Chapter 1048: Moon Child's Pre-made Dishes

"Blood supply..."

Sherlock murmured, immediately understanding what Aiwass meant: "I see... Now that I put it that way, it's indeed not a problem.

"There are only twenty-four registered dependents at the Count of Orleans's residence, making him the third-fewest of the eight counts. However, their blood is the most important need..."

He looked at the "Blood Supply" item on the data card, somewhat confused: "But why is it... so little?"

——This is the number of blood bags they retrieve from the hospital every month.

Even the Count of Orleans, who had the most blood, only had 220 bags. Calculating that one bag of blood was 200 milliliters, that was only 44 liters.

The quantity retrieved from other Moon Children was even pitifully small... the least was only more than sixty bags.

For these moon children, it seems a bit too low-key...

Sherlock didn't realize this right away, simply because it was in his blind spot—he didn't know much about the Moon Child. He had no idea how much blood the Moon Child normally consumed.

Aiwass also knew this, so he explained in detail, "There's actually something counterintuitive here—the Moon Child doesn't actually need to drink blood every day. The basic blood requirement to maintain a Moon Child's rationality is only 200 milliliters every fifteen days."

"In other words, with adequate nutrition, one blood slave is theoretically enough to sustain three to four Moon Children. And the Moon Children's thirst for blood is similar to a human's thirst for delicious food. It's the embodiment of 'pure desire.'"

"...Not as food, but as a snack?" Sherlock's face darkened and he murmured in a low voice.

"To be precise, it's a drink. The Moon Child's thirst for blood is addictive, just like an alcoholic's thirst for alcohol. Based on this need, the blood supply allocated from the hospital cannot actually be provided to the Upper Moon Child."

As he spoke, Aiwass explained to Sherlock the operations of the Healthy Party in Iris.

Ever since the "Health Party" to which the Moon Children belong basically controls half of the Iris votes, the Moon Children can get a stable blood supply.

The so-called "Healthy Party," also known as the "Stability Faction," stands for the "Iris Patriotic League for Security and Stability." Their party logo is a red heart, and they believe all of Iris' current problems are merely temporary chaos, and therefore want to unconditionally maintain the status quo.

They do not want to make major policy changes, nor do they want war or any accidents that may cause major social changes.

This faction's core competitiveness lies in the magical potions provided by the witches—and in the witches themselves. Consequently, this faction encompasses essentially 70% of all major merchants and nearly all of the old nobility. This is also why the Earls of the Moon Child can openly requisition blood supplies directly from the hospital... Many of the old nobility are attempting to transform themselves into Moon Children, a "rather risky trend" in today's Iris.

"In the public opinion of the Health Party, those who dare not hold a transformation ceremony are even considered 'cowards' and 'old-fashioned'. There are also many 'successful transformations' who publicize their wonderful experiences, in this way subtly tempting them to gradually become Moon Children."

"……absurd."

Sherlock frowned, "Those who have successfully transformed are already different people."

"yes."

Aiwass nodded. "And outside, they've got many experts to unanimously agree on one thing: 'Regular blood draws can effectively prevent disease,' but 'if performed improperly, it can cause infection.' Based on this theory, the Iris people have no choice but to go to the hospital regularly for blood draws—not even to donate blood, as it's considered a form of 'health preservation,' and they even have to pay the hospital money in return."

“…It’s simply stupid.”

Of course Sherlock knew this was useless.

But Aiwass shook his head: "No, it really works.

"—Because after a large amount of blood is drawn, in order to quickly heal the wound and regenerate the blood, the hospital will make them take diluted potions, or simply let the novice priests in the seminary use them to practice illumination."

Illumination magic cannot cure diseases, it can only heal injuries... But if these apprentices were really asked to treat seriously injured people, the injuries might worsen to the point where they could no longer be treated and not even a single ray of light could be produced.

But for these "blood donors" who were merely losing blood, they had ample time to receive this free treatment, which only wasted some time but effectively accelerated their recovery. And the Iris priests, lacking an orthodox theological heritage, needed a large amount of "teaching materials" to increase their proficiency in illumination, while also practicing the principles of dedication without charging a fee. It was a win-win situation.

——And the truly useful "health-preserving" part is actually in the subsequent lighting techniques and potions.

"So, the hospital got a lot of blood."

Aiwass concluded.

Although refrigerators in this era were only based on alchemy and magic, hospitals could have large ice cellars to store this blood. This ice was blessed, and the light it emitted could slowly dissipate the disease and pollution in the blood, allowing it to be preserved for a longer period of time... It could be used to reverse blood transfusions to patients during surgery, or sold to the Children of the Moon.

Even the blood preservation technology was kindly provided by the Son of the Moon!

"This blood, with preservatives added, has a peculiar smell. It significantly diminishes the sweetness of the blood in the Moon Child's mouth, making it suitable only as a long-lasting dry food. It's roughly equivalent to a bucket of mountain spring water delivered to your door—it's certainly fine for quenching thirst or cooking, but if you're entertaining guests or just drinking it daily, you'll need to at least make tea, coffee, or soup with it."

However, for the Moon Child, this kind of "ration" is actually equivalent to a "pre-prepared meal".

Aiwass explained, "A truly prestigious Moon Child would definitely not drink this blood. Even purchasing this cheap blood is considered a disgrace for a noble Moon Child. It's primarily used to quench the thirst of wild Moon Children and those of lesser status... a form of mutual aid within the species."

"Simply put, this blood is for servants to drink. Its proper use is actually to create decorations. For example, a blood fountain, or bathing in blood... But even for these decorations, the Iris nobles, the Sons of the Moon, tend to use living people to create them - this is a symbol of strength for the Sons of the Moon.

"Just like human nobles, they would also make some fakes of their expensive jewelry and wear them on less important occasions to prevent loss and theft. But if other nobles found out because they couldn't afford the real jewelry, it would be a shame.

"Other nobles also need to purchase blood packs from time to time. This is because the number of blood slaves in their mansions fluctuates. Sometimes they are consumed, sometimes they are sold or given to other nobles. Sometimes they die for various reasons and cannot be replaced in time. At this time, they will stockpile some blood packs just in case.

"However, the number of blood packs purchased by the Count of Orleans was very balanced. The number of their blood slaves and followers also fluctuated—from a low of sixteen to a high of twenty-six—but the number of blood packs they purchased remained consistently between one hundred and one hundred and forty, a significantly lower fluctuation than that of all other Moonchild Counts.

"——Therefore, this is the most direct evidence."

(End of this chapter)