"Levi… my lord, where are we going?" Yalina, the "Robber Bride" Yalina, asked Levi.
Levi didn't know either.
He fell silent for a moment, then remembered that the Level 4 Detection's Daily Intelligence Detection hadn't been used yet.
With a thought, he consumed Magic Power and activated Detection:
[Intelligence 1: The seven dwarfs living in the Whispering Forest and Snow White have been growing closer. Recently, they've had a heated argument over whether to contact a witch from a certain rapunzel herb garden to treat the scar on Snow White's face.]
[Intelligence 2: Snow White still remembers you vividly as the one who left her scar and wants to see you again.]
[Intelligence 3: The assassins sent by the Magic Mirror Queen have lost track of you and are seeking her assistance.]
[Intelligence 4: In the Moonshadow Forest in the central region of the Amtyr Kingdom, there is a magical candy house. An elderly witch of peak First-Ring Wizard strength lives there, and she has recently encountered some troubles.]
...
Seeing this information, Levi's eyes flickered slightly.
Four pieces of intelligence.
Aside from the second, the other three were all quite valuable.
His gaze lingered briefly on the third.
This wasn't a game.
Those subordinates sent by the Magic Mirror Queen didn't have a magic mirror themselves—keeping track of Levi's real-time movements was difficult, so losing him wasn't surprising.
But the fact that they were now seeking help from the Magic Mirror Queen—that was what made Levi wary.
He fell silent for a moment, then decided to set that matter aside for now.
His attention shifted to the fourth piece of intelligence—the one he considered the most valuable.
The Candy House!
A witch with peak First-Ring Wizard strength!
…
If Levi's guess was correct, this should be related to the Grimm fairy tale known as Hansel and Gretel.
In the story, the witch liked to eat children. She lured a pair of siblings into her candy house deep in the forest to devour them—but in the end, she was killed by the children instead. The siblings returned home with her treasure and lived happily ever after.
But there was one detail in the tale that now struck Levi as odd.
After killing the witch, the siblings reached a riverbank.
The girl—just an ordinary child—was somehow able to make a large white duck understand her speech and obey her commands.
That didn't make sense.
Of course, fairy tales often didn't make sense…
Levi couldn't figure it out, so he stopped thinking about it.
Instead, he considered something else.
Based on the intelligence, the witch in the Candy House likely hadn't yet encountered that pair of siblings.
Which meant Levi still had an opportunity.
Peak First-Ring Wizard strength…
The gap between him and her wasn't that large.
After some thought, Levi decided to head to the Candy House to find the witch.
Perhaps he could strike a deal with her and obtain a new meditation method.
The Basic Meditation Method he was currently practicing was becoming increasingly inadequate—it was starting to hold him back.
Even if negotiations failed, with his current strength, self-preservation shouldn't be a problem.
After all, in the fairy tale, the witch had been so weak that she was killed by two children.
With that in mind, Levi made up his mind and answered Yalina, "Moonshadow Forest."
"Our next destination is Moonshadow Forest."
Yalina froze for a moment. Moonshadow Forest was quite famous within the Amtyr Kingdom.
The forest was known nationwide for its abundant resources—but also for being overrun with monsters and fraught with danger.
Every year, unlucky adventurers entered and never returned.
Only the outer edges were relatively safe.
At first, Yalina was startled when she heard the name, but then she grew excited.
With visible enthusiasm, she said, "Lord Levi, is our grand adventure about to begin?"
"…"
The firelight flickered, casting shifting shadows across Levi's face.
Feeling somewhat speechless, he nodded.
Yalina grew even more excited, her face lit with anticipation.
She handed Levi a bowl of reheated oatmeal and dried meat porridge.
He took a sip.
It tasted awful.
That alone might have been tolerable—but with nothing but black bread and no side dishes, Levi found it hard to accept.
He was already a First-Ring Wizard.
He didn't want to keep living like this.
So Levi used Wizard's Hand to retrieve various seasonings from the alchemical carriage—ingredients he had previously gathered using the Gathering Technique.
However, having only those seasonings wasn't enough.
Levi had previously hunted a wild boar.
But after his physical strength increased, his appetite had grown as well. That entire boar had long since been eaten, leaving behind only some lard.
After thinking for a moment, he said something to the two girls—if the nightingale currently counted as a woman—and then walked into the forest. Before long, his figure vanished into the thick darkness of night.
More than ten minutes passed, and Levi still hadn't come out of the forest.
This made Yalina a little worried—worried that Levi might have abandoned them.
Fortunately, that worry didn't last long. Through the eyes of Odelle in her nightingale form, she spotted Levi's silhouette emerging from the darkness.
Before long, Levi returned to Yalina's side.
Only then did Yalina realize that Levi was carrying several wild chickens, rabbits, a sheep, and some wild herbs.
What surprised her even more was that all of the game had already been processed—skins removed, surfaces smooth and clean.
Levi sat down beside the fire, pulled out an iron rack from the alchemical carriage, placed the prepared sheep on it, and began slicing, sprinkling spices, and brushing it with honey.
The honey was something Levi had discovered during his travels. Using Gathering Technique, he had collected most of it and stored it in a large container—completely filled to the brim. When he felt thirsty along the way, he would occasionally make honey water to drink. It was sweet and free of impurities.
Yalina hadn't expected Levi's alchemical carriage to contain something as luxurious as honey. Her eyes widened instantly, and saliva began to gather in her mouth unconsciously.
She swallowed, clearly tempted, and the sound didn't escape Levi's notice.
His expression remained calm. After placing the spice-coated whole sheep on the rack over the fire to roast, he took out a cast iron pot from the alchemical carriage.
In this era, cast iron pots were already fairly common among commoners. Compared to the cookware of nobles, those used by commoners were rougher, but their function was the same—they could boil, cook, and hold food.
After taking out the pot, Levi first handled the wild chicken, chopping it into large pieces and seasoning it simply with salt, pepper-like spice powder, and a few wild herbs with a rosemary-like fragrance.
Then Levi lit another fire, set the cast iron pot over it, and heated it up. He poured in a small amount of the remaining lard. Once the oil was hot, he added the chicken pieces, frying them until the surface turned golden and slightly charred, rendering out the fat.
Ideally, chopped onions and carrots should have been added at this stage to stir-fry and bring out their aroma, but time was limited, and Levi hadn't found such ingredients in the forest. Instead, he used Gathering Technique to clean wild herbs—removing insects and dirt—then used Detection to confirm they were edible before tossing them into the pot. He stir-fried them briefly, then poured in liquid.
Oh.
Levi didn't have any clean water on hand.
The alchemical carriage only contained some low-quality ale.
But that wasn't a problem for Levi.
Level 3 Gathering Technique activated once more.
From the damp air, Levi extracted clean water and poured it into the pot, submerging the ingredients. Then he controlled the flame, lowering it to a gentle simmer, allowing the richness of the chicken and the freshness of the wild greens to meld together in the residual heat. Gradually, the broth thickened into a rich, milky white.
Yalina and Odelle were both stunned.
And Levi still hadn't stopped.
He processed the rabbits as well, roasting them together with the whole sheep.
The aroma gradually spread through the surroundings.
But Levi still wasn't done.
He blanched the wild greens, chopped them finely, then somehow produced a few eggs, cracking and beating them together with flour and salt into a thick batter.
With a gesture, a smooth stone slab flew out from the alchemical carriage and was set flat over the fire.
As the flames heated the slab, Levi brushed it with lard, scooped a ladle of batter onto it, spreading it evenly. He cooked it on both sides until golden and crispy, the fragrance of wild greens blending with the aroma of eggs.
Levi made over twenty of these wild vegetable pancakes.
Just as he finished, the other two dishes were nearly done as well, though the whole roasted sheep still needed a bit more time.
Levi didn't wait for it to finish. He directly called Yalina and Odelle over to eat.
The two—one human, one bird—were completely dumbfounded. Looking at this meal, which surpassed what most nobles could enjoy, they were unable to speak for a long time.
Levi was starving. In just a few bites, he finished a pancake. One bite revealed a crispy exterior and tender interior—absolutely delicious.
Conversion activated, transforming the food in his stomach into energy that strengthened his body, like streams of heat nourishing him from within.
After filling his stomach a bit, Levi finally said to Yalina and Odelle, "You're not eating? If you don't, I'll finish everything."
As he spoke, he ladled himself a bowl of stewed chicken soup and casually picked up a few pieces of roasted rabbit.
The chicken was tender to the point of falling off the bone, the wild greens soaked full of broth; the roasted rabbit dripped with fat, releasing a rich aroma.
After her initial shock, Yalina finally snapped back to her senses. With a complicated expression, she walked over to the fire and picked up a wild vegetable pancake.
"Lord Levi, then I won't stand on ceremony."
She took a bite. The crisp exterior and tender interior, mixed with the fragrance of wild greens, spread through her mouth. It was so delicious that she squinted her eyes. "Lord Levi, this… is incredible."
"If it's good, then eat more," Levi replied indifferently. Sitting in the cool night breeze, he drank the sweet, fragrant chicken soup and looked up at the star-dotted night sky. Without realizing it, his thoughts drifted back to his former home.
Levi lowered his gaze, his eyes deep.
At that moment, Odelle's anxious voice rang out, "Yalina, you can't be so selfish."
"You should get some for me too."
"Sorry, I thought you ate insects," Yalina said apologetically after swallowing the last bite of her pancake.
"…" If she could, Odelle the nightingale would have rolled her eyes. "I'm human."
"Alright, alright, don't rush! I'll prepare some for you now." Yalina glanced at Levi, and seeing his calm expression, she tore off a small piece of pancake, scooped out a chunk of chicken, shredded it into strips, and placed everything onto a leaf.
Miss Odelle the nightingale could hardly wait. She flew over and began pecking at the food.
"Can a nightingale even taste food the way humans do?" Yalina asked curiously as she watched.
Odelle heard her, but didn't bother responding.
As for Levi, he paid even less attention—he continued eating heartily.
With the physical constitution of a Great Knight combined with the effects of Conversion, Levi had always had an excellent appetite.
Seeing this, Yalina stopped talking and joined Levi, eating the wild vegetable pancakes, drinking the chicken soup, and biting into roasted rabbit.
Though she was a woman, Yalina's physique wasn't weak—she was at the level of a knight's attendant, so her appetite was naturally not small.
Of course, it still couldn't compare to Levi.
After several dozen minutes—Yalina had eaten four pancakes, drunk three bowls of chicken soup, and consumed more than a dozen pieces of roasted rabbit along with an entire roasted rabbit leg before she finally couldn't eat any more. Her belly was so full it looked like she was six months pregnant, her face filled with post-meal satisfaction, completely losing the refined bearing of the "Tulip Beauty."
She looked at Levi, her eyes full of admiration, and said, "Lord Levi, are you a gourmet wizard?"
"A gourmet wizard?" Levi swallowed the last piece of pancake, then glanced at her calmly and shook his head.
"I thought all of this was some kind of culinary magic! Otherwise, how could it taste this good?" Yalina said.
Hearing this, Levi curled his lips. His mood improved quite a bit. The corner of his mouth lifted slightly. After thinking for a moment, he raised a hand, and a piece of parchment flew out from the alchemical carriage.
On that parchment was recorded the Moon Wolf Knight Breathing Technique left behind by Snow White's mother.
The parchment flew straight into Yalina's hands.
"This is…?" Yalina hadn't recognized it yet, but Odelle, perched on her shoulder, saw its profundity at a glance and exclaimed, "This is a complete knight breathing technique!"
"No!" Odelle's voice turned sharp, startling Yalina. "This isn't an ordinary knight breathing technique."
"It even points the way to the realm of Great Knights—and beyond!"
"If the Black Sheep Duke were to learn of this… it could even trigger a war among knights!" Odelle said with exaggerated shock.
Yalina hadn't thought much of it at first, but after hearing this, her expression turned serious.
She looked at Levi, both puzzled and uneasy.
Levi remained composed, his tone casual. "You're too weak."
"Use this breathing technique to train."
"Break through to the knight level as soon as possible—at least you'll have some ability to protect yourself."
"My coachman can't be this weak."