Hm? She’s surprisingly composed. Liscia almost fell over in shock when she heard it.
“… I thought you’d be more surprised”
“When you think about it, there were monsters inside dungeons even before the Demon King Territory appeared. I wonder if it used to be the site of a former dungeon?”
“There were no records of it in the Royal histories. No folklore, either. Well, it was several thousands of years ago, so I can’t deny the possibility that it came from way further back than any history”
“Humm … I suppose we should investigate our own country as well,” Jeanne pensively nodded. Well, that would be more than what I’d ask for.
“By all means please do so. The Kingdom will also investigate various places”
“Please tell us if you found anything. Of course, we’ll also notify you if we do”
“Understood”
Imperial territory was much much bigger than the Kingdom. One could expect more out of investigating it. But of course, the Kingdom also wanted to make progress with our own investigations. And thus it was decided that the “Sharing of Information on Domestic Excavations” would begin between the Kingdom and the Empire.
Jeanne took a breath and said, “now, we seem to have digressed quite a ways from the discussion of whether demonic beasts can be eaten or not,” as she emptied her cup of tea.
I also drained my cup of coffee and ordered Serina for refills for the both of us. We each received our refills of coffee and tea and continued the talk.
“Now that you mention it, we were talking about that, didn’t we”
“What I ate was some winged great serpent meat”
“Winged serpent? Like a dragon?”
I recall there being a deity called the Plumed Serpent (Quetzalcoatl) in Central or South America, but we’re not on Earth and since we were talking demonic beasts, what came to mind was a draconic monster. That was what I was thinking, but Jeanne shook her head.
“No, it wasn’t something that glamorous. It was literally just a snake with four bird wings growing out of its body”
The hell is that? That’s definitely a chimera, right?
“Well, you’re something, being able to eat something like that …”
“Tastes just like a regular snake. Closer to fish than chicken, it’s quite delicious”
… well, I suppose they eat snakes normally in some countries. In my mind, snake meat brings up the image of the fake fish in Akutagawa Ryuunosuke’s “Rashomon” … did she say delicious?
“Say now … Jeanne, aren’t you a princess?”
“I’m also a general. Local bounties make for good army provisions”
“That makes sense”
“And what got me thinking to eat demonic beasts was when one of the scouting parties sent to the Demon King Territory saw the remains of demonic beasts having been cooked by the demon race”
“Cooked? Not just eaten on the spot?”
“Yes. Judging from the bones that looked like they were cut apart with edged tools and the heads that have charred bits, they were probably roasted whole before being cut apart and eaten. So when we caught the same kind of demonic beast, I just had to find out whether we can eat them as well”
Jeanne bit into the baked sweets served alongside the tea.