Chapter 1048
Moon Child’s Pre-made Meals
“Blood supply…” Sherlock muttered, immediately understanding Eivass’s meaning. “I see… Now that you mention it, it does make sense. The Orleans Count Manor is registered with only twenty-four relatives, the third fewest among the eight Counts. Yet, their blood demand is ranked first…”
He looked at the “Blood Supply” item in the data card, somewhat puzzled. “But why… so little?” This was the number of blood bags they retrieved from the hospital each month. Even the Orleans Count, who took the most, only retrieved two hundred and twenty bags. Calculated at two hundred milliliters per bag, that was merely forty-four liters. The quantities retrieved by other Moon Children were even more pitiful… the least being just over sixty bags. To these Moon Children, it seemed a bit too low-key…
Sherlock didn’t realize this immediately because this aspect was precisely within his blind spot of knowledge – he didn’t know much about Moon Children. He had no idea how much blood Moon Children normally consumed.
Eivass also knew this, so he explained in detail, “There’s a counter-intuitive fact here – Moon Children don’t actually need to drink blood every day. To maintain a Moon Child’s basic rationality, only 200 milliliters every fifteen days is required. This means that with sufficient nutrition, theoretically, one Blood Slave could supply the survival needs of three to four Moon Children. The Moon Children’s craving for fresh blood is akin to humans’ craving for gourmet food. It’s an embodiment of ‘pure desire’.”
“…Not as food, but as a snack?” Sherlock’s expression darkened, and he murmured. “To be precise, it’s a beverage. The Moon Children’s craving for blood is addictive, much like a drunkard’s craving for alcohol. Based on this demand, the blood supplied from the hospital couldn’t possibly be for high-ranking Moon Children.”
Eivass then explained the operations of the Healthy Party in Iris Flower to Sherlock. Since the “Healthy Party,” to which the Moon Children belonged, essentially controlled half of Iris Flower’s votes, the Moon Children could receive a stable blood supply. The so-called “Healthy Party,” also known as the “Stabilization Faction,” was officially called the “Allied League of Iris Flower Patriots for Peace and Stability.” Their party emblem was a red heart, believing that all of Iris Flower’s current problems were just temporary chaos, and thus wished to unconditionally maintain the status quo. They did not want major policy changes, nor did they want war or any unexpected events that could cause drastic societal upheaval.
The core competitiveness of this party lay in the magical potions provided by the witches – and themselves. Therefore, the party encompassed about seventy percent of all major merchants and almost all old nobles. This was also why the Moon Child Counts could openly retrieve blood bags directly from the hospital for supply… Many old nobles were attempting to transform themselves into Moon Children, which was a “somewhat risky trend” in Iris Flower today.
“Within the Healthy Party’s public opinion, those Extraordinarys who follow the Path of Love and do not dare to perform the transformation ritual are even considered ‘cowards’ and ‘dinosaurs.’ Many ‘successful transferees’ also promote their current wonderful experiences, subtly luring them to gradually become Moon Children.”
“…Absurd.” Sherlock frowned deeply. “Those successful transferees are already another person, aren’t they?”
“Yes.” Eivass nodded. “And on the outside, they have many experts uniformly spread the message that ‘regular bloodletting can effectively prevent diseases,’ but ‘improper operation can cause infection.’ Based on this theory, Iris people can only go to the hospital regularly for bloodletting—not even donating blood, as it’s considered a form of ‘health preservation.’ They even have to pay the hospital.”
“…Simply ignorant.” Sherlock knew it was useless, of course. But Eivass shook his head, “No, it is indeed useful. Because after a large amount of bloodletting, to allow the wound to heal quickly and blood to regenerate, the hospital would have them take diluted potions or simply have the novice priests from the Seminary use them to practice the Illuminate Spell.”
The Illuminate Spell could not cure diseases, only heal injuries… But if these apprentices were to truly treat severely injured patients, their wounds might worsen to an untreatable state without a single spark of light. However, for these “blood providers” who merely suffered blood loss, they had ample time to receive this free treatment that would merely waste some time but could effectively accelerate bodily recovery. The Iris people priests, lacking a genuine theological inheritance, also needed a large number of “textbooks” to improve their proficiency in the Illuminate Spell, and by not charging money, they could practice the principles of the Path of Devotion, truly achieving two goals with one action. The truly useful “health preservation” part was actually in the subsequent Illuminate Spell and potions.
“Thus, the hospital obtained a large amount of fresh blood.” Eivass summarized. Although refrigerators in this era were based on alchemy and magic, hospitals had large ice cellars to refrigerate this blood. These ice blocks were blessed, and their radiance could slowly dispel diseases and contamination in the blood, allowing them to be preserved for a longer time… They could be used for reverse blood transfusions to patients during surgery, or sold to Moon Children. Even the technology for blood preservation was provided by Moon Child friends!
“This blood with added preservatives has a peculiar, strange taste. It significantly weakens the sweetness of the blood in the Moon Child’s mouth, serving only as a long-term storable dry ration. It’s roughly equivalent to delivered buckets of spring water—perfect for quenching thirst or cooking, but for truly entertaining guests or daily consumption, you’d at least need to make tea, coffee, or soup with it.”
However, for Moon Children, this kind of “ration” was essentially a “pre-made meal.” Eivass explained, “Truly reputable Moon Children would certainly not drink this blood. Purchasing such cheap blood is even considered a disgrace for noble Moon Children. It’s mainly used to quench the thirst of those wild Moon Children and those with little status… it’s a form of intra-species mutual aid.”
“Simply put, this blood is for the servants to drink. Its correct usage is actually for making decorations, such as blood fountains or using blood for bathing… But even for these decorations, noble Moon Children in Iris Flower tend to use living people for their creation—this is a symbol of strength for Moon Children.”
“Just like human nobles would create fake versions of their expensive jewelry to wear in less important occasions to prevent loss and theft. But if they were discovered by other nobles because they couldn’t afford the real jewelry, it would be a disgrace.”
“Other nobles also need to purchase blood bags from time to time because the number of Blood Slaves in their manors fluctuates. Sometimes they are consumed, sometimes they are sold or given to other nobles. Other times, they die for various reasons and cannot be replenished in time. At such times, they stockpile some blood bags to be safe.”
“However, the Orleans Count’s purchase of blood bags is very consistent. Their number of Blood Slaves also fluctuates, and the number of relatives varies – from a minimum of sixteen to a maximum of twenty-six, but their blood bag purchases are always between one hundred and one hundred and forty, with a fluctuation clearly lower than all other Moon Child Counts.”
“—Therefore, this is the most direct evidence.”
(End of Chapter)
