Chapter 53 Celiad Gets Stabbed Again

The Council of Demon Kings, a cross-national organization of mages, was rumored to have been founded by a powerful archmage whose identity remained hidden.

The mages invited to join possessed formidable strength, with practical combat experience being of paramount importance, well beyond mere theoretical research.

Nowadays, mages who specialized more in magical circuit design and had only made achievements in the magic-tool manufacturing industry—no matter how famous they were or how vital to their respective nations—could not participate.

The Council of Demon Kings valued "tradition," and mages born after the rise of the magic-tool industry were often viewed as betraying that tradition.

Beaumarchais’s mentor was a member of this organization. Having joined through his mentor's introduction, Beaumarchais was now considered a competent asset within the ranks.

Having botched the mission assigned by the Clement family so severely, he had to shift the organization's attention onto this mysterious seventh-tier archmage, or else he would be the one facing disaster.

Mahait dug out a hibernating snake from the mine shaft, along with some yam roots, and prepared a simple meal.

Mahait felt reasonably fine, but Beaumarchais, accustomed to a life of pampered luxury as a mage, found it truly difficult to swallow. After eating just a little, he sat aside to recover his mana.

Having spent a long time being led in flight by Beaumarchais, Mahait was actually in a slightly better condition. He sat down behind Beaumarchais and began to chant softly.

A pale golden light descended, bursting into firefly-like specks of light upon Beaumarchais's body before being absorbed by him.

Beaumarchais opened his eyes, glanced back at Mahait, and nodded slowly in gratitude.

Both of them knew that to escape from this boundless snowy forest, the two must support each other.

……

……

Following the greatest crisis in the history of Red Hazel Town, Zohan knew he would inevitably face a retaliation from the Clement family.

Yet he felt no great pressure. As long as he remained cautious and guarded against snares and traps, there was surely nothing the enemy could do to him.

As for whether he could preserve Red Hazel Town or the Aldous family, he did not possess one hundred percent certainty.

He was no savior and had no need to shoulder all responsibility. Should any accident occur that led to the Clement family destroying this place, he would feel no self-reproach.

The ones who deserved moral and legal condemnation and punishment were the Clement family; this was the correct perspective.

If anyone felt it was entirely Zohan's fault, then naturally, they were right.

Over the next few days, Zohan slightly reduced the priority he placed on tasks like river-clam cleansing, local cleansing, and coating techniques.

Instead, he had Talisha conduct a piece of academic research: recording every detail she knew about Edestrine's life so that he could read it.

Judging by Talisha’s attitude of absolute adoration toward Edestrine, she ought to know a great deal.

Even if it wasn't recorded with the meticulous detail of a historian, she could still capture the key points—which, after all, was what Zohan cared about most.

Another matter of utmost importance was that he prepared to provide the blood of the magic wolf Seese to Celiad.

Under the influence of the active potion, the magic wolf's blood had been well preserved without showing any signs of spoilage or decay. Upon comparison, it possessed the exact same mana density as the fresh blood extracted from Talisha.

Mana density was crucial data for testing the activity of a substance, and the decay or spoilage of any substance was always accompanied by a decrease in mana density.

Zohan subjected the blood to a non-destructive processing method, concentrating the vital nutrients until the blood of the entire magic wolf was reduced to a single large bowl of essence.

"Yeye." Zohan entered Celiad's room and first called out to Yeye.

Yeye was truly obedient. While Zohan was busy, she would quietly hide in the cabinet without being curious about what was happening outside, nor would she proactively seek out Zohan to distract him. She focused entirely on guarding her blood-pig, Celiad.

"Did you catch someone very powerful to feed to my blood-pig?" Yeye sensed an aura from the bowl in Zohan's hand that was far more vibrant and powerful than the blood from before.

"Yes." Zohan nodded. At least Yeye no longer referred to both humans and magical beasts indiscriminately as "blood-pigs."

Originally, in her eyes, Celiad was her blood-pig, while everyone else was merely a blood-pig used to feed her own blood-pig.

"If Celiad is willing to drink this bowl of blood, it means her instincts are willing to accept this type of blood. If she won't drink it, I'll go look for the previous kind of blood instead." Zohan stroked Yeye's head as he spoke.

Recalling the behavior of the town's gentlemen on the day the manor was besieged, he felt not a single pang of psychological burden about casually grabbing one of them to feed to Celiad.

"Then you should wake her up." Although this was her most precious blood-pig, Yeye showed not the slightest sign of objection to Zohan's somewhat experimental approach.

She took Zohan's hand, stood on tiptoe out of curiosity, tilted her head to look at the bowl, and then glanced at Celiad.

Zohan, however, wore a somewhat solemn expression.

According to ancient texts and what his mentor mentioned in class, a blood thrall was a fifth-tier magical beast upon birth and could continue to grow thereafter, with its growth process still requiring blood.

Just like a mage, crossing each tier demanded more resources and soaring mana requirements.

For a blood thrall to advance in tier again, she certainly couldn't just find more humans to drain; the requirements for blood quality would also increase dramatically.

Compared to ordinary human blood, the blood of a magic wolf would undoubtedly be much more beneficial for her growth.

"Of all the myriad things in the floating world, my loves are three: the sun, the moon, and you. The sun for the dawn, the moon for the dusk, and you for forever and a day."

Thinking that Celiad might be nurtured into a vampire, Zohan recalled lines from *Twilight*... This was a translation, and a translation was often more than just icing on the cake; it was no different from a re-creation.

After reciting these lines in a cadence that was both rhythmic and melodious, Zohan cast a spell whose true name was [Enhancing Blood's Affinity for Mana and Stability of Combination with Magical Arrays].

As usual, he also cast several spells to resist vampire tearing of the neck, boost his own defensive state, and enhance agility and movement speed.

With all this completed, Zohan used Celiad's bed as the center, carving rune circuits onto the floorboards to form a magical array with powerful binding capabilities.

The effect of this magical array would not be stronger than the one he had applied to Talisha—after all, both were fifth-tier—but it lacked heavy side effects and did not inflict negative status ailments.

Relatively speaking, Celiad was certainly treated far better, even though she was originally just the young miss of a rustic country squire, whereas Talisha was the young miss of a prestigious aristocratic family.

Yeye watched all of this curiously from the side, occasionally mimicking Zohan's fabricated chanting words, and sometimes tracing the magical array Zohan had drawn with the tip of her toe.

Seeing this scene, Zohan resolved to provide Yeye with systematic instruction when he had time.

Then, he pulled back the quilt.

For the convenience of observation and research, Celiad had not changed or worn clothes over the past few days.

Compared to when Zohan first examined her on day one, her skin had visibly become more supple and rosy.

Unlike the snow-white skin of Mrs. Aldous, Celiad possessed skin that was more natural and fitting for a young maiden—white tinged with pink, always carrying the moist and warm sensation reminiscent of just having engaged in strenuous exercise.

Zohan checked her condition once more, and upon confirming there were no anomalies, he made a cut across her abdomen, expertly exposing the intricately distributed blood vessels and the intertwined viscera.

He glanced sideways at Celiad's face and, as expected, caught sight of that familiar, comfortable flush of warmth.