188 How Does it Taste? (1/2)

At the mention of eating ant organs, the group lapsed in silence. Although palace guards were just servants of the royal family, they enjoy luxurious meals that weren't any less than the nobles and perhaps even exceed the nobles.

With the privilege of having meals personally prepared by the royal chef, they were accustomed to elegant and artistically arranged cuisines with strong aromatic fragrances that easily whet one's appetite.

They weren't opposed to trying new delicacies, but when it is visually unappetizing, the human mind subconsciously develops resistance and repulsion towards it. It would already be a good thing if the thought of eating the organs of insects didn't lower their appetites, let alone raise it.

Lilith strongly rejected the idea the moment it was raised. Fortunately, there were some brave souls among the palace guards, who were willing to test the validity of the taste after submitting to their curiosity.

”Ugh…”

At this moment, the talk was interrupted by Damir's sudden groan of pain. The few palace guards, who were prepared to volunteer as taste testers, lowered their hands.

Shaking his head, Leon said, ”We'll worry about this later when it's time to eat. I'm sure no one is feeling hungry at this moment.”

”Let me take a look.”

Leon helped Damir remove his gauntlet to inspect the wound.

The state of the wound was very unpleasant to look at. A large layer of skin was melted, and the bones were exposed. The condition did not exacerbate, and the bleeding was stopped thanks to Leon's previous act.

However, Damir paled at the sight. One look at the wound and he knew that his hand had become useless. It might even require amputation to prevent other medical issues from developing as a result of necrosis.

Leon wore a grim look as he inspected the wound. The blood of these creatures was so tyrannically corrosive. Was it really safe to eat their organs?

Hope faded from Damir's eyes as he looks at the prince's expression. It seems his hand had no hope of recovery. Damir sighed and said, ”Don't worry, your Highness. I don't blame you for this injury.”

Snapping out of his thoughts, Leon responded with, ”Hm? What are you talking about? Why would you blame me?”

Leon proceeded to pull out a knife and said, ”Grit your teeth. It's going to hurt a bit.”

”Oh…”

Suddenly, Damir was assaulted by strong waves of pain as he gritted his teeth out of reflex. He wanted to scream, 'A bit!?'

Leon cleaned the wound with the knife, scraping off all the useless flesh and caused the bleeding to resume. Afterward, Leon pulled out a bottle of Tier-2 Golden Ointment and began applying it to the fresh wound.

”So miraculous!”

The herbal garden in his Worldspace might be growing well, but not enough to waste his precious tier 3 spirit herbs on a trivial wound. He didn't have that many to spare.

Soon, the wound fully closed, but Damir did not regain feeling in his fingers. However, Leon wasn't finished. He pulled out his silver needles and continued his treatment.

At the same time, he suddenly said, ”Don't just sit there and watch. Go look at the building entrance Lilith mentioned.”

”Our apologies, your Highness. It's just that your treatment method is too fascinating.” Zorbek smiled wryly, before giving his men the order to search the bottom floor.

However, he, himself did not leave, but asked, ”What is the purpose of checking out the blocked entrance, your Highness? If we are looking for alternative ways to escape, I don't believe going deeper into the underground is the correct choice.”

Leon didn't answer his question immediately but continued with the treatment silently.

Some time passed, before the palace guard was able to regain senses in his fingers. He flexes his fingers with amazement glances at the prince with gratification. ”Thank you, Your Highness.”

”En, off you go,” Leon said.

After Damir left to join the rest of the palace guards, Leon resumed his focus on Zorbek and nonchalantly said, ”Haven't you realized that this building is designed like some sort of watchtower or control tower? If we remove the hard earth, we might be able to find other buildings and facilities in the vicinity if we search.”

After listening, Zorbek seemed to have understood the prince's intention. The prince did not show any show concern about their present predicament of being trapped. Worrying wouldn't solve anything. It was better to use their time efficiently while they are trapped to do what they came to do.

”I understand. I'll go check on the palace guards, your Highness.” Zorbek said.

Leon nodded and shooed him off with his hands.

Finally, he made some time for himself to read. Reopening the book, he found, he skimmed through the contents for useful information.