Witch Troupe and the Undead

"Wait, we need a few, but they must be properly killed." This means killing them, draining their blood, skinning them, and removing the inedible internal organs and scales.

"Clean meat? Beautiful lady, that'll cost extra!" Handmade also costs money! Besides, if it's freshly slaughtered clean meat, who will buy the remaining scales and skin? We'll have to process them ourselves.

"Our budget... well, add 2 copper coins for the labor cost per unit!"

"Alright!" The young butcher with a towel tied around his head immediately perked up.

He grabbed the fattest, screaming one with his big hand, threw it onto the cutting board with a thud, chopped off its head with a snap, peeled off the skin along its neck, scraped off the base of the scales, took out its internal organs and threw them into a dirty wooden bucket next to it. After hanging it upside down to drain the blood, he was done. The whole process took no more than 2 minutes.

"Here you go..." Leslie counted the copper coins in her wallet and handed over a small handful of copper coins, all of which were minted by the Alchemy Society. This made the Butcher's face light up with surprise. Just from the exchange rate alone, he could earn an extra copper coin from this one transaction.

"Have you bought everything? Only Luo Qi's group is left. They're going to the commercial street in the central district to buy things, so we'll just have to wait for them at the entrance for a while."

If you go in together, you'll have to pay a hefty transaction tax. The guards don't care whether you're buying or selling; they just tax you based on the value of the goods you're carrying.

Chapter 81 Roach's Future Job Market (Seriously)

The central district of Valley City, though called the central district, is actually the area below the inner city wall built on the hills. Most of the residents here are ordinary small workshop owners, small merchants, and citizens. Just like its location, although it is higher than the free people in the outer district, it is not inside the city wall of the upper district.

The only thing worth mentioning in the central district is a small commercial street. The street is lined with normal shops, not the kind of street stalls or colorful tents. Grocery stores, alchemy material stores, butcher shops, cloth stores, clothing stores, ironware stores, and so on are all located on this street, along with two small taverns.

The iron shop sells iron farm tools and implements, as well as some crude and inferior weapons, making it a place for novice adventurers to replenish their weapons and equipment.

In addition to fresh meat, the butcher shop also sells cured meat, sausages, and so on. It is the second largest shop on the street after the alchemy supply shop and the ironware shop. Like most shops in this era, it operates on a front shop and back factory model.

Compared to the Middle Ages on Earth, the butcher shops in this fantasy world sell monster meat in addition to regular pork and mutton. Due to the lord's slaughter tax, this type of meat can only be sold and slaughtered in specialized butcher shops in the central and upper city districts.

In the market in the lower city, one can only buy poultry meat such as scaly snakes and chickens, as well as meats that are not considered respectable, such as rat meat and dog meat. Even so, the hunters and farmers who come to the city to sell meat have to pay a considerable amount of tax.

"What a fine bull!" The burly butcher's eyes lit up when he saw the bull following behind the little witch, head down and obedient. This was truly a fine aborigine. Aborigines could not be domesticated as draft animals; they were generally only used for slaughtering and selling meat.

Unfortunately, he soon noticed the two wooden frames on the ox's back, clearly indicating it was a camel, and immediately lost interest.

Putting aside how these two men tamed the aurochs, such an unruly creature, the fact that this heavy camel, with a shoulder height of over 1.8 meters, was practically a luxury yacht in the medieval logistics industry is a testament to its capabilities.

“Curned and smoked meats…” Roach spread his five fingers, letting the golden coins fall one by one onto the counter, jumping into the thick layer of blood and grease.

"How much?"

"Fill it up," Roach pointed to the wooden frame on the bull's head. "What kind of meat do you have here?" For the sake of the gold coins, the butcher's blood-stained face showed a friendly smile. "It's all top-quality pine smoked meat, all the freshest and best black pork."

Roach nodded. He had seen it when he entered the city: pig farmers were herding herds of large black-haired pigs into the woods outside the city. The pigs were raised on acorns, pine nuts, and wild fungi. However, these pigs looked somewhat wild and untamed. Simply put, each one had tusks and coarse black hair, clearly indicating that they had not been castrated.

He leaned closer and sniffed. Apart from a smoky smell of smoked meat and a slightly strong pine scent, there was no other unpleasant odor. He could only attribute it to the different breed of pigs in the fantasy world.

He instructed Alessina and the others to purchase relatively little of the staple food, mainly focusing on meat, hoping that the world didn't have the habit of stuffing sausages with rat meat. However, he was pessimistic about this, so he didn't buy any sausages.

They bought quite a lot of cured pork and mutton. The apprentices carried over strips of cured and smoked meat, stacking them tightly on the wooden racks.

"What about monster meat?" "Our shop can't compare to those in the city." The butcher shook his head. There were meat shops in the central district, but they mostly sold monster meat by adventurers, and it was all low-grade stuff. It didn't taste very good and could only be used to fool families who thought that eating this kind of meat might improve their professional talents.

"Only rock wolf meat is sold by the Rock Tower tribe." This is because there are ferocious monsters with fur that is similar in color to rocks all over Rock Tower County. Rock wolves are not dangerous because they have any magical abilities. Any monster that possesses any kind of spell or magical ability is at least at the level of danger.

The term "fierce" means that the combat power and danger of this monster are on par with ferocious beasts like tigers and wolves. Rock wolves are no exception. They are slightly larger than normal wolves, live in packs, and have greater endurance and biting power. They mainly live in Rock Tower County and hunt by using their bluish-gray fur with rock-textured patterns as camouflage.

The reason they are considered monsters is that their fur has a certain camouflage ability, allowing them to disguise themselves as ordinary blue rocks. It is also a low-end alternative material used by hunters and alchemists to create "camouflage cloaks" and "chameleon coats".

"Sold by Rock Tower Clan hunters?" Roach looked at Livia, and the little witch nodded gently, confirming that it was real monster meat, not some dog meat or ordinary forest wolf meat disguised as such.

"Yes, quite a few hunters and caravans from the Rock Tower Clan have come here these past few days." The butcher tapped the chopping board with his cleaver. "By the way, I have some freshly smoked sausages here, want some?"

"Forget about the sausages." They're filled with minced meat, pig's blood, and all sorts of other stuff, so Luo Qi didn't want to buy this kind of "high-fat emulsified mixed meat container."

After buying the meat, he skipped the smoked fish shop next door and the fish stall across the street and went straight to the most luxurious shop on the street, the "Gem Queen" Alchemy Shop, which specializes in selling alchemy materials and gem ore.

To avoid being kicked out by the shop's bodyguards as soon as they entered, Roach removed the hood of his cloak, and the little witch also slightly revealed a light pink dress with gold embroidery under the cloak, as well as the golden arcane triangular badge hanging on her chest.

"My lords..." The shopkeeper's gaze swept over Roach's armor and the triangular badge on the little witch's chest. He immediately stood up and greeted them with a fawning smile, completely ignoring the bull-headed man outside carrying a huge pile of cured meat and looking fierce.

The little guy stood on tiptoe, observing the various shiny gemstones on the shelf. There were no complete, polished gemstones here; they were all scraps from gemstone mines. There weren't even any gemstones of slightly better quality. The most common items were colorful gemstone dust and fragments in a glass bottle about the size of a thumb.

Gemstone dust is a material used to make magic ink and draw magic circles and runes. It is usually made from scraps produced during gemstone mining and polishing. Therefore, the quality varies. There is pure gemstone dust with a good appearance, while there is also grayish dust mixed with a lot of stone chips and dust.

Turquoise, ruby, citrine

"Why are there only three elements?" the shopkeeper asked curiously, but after seeing Luo Qi pull out a piece of aquamarine, he stopped talking. It seemed that the other party had already obtained a batch of aquamarine of good quality and only needed to purchase the remaining three elemental gemstone materials.

Besides gems, other alchemical materials are also sold here, including refined magical minerals such as glitterstone and blaststone, as well as basic alchemical alloys such as black steel for making lightning weapons, cold iron for demons, and silver alloys. However, high-end alloys such as adamantite and mithril are not available.

Opposite the mineral materials are other commonly used materials in alchemy, such as sulfur, strong acids, soda ash, carbon powder, etc.

Roach was really curious whether gunpowder could be made in this world. However, he figured it probably couldn't be made normally, otherwise this idiot wouldn't have mixed sulfur, saltpeter, and charcoal powder together, with an oil lamp next to it.

"This, this, and this..." The little witch finally finished touring the entire shop, her little hands quickly pointing between the shelves and counters. The apprentice next to her, with her keen eye, took out the alchemical materials she had selected, wrapped them up, and placed them neatly in a special wooden material storage box. The box was lined with thick straw and down to prevent some fragile items from breaking.

The cheapest magical materials that Livia could afford could buy the lives of these apprentices' families. After buying the materials, the remaining money was only enough to buy the simplest jewelry prototypes.

These are materials for making magical ornaments. Simply put, they are simple rings, pendants, earrings, bracelets, and blank amulets with pre-drilled holes and rune engraving areas. They also include chains cast from magical metals and metal pieces and rods of various shapes, like pre-processed standard modules.

These handcrafted "quasi-standard parts" are even more expensive than buying real jewelry. After all, those who pay for them are either magic tool makers or creators, both of whom are not short of money. Due to the size and processing area, even the lowest-grade magical jewelry costs more than 10 gold coins.

The reason for this standardized module is that even the lowest-level magical ornaments have a high failure rate, and not everyone has the little witch's wonderful ability to reshape and recycle scrapped materials.

So, either you have to work incredibly hard to create enormous jewelry, or you have to rely on quantity to succeed. As long as the yield rate isn't zero, and you make a lot of it, you'll eventually succeed. But if you do that, it's impossible to handcraft the jewelry blanks yourself. So, these creators and magic tool makers support magic artisans and jewelry artisans who specialize in this work, allowing them to develop these modular components.

These prototypes are all very simple or plain in appearance. However, the main thing about magic ornaments is their function. The appearance is not important. They rely on pure "numerical beauty" as their selling point.

Even if it's just a bare mithril iron ring, as long as it can blast enemies to pieces with five large fireballs when I need it, it's the most beautiful ring in the world. Besides, after being processed into magical ornaments, these bare ring faces will be covered with exquisite magic patterns and gem dust encapsulation, so they are not ugly at all, and even have a unique magical charm.

Most of these ornament prototypes are what Roach needs. Besides runestones, his role as a runemaster is to create Mystic Rune ornaments, powered by the magic of the rune disc. These ornaments are inlaid with runestones as a magical paradigm. As long as Roach carries enough Mystic Rune ornaments, he can use the rune disc to drive enough magic to make himself more like a mage or magic tool maker.

A small number of the prettier and more exquisite ones were what the little witch wanted. She used them to create proper magical items, as well as for simple collection, reference, and study.

Roach bought a total of 20 bare rings, 5 thumb-sized white amulets, and 5 metal pendants. He chose the large sizes because it was his first time making something like this, and he felt he didn't have the craftsmanship to make anything too small or delicate.

After completing all the purchases, Roach and the Little Witch headed towards the outer city with the bull's head laden with goods, preparing to meet up with Leslie and the others.

"Look, the pilgrimage team is here!" A cry of surprise rang out from the bustling, crowded, and noisy crowd. The throng then pushed the little witch and Roach to the edge of the street. To prevent the little one from getting lost, Roach had to hold her under his arms and place her on the bull's neck, letting her hold onto the bull's horns that curved upwards as handles.

This treatment of the child made Livia very unhappy, and her little face puffed up in anger, but she was soon drawn to the group coming out of the upper city.

What is a pilgrimage team?

The scene begins with knights riding solid-colored warhorses with neatly braided manes. The knights hold lances with flags in one hand and shields with silver edges and blue backgrounds painted with strange patterns in the other. Their warhorses advance in unison. Behind them are two oxen draped in expensive silk pulling a large oxcart, on which lies something resembling a coffin.

“A pilgrimage of relics…” Livia looked curiously at the relic box on the oxcart. A pilgrimage of relics is an important activity of the church, similar to a temple fair or a procession of deities in China. Relics enshrined in the relic room are taken out and paraded around the territory.

From a religious perspective, it is an important way to strengthen the faith of the surrounding parishes. It is also a form of tax collection and fundraising for the church. The pilgrimage team will travel along the main road between various towns and collect "spontaneous donations" from believers. Of course, in a world where there is a real God, or rather, divine power, the church's pilgrimage fundraising is not free.

The combat priests wearing robes adorned with holy symbols who guard the reliquary are responsible for clearing away all kinds of monsters and beasts encountered along the way during the pilgrimage, including thieves and bandits, thus maintaining the smooth flow of trade routes and logistics, although their purpose is to prevent pilgrims from being robbed halfway—that is an important asset of the church!

The true believers who come on pilgrimage are like original shareholders to the church, and they need to be taken care of in every way. Without the faith power provided by these people, the church would not know where to find the energy source for its various faith rituals and blessing ceremonies.

Meanwhile, the priests on the carriages at the back of the procession are responsible for preaching doctrines and spreading the faith. Their healing spells can also provide services similar to medical outreach to rural areas. For those living in villages and towns far from the main city, this may be one of the few times in their lives that they can receive free or inexpensive medical care.

Normally, the church's healing services are clearly priced, and the price plus travel expenses is difficult for ordinary free people or even landowners to afford. However, it's different during the pilgrimage to the relics; a healing service can be obtained for a very low price.

“It’s also the church’s training method… These carriages are filled with their carefully selected future priests and acolytes. Participating in relic pilgrimages under the guidance of combat priests, knights, and elders is one of their only practical training exercises,” Leslie, who had somehow squeezed in beside her, explained. “You can’t expect guys who just sit in the church all the time to develop their speaking skills.”

How can you preach if you don't have good speaking skills? You're not a battle priest who only needs to be able to fight. Even a battle priest needs real combat experience.

The thieves, bandits, and monsters along the way served as combat training for the gatekeepers (battle priests) and exorcists. "Safe, cheap, and sometimes you can even make a profit. This church is really good at business." Vivi squeezed in as well, watching the procession of the holy relic pilgrim leave through the outer city.

The citizens and travelers on both sides were as excited and happy as if they were attending a temple fair, discussing the magnificent carriages, the pure white statue surrounded by priests, and what kind of sacred objects were in the reliquary. Many devout believers even followed the pilgrimage team.

Instead of driving them away, the clergy sprinkled holy water and dried flower petals, which had undergone a simple blessing ceremony, on them as a blessing to these devout followers.

"Is it useful?" Roach asked. There are similar activities on Earth, but they are purely for psychological comfort. They are not entirely useless, but they are better than nothing.

“Yes, that blessed holy water does have the effect of warding off evil spirits, but…” the black horse said softly, hidden in the crowd, and no one knew that the voice came from a horse.

"If they haven't been corrupted by the aura of hell or the dead, then it's useless."

"What if there is?"

"That's how it is..." Roach and the others saw a guy dressed as an adventurer whose body emitted faint white smoke the moment he came into contact with the holy water. Before he could react, he was held down by the battle priests and given a simple purification ritual in front of him.

The adventurers, realizing what had happened, quickly took out their wallets and reverently placed several coins of mixed gold and silver into the priests' money boxes as their donation.

After this incident, the crowd became even more excited, with fervent voices chanting scriptures and shouting slogans everywhere. Roach stroked his chin, "Could that be a plant?"

"How to say?"

"Arrange for a special performance. As for the money, those who participated will receive their money back in full, and donations from ordinary citizens will be split 30/70."

“Three times seven is too much, at most one-nine,” Black Horse retorted first, then looked at Luo Qi with great interest, “Kid, interested in working in Hell after you die? I think you’re more like a proper demon than half of the demons in Hell. Come to my Dream Realm, and within 300 years, you can definitely rise to the rank of Lord’s Assistant! At the very least, you’ll be the Chief Arbitrator.”

They are specifically in charge of drafting and supervising the execution of various demonic contracts.

"No, I suspect that after I die, my soul will perish along with my body."

"That's a pity. If you have the chance, I'll take you to Hell. You really should give those idiots a good lesson!" Black Horse's words drew a glance from Minotaur. You hellish brute, how dare you call other demons idiots?

Chapter 82 The Real Treasure (A Real Treasure)

In the dense forest, sunlight filters through the thick leaves, creating dappled patterns. The dense thickets and ferns make it difficult to move. Despite the abundance of the forest, there is not a single sound of birds, beasts, or insects, making it feel as if one is walking through a phantom and a dream.

"Don't disturb these trees, they are all living giant trees," the scout cautiously explored ahead, instructing the newly added members of the team. "We learned this the hard way last time we came here." They used knives and axes to clear a path, but were beaten by these giant trees and had to flee in panic. If it weren't for the many odds and ends they carried, they would have been wiped out.

"Is the terrain around here...?" As a commander, the knight commander was slightly more sensitive to terrain than others, and felt that the distribution of vegetation and trees here was somewhat different.

“Otherwise, why would it be called the Living Forest? This woodland is alive, so it’s only natural that it changes.” The scout carefully searched for a path through the dense vegetation, using the occasional gaps in the sky and the sun to determine his approximate location. “We’re getting closer to our destination.”

"There's no trace of monsters along the way, and I feel... a little uneasy." The Living Forest does indeed have few monsters, or even almost none, but the problem is that if you include these living plants, then you could say that the entire forest is full of monsters and they form an even larger monster, and now the team is walking inside the belly of this behemoth.

The tree branches intertwined and whispered secrets, their subtle movements creating a labyrinthine corridor through the forest for the bewildered humans. "Stop!" the scout raised his hand; the grass rustled slightly. "Something's happening."

With a whoosh, the blades of grass danced in the air as the knight drew his longsword. Golden runes lit up one after another on the blade, enveloping the entire sword in intricate golden patterns, as if it were forged from light.

"Wow!" The monster emerged from the fluttering leaves, but the knights all looked bewildered. "Wow!" Seemingly realizing that the newcomers were not frightened, the chibi-style green dinosaur woven from leaves and branches roared loudly and tried to intimidate the newcomers by spreading its two short front claws, but unfortunately, it was only as big as Livia.

"..." The scout approached expressionlessly, intending to draw his dagger, but this thing didn't look like a proper demon at all.

"Wow!" Ye Long launched a flying kick, sending the scout flying. "Be careful, this monster is very strong!" Numerous branches flew out of the dragon's body like arrows, striking the adamantite shield with a sound like steel arrows.

"Counterattack!" The knight commander was the first to break free from the entanglement of the branches. With a single sword strike, he cleaved the leaf dragon, which looked cute but was actually capable of killing an entire team of novice adventurers, in two, and then continued to shred it completely.

"Don't let your guard down. This is a dangerous place. There's no way there could be any harmless monsters here." The knight commander turned around and warned, "No matter how harmless it may seem, it's best to treat it as a unit of panic level or higher."

The branches of the giant tree intertwined even more tightly, and the forest was filled with whispers that were hard for humans to hear. The thick trees connected with each other, and before they knew it, a corridor made of trees and shrubs appeared. On both sides were dense bushes and thorny brambles, and the trees stood close together to form an incredibly sturdy wooden wall.

The curved branches formed the ceiling of the corridor, with vines hanging down like curtains. This obvious change naturally made everyone in the team realize that something was wrong. "Be on high alert, we may have entered a special area."

In this green maze, the team soon encountered their second monster, or rather, their second group of monsters. With the rustling of the trees, a muscular mass parted the leaves and appeared before the team. It was a... fried meatball, with solidified fat piled between the meat's texture, and two muscular arms reflecting a greasy sheen in the sunlight.

This fried meatball with arms and legs had a resolute expression. It performed a set of standard bodybuilding poses for the whole team, showing off its thick biceps, back muscles like an angry Buddha, and strong thighs. A "philosophical" aura was coming from all directions.

Beside this giant fried meatball were palm-sized cookie figures, each with a dark body covered in artificially drawn muscles, just like the meatball muscle monster. Although these guys smelled of normal oil and candy, they still gave off a strong "manly" vibe.

Faced with this "philosophical monster," everyone expressionlessly drew their weapons and began preparing the most powerful combat skills of their lives. Just one glance at this blasphemous thing made their brains feel like they were on fire.

These sentient snacks, though comical in appearance, are quite formidable in combat. The meatball muscle monster can send a fully armed knight flying with a single punch. When a sword strikes the meatball, it's like striking a large, incredibly tough piece of rubber, unable to penetrate at all.

"Sizzle!" Arcs of electricity connected between the cookies, candy crumbs flew everywhere, and the air was filled with the smell of cocoa and sugar. However, these cookie warriors were not weak in combat. They only used their fists and flying kicks to attack humans, but judging from the marks left on their adamantite shields, their power was no less than that of a normally fired crossbow.

After a fierce battle, everyone felt that they had suffered mental damage far more than physical injury. These monsters were better off than Ye Long, who left nothing behind; at least they left behind a pile of candy fragments and pieces of meatballs.

"It's just ordinary snacks..." I thought it was a monster disguised as snacks, but after I cut it open, I found that the inside was really made of snacks. The meatballs were made of fish, and the core was a solidified broth cube made of mushrooms, fish paste, and ham. It was soft and bouncy and smelled pretty good.

"What is this..." The scout found a wooden sign where the monster had sprung out, with crookedly carved words on it. "Diamond Dumplings?" The scout glanced at the broken dumplings, his expression nearly collapsing. "These things are really dumplings? What kind of murderous dish is this!?"

The ultimate secret of dark cuisine is "murderous cuisine" in a physical sense. Ordinary dark cuisine masters can only make dark cuisine that kills people with its taste. That is just the "small vehicle" of the dark cuisine world. The real "big vehicle" is the secret of the king of dark cuisine: delicious and deadly (physical) cooking techniques (nod).

Roach stirred the vegetable and pork soup in the pot, when suddenly a chill ran down his spine. It felt like someone was talking badly about him behind his back. With enough ingredients and spices, Roach felt he had redeemed himself and could no longer be called the King of Dark Cuisine. Let this "great achievement" fade into history.

Fresh vegetables were purchased from farms near Creek Valley City, and chunks of half-grown black pork (less than a year old) were bought from farmers. The pork was then simmered with a mixture of ginger, garlic, and chili-like spices, along with a small piece of lard.

It also contains a secret alchemical ingredient, a MSG-like compound made from fermented soybeans, which the little witch extracted from fermented soybeans. This compound gives the whole pot of soup a hot and delicious aroma.

"Delicious!" The little guy's eyes lit up after he popped a spoonful into his mouth. His companions also said that after so long, Roach's cooking skills had finally passed the test.

"Back in my hometown, there's a saying: if we cook like this, even if you're boiling slippers in the pot, it won't taste bad." Luo Qi said that as long as there are enough seasonings, he can't possibly make the food taste bad, even if the pot contains slippers. To avoid the pigs having a foul smell because they weren't castrated, he added plenty of spices. With all those herbs, people who didn't know better would think he was brewing a magic potion.

"Based on your local habits and the amount of spices you use, soon you might really only be able to boil slippers in your pot," Leslie complained. Because of magic in this world, regular spices weren't as expensive as gold.

However, that refers to ordinary spice plants. Magical plants and spices can be more expensive than gold, especially the stuff that little witches extract from fermented soybean paste—that's the labor cost of a gold-level witch working all day. What price do you think is appropriate?

After finishing his meal, Luo Qi opened the "Great Achievements" section with satisfaction, hoping to see if he had activated any progress such as "Master Chef" or "Cooking Master," but...

[The Dark Cuisine Demon King: So-called murderous cuisine is the secret technique that makes simple food kill. Murderous Cuisine: 1/20]

"..." Roach thought he must be seeing things. Wait, when did he ever make a murderous dish? And why is there a head? Who was killed by his own cooking? Does being poisoned count? Does being poisoned myself count as a head?!

The young swordsman's hands fell limply to his sides as a salt-covered bluefish pierced his body, blood gushing from the wound. His companion swung his axe and severed the bluefish's hindquarters. Everyone stared silently at the corpse on the ground.