Wizard: I crush legends with martial arts.

Chapter 112 An Unexpected Gain

The mercenary at the stall was not very satisfied with the price quoted by Taisi.

After all, this was something he had gone through a lot of trouble to obtain, and he thought that something guarded by a demon must be a rare herb.

Moreover, after confirming that it was non-toxic, he tasted it and his unusually vigorous mental state caused him to suffer from insomnia.

But Taisi named the herb and described its effects, and the symptoms matched perfectly.

This honest-looking dwarf is probably not lying; it must be a considerable income.

"Give me 100 gold coins, and I'll give you all these herbs."

Midio had already picked up the herb to examine it with curiosity.

However, Alphonse doesn't have any money on him at the moment.

People who come to explore ruins don't usually carry money with them.

It all remained in the carriage's money box.

With two soldiers guarding it and the Emerald Territory's guards there, it's simply unacceptable that it was lost under those circumstances.

Alphonse will make the thieves who steal the money box pay a heavy price.

This Yang-regenerating herb is one of the medicines used to temper the body. According to Taisi, it is not produced in the Kingdom of Bastian, so it is worthwhile to purchase it first.

"Keep it for me, I'll buy it from you after I explore the ruins."

"That won't do!" The mercenary shook his head vigorously. "I won't be here later. I just came up to rest for a while. I still need to search for treasure in the ruins later."

Alphonse had no choice but to turn to Mia and instruct her, "Take him upstairs to get the money."

Mia understood that Alphonse wanted this herb because it must be useful for practicing "witchcraft".

He immediately said to the mercenary, "Bring the herbs and come with me."

Without hesitation, the mercenary asked the stall owner next to him to watch the stall, picked up the herbs, and followed Mia back.

Although the round trip took a little time, Alphonse was still delighted to have obtained a rare medicine.

This was an unexpected bonus.

One hundred gold coins isn't expensive; the Westerners say it's a little over a pound, but that's a misrepresentation.

Alphonse had also roughly estimated that although it weighed less than a pound and a half, it was still a few ounces more.

It's worth the price.

In the martial arts world of my previous life, it would cost much more than that.

"Is there a lot of Galantern Grass in the country of Bozak?" Alphonse asked.

"It's alright. I've seen it among the Minotaur people; their priests use this herb in rituals," Tethys replied.

"The Minotaur, the Minotaur?" Midio asked curiously.

"Yes." Tessie nodded.

"I've never seen this kind of race before. I've heard they're all very tall?" Midio asked again.

"Yes." Tethys gestured roughly. "The male Minotaur are much taller than the lord, and the females are a little taller than the lord, and um... a little taller than Mia too."

"Wow!" Midio exclaimed in surprise.

Alphonse, why are you using me as a reference point?

Do you think I'm tall?

I'm already over 1.8 meters tall, so by that logic, the female minotaurs must be at least 2 meters tall, and the males must be around 2.4 or 2.5 meters tall.

After all, it's a bull's head, so it seems quite reasonable.

"How far were the Minotaur tribes from the Frostwind Territory?"

"It's quite far," Tess said, somewhat puzzled. "You want Galantern Grass? Do you need a lot of this herb?"

"Not too many, though." Alphonse sighed. Collecting all seven ingredients would be enough for him alone, but far from sufficient for Mia and the others to strengthen their bodies.

If I have the chance in the future, I might consider crossing the border and making a trip to Bezac.

After Mia returned, Alphonse led the group into the passageway of the ruins.

Sunlight moss also grows on the top of the passageway.

But the further they walked, the dimmer the light became.

The moss at the top no longer grows in large patches; it's sparse and doesn't connect into a continuous sheet.

The corpses of monsters could already be seen in the passage.

Puddles of slime, presumably from dead slimes, and some split-open walking mushrooms lay limp along the edge of the passage.

Alphonse was puzzled. Logically speaking, since mercenaries went down to explore the ruins every day, this passage should have been cleared many times over.

Do the monsters here still respawn?

Suddenly, Tessie yanked Midio hard.

It pulled him so hard he stumbled and almost fell.

"Uncle Tessie, what are you doing?" Midio called out.

Alphonse and Mia also stopped and turned to look at Tessie.

"Don't go near the crack in the wall." Tessie reached over and took his long-handled ladle and frying pan from beside his large backpack.

"Why?" Midio asked, completely bewildered.

There was indeed a cracked hole at the base of the wall where he had just approached; it was more than just a crack.

Taisi did not answer, but instead inserted the long-handled soup ladle into the hole.

A "ding" sounded.

Taixi quickly took the spoon back.

But what came out wasn't just a soup spoon, but also a huge, dark pair of pliers that gripped the spoon's long handle.

As Tessi pulled hard, the monster inside was revealed in its entirety.

It was a scorpion with a body as big as a washbasin, its other pincers were waving incessantly, and its stinger was stabbing fiercely at the handle of the spoon.

Taixi reacted quickly, dragging the giant scorpion out and smashing it down with the frying pan in his other hand.

With a loud "bang," the scorpion's head and carapace were smashed flat. It twitched a few times and then stopped moving.

"There's such a huge scorpion in this crack!" Midio exclaimed, patting his chest in shock.

Alphonse found it amusing; wasn't this just how you catch crayfish?

"These giant scorpions feed mainly on moss. As soon as I saw the signs of grazing on the moss on the top of the passage, I knew there must be giant scorpions there." As he spoke, Taisi put away his frying pan and took out his machete from his waist.

With a few swift strokes, he severed the giant scorpion's pincers, eight legs, and venomous tail, leaving only its body intact.

"What are you doing?" Midio asked curiously.

Alphonse could tell at a glance that Tessie had fallen back into his old ways; he wanted to boil the giant scorpion again.

He definitely has experience cooking scorpions.

as predicted.

Taisi replied matter-of-factly, "This is a very good ingredient. Just remove the scorpion's internal organs, cut the body into pieces, and boil it in a pot to make a delicious and easy-to-cook broth."

"Can this thing be eaten?" Midio's little face scrunched up; he didn't want to eat this kind of thing.

"Of course you can eat it." Tess stuffed the scorpion's body into his backpack. "It tastes similar to crab meat, and it's delicious!"

Alphonse didn't bother to criticize Tessie's hobby; he simply discarded the scorpion's venomous claws and tail.

Needless to say, those things are definitely not edible.

Trying out new things is still a good idea.

In modern society, eating scorpions is quite common.

Taixi's cooking skills are guaranteed; he says the ingredients are delicious, so the taste will definitely be good.

(End of this chapter)