Chapter 330: Counting the spoils

The operation to slay the snake was a complete success, and immense excitement was evident on everyone's face as they gathered around the six-headed sea serpent, marveling at its immense and grotesque form.

One bucket after another of the serpent's blood was quickly collected in water buckets.

It was then poured over the bloodfruit planter. However, the planter couldn't hold all the snake blood. Lord Liszt didn’t want to waste it; he intended to maximize the benefits: "Transport the snake blood to the carriage, along with the bloodfruit planter. Immediately return to the castle. And bring my shell back to the castle as well!"

He stood up and looked at the massive corpse of the six-headed sea serpent. Parts of the corpse had been nearly cooked by the powerful fire dragon's flames.

So, selling it at a good price would be difficult—after all, no one had ever heard of selling materials from magical beasts or sea monsters after they had been cooked.

"Drag the corpse of the six-headed sea serpent back to the castle. Once there, dismantle it into materials. See if there are any important parts that can be sold, and store the rest as food," Lord Liszt announced his decision regarding the body.

Suddenly feeling the need to give a speech and motivate his followers, he declared: "Each of you fought bravely in this hunt. Your courage and effort did not go unnoticed. The spoils are before us, and every one of you will share in the rewards. This is my promise!"

Raising his voice, he looked around.

Lord Liszt declared loudly: "This hunt is only the beginning. In the future, more honor and glory await us! And the glory belongs to me; I stand with all of you!"

"We will follow you to the death!" shouted a quick-witted squire, Xavier.

Immediately after, everyone, including the Earth Knights, began shouting loudly: "We will follow you to the death!" The shouts echoed again and again, seeming especially passionate and wild against the backdrop of the six-headed sea serpent's corpse.

Lord Liszt was very pleased with the scene.

Of course, he also took note of Xavier's quick wit.

As the shouts gradually subsided, he resumed a serious expression: "Now, clean up the hunting site. Take all the materials that can be carried. We're returning!" He then rushed to the mermaid Acheronides, directing the squires to lift the shell out of the pond and place it on a flatbed carriage. They would take it back to the castle and then to the wooden building where the shell was stored.

As they dragged the massive corpse of the six-headed sea serpent back to town, excitement spread through Flower Town.

Curious commoners crowded around to catch a glimpse of the intermediate sea monster's corpse—many had never seen anything like it, let alone a legendary creature of the sea.

Whispers buzzed through the crowd as people marveled and debated in hushed tones.

"What kind of magical beast is this? It's terrifying!"

"This isn't a magical beast; it's an intermediate sea monster, a massive creature that devours ships!"

"Look at its size! And all those heads—how many are there?"

"Thanks to the honor of knighthood, Lord Liszt has protected us from this terrible beast. May the honor of knighthood forever watch over Flower Town."

"It's not a magical beast; it's an intermediate sea monster!"

"They say Lord Liszt took down the sea monster with one swing of his sword!"

"It's an intermediate sea monster, as powerful as Lord Liszt's Hiddleston!"

"It could cast terrifying magic and create giant waves to crush anyone it encountered. My brother participated in the battle to hunt the sea monster, and he saw with his own eyes Lord Liszt riding Hiddleston and slaying the giant sea serpent!"

"There's no magical beast or sea monster that Lord Liszt cannot kill."

"It must be worth at least a hundred gold coins!"

"Ha, old Polk, you must be kidding! This is no ordinary sea monster—it could fetch a thousand gold coins!"

"Its snake skin can be made into the best leather armor; not even a strike from an Earth Knight would leave a mark."

"I really want to try the snake meat."

"You'd burst if you tried to eat the sea monster's meat; it's filled with so much magic power that it would tear your body apart like a scarecrow in a field."

"Ah, how terrifying."

At this moment, Liszt should have made an appearance and accepted the worship and cheers of the commoners of Flower Town. But he did not; instead, he sent town officials to drive away the people who were gawking at the six-headed king sea snake's corpse. He had more important things to do, such as organizing the spatial gem.

There were too many things inside, and it was already full.

Now he needed to store the unused snake blood and take out a little every day to water the bloodfruit.

Without a way to prevent clotting, the blood was hard to preserve. Once it coagulated, the magic power inside would quickly dissipate. The great magician who wrote *The Secrets of Sea Snakes* would only pour snake blood at one time because it was hard for him to catch live sea snake-type monsters.

However, Liszt had a spatial gem that could store the snake blood indefinitely.

There were steel knight armor, a drift bottle containing a 36D soul, mithril, jade, crystal, black pearls, smokegrass, volcanic glass, Fire Dragon bone fragments, a Sapphire Power Ring, a goat-head banner, a Sapphire Dragon figurehead, soul wood, some knight novels, and magic books.

There were also large amounts of food, drinking water, and other daily supplies, as well as wasp venom, thorn toxin, and essential camping gear.

The gem space, the size of half a room, could no longer hold more items, so he had to clean up—he took out some camping supplies, books, bone fragments, volcanic glass, and knight armor, placing them in the study.

Only then was he able to put in a full ten barrels of snake blood.

"There's still some space left. Later, after processing the six-headed king sea snake's corpse, I can store the extra monster meat inside and use it slowly... After all, this is the corpse of an intermediate sea monster. The nutritional value of its meat far exceeds that of low-level monsters and will be enough for me to eat for a long time."

He had no intention of giving away even a bit of the six-headed king sea snake's meat.

After all, giving it to his followers would be a waste—only elite Earth Knights who relied on potions could make the most out of monster meat.

He planned to reward the followers who participated in the battle with gold coins.

If there was extra snake skin, he might give some to the Earth Knights to make leather armor—armor made from intermediate sea monster-level skin would be the best way to win hearts.

But, three seconds later.

"Never mind, they didn't contribute much effort. Ninety percent of the credit goes to me. It would be a waste to give them the leather armor... I'll just reward them with a generous amount of gold coins. I believe the knights love gold coins more than anything else, as coins can buy anything."

Just like how employees prefer bonuses in cash rather than in oil, when it came to bonuses, everyone would choose cash.

Cash gives the freedom to spend as you wish.

Moreover, the six-headed king sea snake was a treasure trove. Liszt didn't even want to sell it. After all, even with gold coins, it was extremely difficult to buy materials from intermediate-level monsters—Coral Island used to have more, but now there was only one Purplish Sand Crocodile left, which spoke volumes.

"Every part of a snake is valuable, and the six-headed king sea snake is no exception. Its entire body must be full of treasures. I’ll consume everything edible. For the parts that aren’t useful or edible, I’ll consider selling them to magicians."