Chapter 74: The Prince

After being startled, Li En did not leave immediately after Zi Qiangwei departed.

Li En sat for a while, pondered, reviewed the information gained from the earlier conversation, then shook his head.

“It seems no change is needed.” There was plenty of intelligence, but nothing urgent required action.

Overall, it was good news—eliminating a security risk in advance.

The Beast’s power had always been a problem; even without the warning, Li En would never use it casually.

Moreover, he had no idea how to enhance the Beast’s power.

“The Snake’s ability is merely linguistic communication. It must be, as the witch said, that the Snake is a gentler, non-combative Beast.”

Thinking this, it was nothing much—just treat the Spirit Ledger as having acquired a slightly problematic “external plugin.”

Without a “translation plugin,” he’d have been completely stuck.

Since both priestesses said the Snake’s power was gentle, he decided to treat it as if nothing had happened.

Having resolved his thoughts, Li En drank another cup of tea, contemplated a few matters, then rose to report to the Princess.

Kuku, who had been an observer all along, had no idea what to say.

“The Enchanting Snake, the Deceptive Snake—you call it the friendliest Beast?”

Kuku suspected Li En had been cursed with a dumbed-down aura, and she had proof—it was the Snake!

“You’ve been deceived. Don’t you realize how high your favorability is with them? They charmed you on first meeting. The most ruthless one—you didn’t even sense anything wrong, you thought they were kind and cute.” The Snake’s words are deception, they are weapons.

They need no supernatural ability—just speaking and chatting is the most insidious, undetectable slow poison.

“The most harmless Beast? Among all Beasts, the Snake is the most dangerous—without exception!”

Kuku, who knew much, pondered, but ultimately said nothing.

Sometimes, not knowing is better.

The Snake has already locked onto its prey—would struggling even matter? Remaining completely unaware might make death more comfortable.

Still, these witches don’t seem to pose a lethal threat to Li En; perhaps they even offer benefits—might as well ignore them for now.

Power and danger are not synonymous. In Kuku’s memory, the Snake, source of war, was not the strongest, nor even among the top tier of Beast species—but it was the most dangerous and deadly.

If it truly returned, it could lure the Deer and the Elephant together and crush them, then randomly drag in one more Beast to beat them with both hands.

By the way, the Snake is also the Beast all others hate most—this is the unmatched, top-tier hatred.

And the Snake’s followers are the most dangerous of all followers—also the unmatched, top-tier.

“This little thing didn’t notice they deliberately concealed information?”

“He really thinks all magical girls are good? The Beasts sealed underground recruit magical girls too! Those bastards are worse than each other.”

“Are the Seven Beasts’ magical girls anything good? Didn’t their capriciousness cause enough trouble in the past? Especially the Snake’s witch!”

“Maybe he’s watched too many anime about Li Ensu’s magical girls—you know, he’s obsessed with this stuff.”

“Tch, foolish two-dimensional monkey.”

“Maybe he’s spent too long with that dumb but adorable mother Snake at home and thinks all other Snakes are just as dumb.”

“Should I tell Li En? Warn him about the Snake’s danger?”

“Not advisable.”

“No—knowledge is poison. The Snake governs knowledge and the human heart. By revealing this information, they’re already trying to raise Li En’s Beast blood concentration, testing its stability. Before he’s strong enough, knowing too much about Beasts isn’t good—he has his own limits too.”

The greatest concern is that if Li En becomes wary, they’ll instantly see through him—and then things will become far worse.

The Snake crushes prey that struggles to escape.

Unnoticed by Li En, having acquired “Beast knowledge,” his “Beastification 2.5%” had quietly shifted to “Beastification 2.7%.”

How could magical girls be purely good? They do stand on the side of civilization, but that doesn’t conflict with letting their nature run wild. They are Beasts too—how could they be harmless?

In fact, several magical girls rank among the top most wanted criminals on the continent—this is only counting the Seven Beasts’ side.

The law can never constrain them; only their own conscience and their kind can.

“The young male Snake isn’t mature yet—wait a little longer.” This, perhaps, was the reason the two hurried away.

As skilled hunters, they had great patience—ten years, fifty years, a hundred years, they could wait.

Pouring Beast blood into him all at once risks loss of control; better to let it grow slowly.

The professional system is nourishment for the soul; the soul is the power of humanity, capable of suppressing Beast nature to some degree.

The higher Li En’s professional rank, the higher his upper limit for “stable Beast blood,” and the more “valuable” he becomes to these kinds.

“I’ll apply to be stationed permanently in this city,” Zi Qiangwei suddenly said.

“Find a suitable excuse, don’t draw attention from others. Maybe say they’re guarding the underground labyrinth.” Her mentor didn’t stop her—instead, he encouraged her.

Both were in high spirits; coming to handle official business, they’d unexpectedly found treasure.

And Li En’s mood was also good. Some silent, supernatural force would keep him in good spirits for this period, and make him remember this pleasant meeting.

“Young Master Li En, this way, please.”

Arriving at another side hall, Li En saw the Princess’s meeting with others was still ongoing—he exhaled in relief.

His Dragon Eye also noticed that Dainya, seeing him arrive unharmed, showed a faint smile—as if she’d just relaxed.

Was this emotion relief? Because he hadn’t been instantly killed by the magical girls?

Li En had no doubt about this—if he’d truly been a threat, those two would have crushed him already.

“Your Highness.” At least Li En maintained surface respect.

“Your Highness is a Dragon Hunter! She’s a Dragon Hunter!” La Li rushed over to tell Li En this earth-shattering secret.

“Ah, I’m so surprised.” (flat tone) Li En was too lazy to act.

Li En had known long ago—and had already guessed Dainya would reveal this now.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have casually mentioned knowing Su Er during the award ceremony. Perhaps this was Dainya testing how much he knew, and how close he truly was to Su Er.

He even had some guesses about Dainya’s goal in this meeting (for some reason, he felt unusually sharp today).

“Knight Li En, I expect you to support me during the next Spirit Legacy.”

And the Princess made no effort to hide her demand.

According to records, if a Spirit Legacy occurs, the next one will come sooner, and the previous loser may have another chance to compete.

But generally, the chance of a loser’s resurrection is extremely low.

“You’ve noticed—I’m a spellcaster. The last Legacy was unfair to me!” The girl pouted. She still couldn’t understand how a spellcaster had been chosen for the Holy Knight’s Legacy ceremony.

Wasn’t she excluded from the start? Though Dainya didn’t regret it—even felt grateful to be chosen—she still thought the selection was absurd.

But if the next Legacy is for a spellcaster, she absolutely won’t let it slip away.

Correct—she planned to cheat outside the system.

The kingdom was nominally hers; as long as the Spirit Legacy still selected candidates in this city, she had the power to manipulate external factors and make herself the top priority winner.

“If the Legacy isn’t suited to me, I won’t force it. But if it is—I need power to face the coming storms.”

Nobles should bear more responsibility—that’s what she’d told Su Er.

But the full phrase was: “Royal family members must bear the entire kingdom and its people”—her mother had told her this as a child.

She didn’t think Li En would refuse—he had a fiancée who was her ally, and he’d need to live under her authority soon. Who’d be foolish enough to offend their superior’s superior, their fiancée’s superior, their political patron?

“I refuse.”

But the flat tone was the most direct response.

The smiling knight directly refused his superior’s superior’s superior—the Princess, who should have been his patron.

“In this world, how could a son kneel to his daughter? Well done! Well done!” This time, Kuku’s rant didn’t make Li En tell her to shut up.

He merely smiled silently, making the Princess’s face turn purple with rage.

(End of Chapter)