Chapter 321 : Chapter 321
Chapter 321. Ace of the Magical Beast Dissection Area
Rumors about the strange new laborer began to spread quickly.
Naturally, the subject of those rumors was Radel.
A rookie who shattered a magical beast’s skull with a hammer.
Someone who always carried a book around, yet possessed astonishing brute strength.
A man from some remote mountain village who seemed incapable of doing anything poorly.
His unusual background became a frequent topic of idle conversation among the workers.
At a glance, his name happened to match that of the Dragon Slayer, the 8th Prince, but no one ever imagined that the two could be the same person.
That was only natural.
The rookie laborer did not resemble royalty in the slightest.
“Hm hm, shall we work hard again today?”
Radel entered the Magical Beast Dissection Area alongside the other new laborers.
There was even a sense of refreshment on his face.
“Oh, there is a huge pile today. This will be satisfying to work on.”
Radel rubbed his palms together as he looked at the mountain of magical beast carcasses.
His tone made it sound as though he could hardly contain his excitement.
To think that someone could enjoy this kind of work so much.
Even the veteran laborers who had worked at the dissection area for years found themselves reflecting on their own attitudes.
Radel, who rapidly rose to become the ace of the Magical Beast Dissection Area, completely changed the atmosphere there in just a few days after his arrival.
At first, even the other rookies who had disliked him began to move in perfect coordination under his direction.
“You there, if you press down with brute force like that, the organs will rupture. Hand it over.”
Radel took the knife from the laborer who had picked a fight with him on his first day.
Then, like a seasoned surgeon, he cleanly opened the magical beast’s abdomen.
“Look here. Between the sixth and seventh bones. You have to cut precisely along this line.”
The path of his blade was impeccably clean, without a trace of waste.
Radel did not spare his advice to the other laborers either.
“Do not grip the knife that hard. When deboning, you should relax your strength as much as possible. You only put force in when you cut.”
“Be careful. At that rate, you will lose a finger.”
His instructions were concise and exact.
The rookies, who had been doubtful at first, soon experienced a noticeable increase in efficiency once they followed his directions, and silently obeyed him thereafter.
It was definitely not because they still remembered the sight of brain matter spilling out when Radel smashed a magical beast’s head in a single blow with his hammer…….
Thanks to him, the dissection work that had been delayed day after day began finishing earlier than scheduled.
One man watched all of this in silence.
It was Vargas, a senior laborer.
He had entered the Mage Tower as a rookie around the same age as Radel and had spent over ten years buried in work there, a seasoned veteran.
‘His work is precise and without waste.’
As Vargas watched Radel work, he gauged his ability.
They said he was from an ordinary rural background.
Yet his hands moved like those of a veteran hunter who had spent his entire life hunting magical beasts.
He understood the grain of bone and muscle perfectly and produced optimal results with minimal movement.
Moreover, he seemed extremely accustomed to commanding others.
He grasped each person’s skill level and temperament in an instant and placed them exactly where they were needed.
As a result, the clumsy rookies were now moving like reasonably skilled laborers.
Among this batch of new hires, he truly stood out.
Of course, he did things that were difficult to understand at times.
Whenever break time came, he would tuck a book under his arm and vanish, only to return later muttering as if he had been conversing with the book itself. It was bizarre, to say the least.
But the Mage Tower was full of mages who behaved far more strangely than that.
Mages who drew magic circles using their own sweat, mages who shouted at empty air all day, and even mages who rolled naked down the corridors.
Compared to them, talking to a book was positively ordinary.
Vargas did not think much of Radel’s eccentricities. As long as his skills were solid, that level of individuality was more than acceptable.
‘A useful one has come in.’
Just as Vargas smiled in satisfaction and was about to organize his work log, the heavy iron door of the dissection area burst open with a deafening clang.
Someone shouted sharply.
“Vargas!”
The voice was thick with irritation. Vargas raised his head.
Standing at the entrance was a senior laborer around his age, breathing heavily.
With disheveled hair and a tightly set expression, his name was Hector.
He was the supervisor in charge of the Mage Tower’s Magical Beast Breeding Facility.
“Hector? What brings you here?” Vargas asked.
In response, Hector jerked his chin toward the inside of the dissection area.
“I need to borrow some of the men under you. There is a serious problem in the breeding facility.”
“A serious problem?”
“Those damn Cavrins are refusing to eat again, all of them at once! It has been three days already. At this rate, they will starve to death!”
Deep anger and helplessness were intertwined in Hector’s voice.
Moonstone Cavrins.
A rare fantasy species bred exclusively within the Mage Tower.
They had an adorable appearance, like a cross between a fox and a weasel, with soft white fur.
The Moonstone embedded in their foreheads was said to amplify the surrounding mana.
When conducting high-level magical research or crafting magical tools, having even a single Cavrin nearby could change the results entirely.
Their value to mages was beyond measure.
However, that precious Moonstone Cavrin was infamous for its difficult and sensitive temperament.
Letting one’s guard down because they were cute meant risking having one’s eyes gouged out by their sharp teeth and claws.
Vargas frowned.
“As you know, we are already short-handed here. Besides, none of them have experience raising magical beasts. Who knows what kind of trouble they would run into near the Cavrins?”
“Then what do you suggest we do? We cannot just let them starve to death! If this gets reported to the mages, our heads will be on the chopping block!”
Hector shouted desperately. He was right.
To the mages, the Moonstones on the Cavrins’ foreheads were indispensable catalysts for top-tier magical research.
If it became known that such precious beasts had been starved to death, the breeding facility workers would be as good as dead.
“I am not asking them to do anything dangerous. They just need to hold the beasts still. I will figure out a way to force-feed them in the meantime.”
“Then why are you borrowing people from us, of all places?”
“Because your lot is the most accustomed to magical beasts! The breeding facility workers are already completely worn out!”
A tense silence fell between the two senior laborers.
At that moment, a calm voice cut into their conversation.
“I might be able to help.”
It was Radel. He had already finished his work and approached them.
Hector frowned as if annoyed that some green rookie was butting in.
“And who are you supposed to be?”
“I am a new hire. My name is Radel.”
“A rookie? And what exactly do you think a rookie can do? Have you ever even seen a Cavrin?”
At Hector’s sneer, Radel replied calmly.
“I have not seen one, but I have fed other magical beasts before. Back in the countryside, I raised a rather large one.”
At those words, not only Hector but all the laborers listening nearby wore expressions of disbelief.
“What?”
“You raised a large magical beast?”
“In the countryside?”
He said it as casually as if he had raised a squirrel in the hills behind his house.
Hector let out a hollow laugh.
“I do not know what kind of impressive creature you think you raised, but fine. If you are that confident, come along and try. Let us see if that silver tongue of yours works on Cavrins too.”
Hector intended to test Radel. Vargas tried to stop him, but Radel had already nodded.
“Understood. However, I have a condition.”
“A condition?”
“If I solve the Cavrins’ feeding problem, I would like you to grant a one-day break to me and my colleagues.”
Radel glanced sideways at the laborers who had once picked a fight with him.
Without realizing it, they swallowed nervously.
Hector hesitated briefly, then snorted. It was impossible anyway.
“Fine. If you succeed, I will give you not just one day, but two. But if you fail…… you are prepared for the consequences, yes?”
A smile formed on Radel’s lips.
“Of course.”
***
Deep within the Marcellent Supreme Deity Order Temple.
A secret interrogation chamber used by Inquisitors.
In the dim space, where only candlelight flickered, an extremely thorough interrogation was underway.
“We really do not know! We never met the client directly!”
“I-it is true! We only delivered what we were given!”
Assassins bound tightly to chairs shouted desperately.
Their faces were swollen, and their bodies were covered in bruises, with no part left unscathed.
In stark contrast to their miserable state, the two interrogators looked perfectly fine.
The ones interrogating them were not Inquisitors.
They were the apprentice holy knight Gusto and the 7th Princess, Inette.
Gusto, standing to the side with his arms crossed, looked at Inette.
His expressionless face conveyed a silent question: ‘What should we do now?’
Inette jerked her chin toward the assassins and replied curtly.
“What are you looking at? Just hit them.”
At that single command, the two moved in perfect sync again.
Inette grabbed an assassin by the collar without hesitation, while Gusto struck another squarely in the solar plexus.
THUD!
SMACK!
“Ugh!”
“Aaagh!”
Only screams and dull impacts echoed through the interrogation room.
Just as the assassins, beaten to the brink of death, began coughing up blood and losing consciousness, Gusto placed his hand over them.
“O Supreme Deity. Grant healing unto them.”
FLASH!
Holy light burst forth, and the assassins’ wounds vanished without a trace.
Broken bones knit back together, and split lips closed.
Dragged back from the brink of death countless times, the assassins finally broke down and burst into tears.
No matter how rigorously trained they were, they could not endure this endless cycle of pain and recovery.
“Waaah! Please, stop!”
“Just kill us instead! If you are going to do this, just kill us!”
Their cruelty, beating them to near death, healing them, then beating them again, brought to mind a certain someone.
But to the assassins, who did not know that fact, Inette and Gusto looked like demons incarnate.
“If you do not want to be beaten again, you had better remember something. Anything.”
As Inette threatened them and raised her fist again, one of the assassins shouted frantically.
“I-I remember! I remembered something!”
At his desperate cry, Inette’s fist paused. Gusto stepped closer.
The assassin stammered, trembling as he spilled his memory.
“The intermediary said…… the client seemed to be from the Mage Tower. There was a strange ink smell that mages use……! But that is really all I know!”
“T-that is right! We only received letters! The order was just to eliminate the unconscious 8th Prince!”
The Mage Tower.
The moment those words were spoken, the air in the interrogation room froze.
Inette and Gusto’s expressions hardened simultaneously.
It meant that someone inside the Mage Tower, where Radel was, was trying to kill him.