Chapter 8 : Banquet, Beastkin Meat
Chapter 8: Banquet, Beastkin Meat
“Damn it!”
“Let go!”
“Stop!”
Everyone present shouted in unison.
This scene startled Leo as well.
Under his command, the white horse that had Arthur’s head in its mouth stopped swallowing and stared blankly at Leo.
“Damn it!” Hogg and Eddie, who were watching from the side, had not expected things to develop like this either. They looked over in shock.
Arthur, whose entire head was inside the horse’s mouth, flailed his limbs wildly, struggling frantically—both comical and terrifying.
“Let go! Spit him out!” Leo hurriedly gave another command, and only then did the white horse reluctantly spit Arthur out.
“Ah!” Having just experienced a moment like hell, Arthur’s head was now covered in hay and saliva, utterly frightened out of his wits.
He turned back to look at the massive horse face behind him. The rake in his hand had already fallen to the ground.
Screaming, he ran behind Leo. As expected—drip, drip.
The brand-new white silk trousers he had changed into today were once again completely soaked with urine.
“Damn it! Damn it! You damned beast! Damn it!” The disheveled Arthur kept cursing at the white horse.
Leo sighed helplessly and comforted the frightened child, “It’s fine, it’s fine. It didn’t mean to…”
“Didn’t mean to?! That beast! It wanted to kill me!”
Seeing Arthur pointing and yelling, the white horse lost its temper again.
It snorted loudly and stomped its hooves heavily.
At the same time, the other five large horses also lifted their heads and gathered around it.
The atmosphere instantly grew tense.
“Alright, all of you, calm down.”
Leo had just discovered that after that brief spar earlier, his swordsmanship experience had increased by 2 points.
Those 2 points would normally require an hour of empty practice to obtain.
In other words, real combat could grant experience faster—then Arthur was actually quite a decent opponent.
After several minutes of mediation by Leo, the situation finally calmed down.
“Alright, alright, let’s go to Blackstone City.”
The farce finally ended with Leo agreeing to Arthur’s invitation.
……
Night fell.
In Blackstone City, inside a high-end church restaurant.
Leo found his way here and was then led to the third floor by two attendants dressed in church attire.
Blackstone City was not large, housing only a few thousand civilians.
Aside from Blackstone Castle, the largest building was this restaurant operated by the church.
“Please come in. Young Master Arthur has been waiting for you for quite some time.”
Leo entered a spacious room. Outside, it was already evening, but the room was brightly lit.
Various styles of crystal lamps, dining chairs, furniture, and oil paintings hanging on the walls.
Leo noticed that most of the paintings depicted the same person.
A kind old man wearing a wide white robe.
The most frequently appearing supporting figure was a blurry-faced stranger.
From the original owner’s memories, Leo knew that this was the Father of Light worshipped by the church of the Danlun Kingdom.
As for that strange figure, people called him the King-Slayer, and some also referred to him as Black.
As he was observing, Arthur—now freshly cleaned and neatly dressed—came out to greet him.
“Come, come, my brother.”
Arthur wore a gold-threaded formal outfit that displayed his status and led Leo to the dining table.
More than a dozen dishes were already laid out—various beautifully presented meats, fish, and vegetables.
Leo noticed a large plate placed in the center.
This plate was larger than all the others, about the size of a washbasin.
On it were neatly arranged slices of bright red meat with purple veins.
Leo had never seen this kind of meat before, but it was clearly the main dish of the table.
The two sat down. Leo was not particularly adept at such social occasions, while Arthur appeared completely at ease.
He snapped his fingers, and a maid immediately began pouring wine.
“Come, come, try the fruit wine here first.”
Seeing Leo take a sip, Arthur gave a signal to the attendant beside him, who began serving the dishes with knife and fork.
Arthur downed his glass in one go and began introducing enthusiastically, “Today’s entire table is prepared for you. Here, try this first—premium smoked beef.”
It had to be said that as the son of a count, Arthur was quite skilled in hosting etiquette.
He introduced dishes while toasting repeatedly.
After several rounds, Leo already felt a slight buzz.
He could not drink any more.
Leo made up his mind and looked at Arthur, speaking first, “Let’s stop drinking. There’s something I need to clarify—the horse this afternoon, it really wasn’t my doing.”
He knew Eddie had been spreading rumors behind his back. He absolutely could not take the blame for this.
He had to clear things up first.
“Hah~ don’t listen to Eddie. How could it be you? We were sparring at the time—I saw your every move clearly. And who could even command that damned beast to do something so ridiculous?” Arthur cursed.
At the thought of that white horse, he could not suppress his anger.
Leo nodded. Since there was no misunderstanding, he said no more.
However, hearing Arthur say this, it seemed he actually did have the ability to command the white horse to do such a thing.
After the afternoon’s events, Leo realized the importance of horsemanship.
Compared to his previous world, the horses in this world possessed extremely high combat power.
Standing over three meters tall, with hooves larger than a human face—their strength and speed far surpassed ordinary humans.
If he could control a warhorse, it would itself be a powerful combat force.
As Leo was thinking, Arthur had already stood up and walked over with a mysterious expression. “Brother, for the final dish, allow me to introduce it properly.”
Arthur pointed to the plate of meat in the center of the table.
At this point, they had already tasted everything else—only this final dish remained.
“This is meat from a North Sea merfolk. After eating it, it strengthens muscles, replenishes vitality, and increases strength.” Arthur personally picked up a slice with his fork and placed it on Leo’s plate, looking rather secretive.
Leo picked it up with his fork and put it into his mouth. To his surprise, the meat melted instantly.
Without even needing to swallow, it vanished in his mouth.
Immediately after, Leo felt a warm current spreading from his mouth, quickly dispersing into his bloodstream.
“Well? That single slice you just ate has the nutrition of an entire lamb leg.”
Leo felt his body—indeed, it was like the warmth he would feel after eating a whole pot of lamb in his previous life.
“North Sea merfolk… Beastkin meat?!” Leo knew some things about Beastkins from his memories.
The original owner’s father had done everything he could to resist Beastkin invasions, but Leo had almost no memory of Beastkin meat.
Unexpectedly, today in Blackstone City, he had eaten Beastkin meat for the first time.
“Don’t worry, the Beastkin Meat I gave you contains no toxins.” Seeing that Leo did not seem to understand much about this, Arthur continued explaining, “Not all Beastkin meat is edible. Most contain toxins, so only a few types can be eaten. The North Sea merfolk you just had is one of them. Guess how many silver coins this entire plate costs.”