

Horn was unexpectedly surprised: "Where do they get so much magical beast meat?"

Recently, Horn's focus had been on the military, while internal affairs were managed by the ry Court Barracks' Imperial Court Order.

Commercial and diplomatic matters were handled by Busak of the Gospel Court.

Seeing a chance to shine before Horn, Busak immediately spoke: "Falan have been raising magical creatures on overseas islands, periodically sailing to provide feed and slaughter magical creatures.

Across the vast ocean, and the animals being all four-legged, they couldn't swim back to the mainland, could they?

The Falan are able to form extraordinary standard cavalry in part because of mastering this island breeding technology."

Listening, Horn nodded continuously, as if thinking of something, his expression turned stern, grabbing the still talking Madlan: "Magical beast meat is rare, right? Would they be willing to sell it?"

Busak cleared his throat: "That's because our goods are even rarer, Your Grace. The Mithril Refining Workshop at Black Snake Bay is now operational."

No wonder, it turns out Mithril is being exchanged for magical beast meat.

Magical beast meat, especially low-grade poisonous guts or rotten magical beast meat, is still worth less compared to Mithril.

But for Demon-Loving Fungus and Slimes, as long as they get to work, there's no difference.

Horn suddenly realized.

However, the problem of magical beast meat still needs a solution.

If you always rely on buying from outside, what if one day the Falan stop selling?

Although magical beast meat isn't a current problem, it doesn't guarantee future issues.

"Projects on alternative or innocuous farming of magical creatures can be initiated." Horn turned to Hilov and instructed, "You can try the Shaluru Heat Inoculation Method to see if it's applicable to ordinary animals."

Anyway, now that the study on Demon-Loving Fungus is temporarily concluded, there is suddenly extra research funding.

Beside him, Zhongsi and the Secret Monks diligently noted down Horn's instructions in their notebooks.

Qianqian's face, however, turned sour, as he was waiting for that money to pay off debts. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Understanding Qianqian's troubles, Horn laughed while patting his thin back: "As long as you can handle the interest, don't worry too much about the fiscal deficit. If the economic growth credit scale is above the debt, then debt is equivalent to money."

Moreover, if they won this battle, it would establish their international standing.

With the current system and profits of the Thousand River Valley Holy Alliance, it would inevitably draw a lot of capital from the Empire market.

If they can't repay it in the future, they can always arm themselves to resist debt, so external debt isn't really debt.

Horn was shrewdly calculating.