Cthulhu Gonfalon

Sui Xiong did not make an immediate trip to Garth City. No matter what that guy who was hiding behind the scenes wanted to do, it could wait a few days. Thus, he remained in Grey Tower City to settle the matters relevant to the three other cities.

Grey Tower City was a sacred city that housed the church of the God of Scholars. Although this god had long since fallen and the clergy role was taken over by the God of Knowledge, the city’s scholastic atmosphere had not diminished yet. Walking along the streets, one could see young scholars discussing philosophy, and there were several open-air auditoriums where those who could not present in famous settings could share their works.

Sui Xiong flew in the sky and coincidentally noticed a young scholar was organizing an open-air speech. Thus, he lowered himself back to the ground curiously and landed on a rough stone pillar to enjoy the speech from afar like a VIP.

The open-air speeches in the city were similar to that of Ancient Greece, where a semicircle-style amphitheater was dug and stacked rows were lined with stone seats. In the amphitheater’s center, there was a stage for the speakers. The middle of the stage had a mini pit meant for a blackboard, but it appeared to be redundant as no one had utilized it thus far. Sui Xiong perched on the rock and waited for the talk to begin. A man who was tall and had a slightly wretched expression was holding a book of notes and revising them with a group of people that seemed extremely familiar to Sui Xiong.

“I’m not sure if Mado’s speech will be successful… This is his second time, but the first time was a wreck,” a young lady with freckles spoke up worriedly.

“He can only blame himself. He always speaks in such a crude way, offending many people. Normally, people can’t beat him as he has the image of a scholar. However, with the accumulated resentment against him, once those who are angered find an opportunity, they will definitely rise up,” a plump teenager said laughingly.

“Yes, do you remember the time when he was discussing the difference between fishing in freshwater versus saltwater? Those unhappy with him found some big chefs to dissolve his arguments thoroughly in the food context, how pitiful!” A young man who was dressed in pure white robes sighed at the clear memory.

“Yes. In actual fact, although we know they were not entirely accurate, but when the entire group of chefs were beating down his arguments together with talks of nutrients and so on, he had no way to retaliate.”

“We all know that healthy food may not taste good and that good food may not contain proper nutrients as well. But even so, we often look to the chefs and think of their opinions as superior when discussing healthy food as that is their area of expertise.”

This conversation was naturally overheard by Mado, who was studying his notes nearby. He frowned but did not react and simply muttered to himself.

Conversely, Sui Xiong was able to read his mind and got interested in his thoughts.

Hey! Looks like this’ll be a good show…

After a while, a sizeable crowd had gathered. Seeing as there were ample people in the audience, Mado put aside his notes, dusted himself off, arranged his hair and walked to the podium.

Mado cleared his throat and thanked the audience for attending his speech before introducing himself: his name was Mado Kong, and he was from a small aristocratic family. He was also a low-level mage. Due to his family background, he had been studying food nutrition and value and had gained some understanding from his research. To increase his level of knowledge, he had even headed to Void Mask City, which was known for gourmet food, to study for a few years and had gained much knowledge. Today, he wanted to share on the issue of diets combining vegetables and meat.

However, even before Mado could speak, a tall, red-faced, middle-aged man opened his mouth and said, “A lot of people become vegetarians to lead a long life. Conversely, a lot of people eat meat to stay strong. What’s good and what’s not good then?”

Once this man had spoken, Mado’s face changed. It was apparent that they had bad blood between them. However, since Mado had chosen to give a public speech, he could not ignore questions directed at him and thus had no choice but to answer the man instead of starting with his speech as planned.

“If you want to compare them, eating meat is better.”

“In what sense? Strength?” The man continued to ask.

Mado paused before using the question to begin his speech.

First, he talked about the main nutrients humans needed the most from food. In this world, although they studied the components of food just like on Earth, they did not separate them into the six big components but rather separated food into areas such as “sugar,””meat and oil,””salt,””mana,” and “ether.”

Among these five categories, “sugar” referred to foods that had an immediate sweet taste or foods that could incite sweetness. “Meat and oil” naturally referred to food from animals and dairy products, although this world did not research much into products such as plant protein. “Salt” referred to minerals such as cellulose. “Mana” naturally referred to foods with magic and was a special component in this world. “Ether” referred to the foods that included life level substance, and they mostly affected the concentration of one’s blood vessels and power.

Mana and Ether were not within Mado’s research scope. If he really included them, his research could not be openly spoken about. Mana concerned one’s magic skills, and ether concerned one’s blood; both were of high value, and any research regarding them was often kept under wraps. Mado mostly studied the first three categories of sugar, meat and oil and salt.

According to him, among the plant-based foods, sugar and salt were the main nutrients one could reap as well as some “oil” components. To be strict, they only satisfied one’s cravings but were not that healthy. The issue lay in the lack of “meat.” One could eat enough food to gain sugar and oil to try to make up for it, but the results would not be as good as eating meat. Thus, being strictly vegetarian was not very good for one’s body.

“How about meat?” the man continued to ask.

“Purely eating meat is not desirable either. However, if you could only choose one, eating solely meat is better.”

Mado was well prepared and had clearly done ample research in this area. He used several animals as examples; those who were vegetarian were unable to concentrate or have strength comparable to carnivores.

“The most important difference lay in life expectancy. Even if we don’t count animals that have been hunted, vegetarian creatures have a lower life expectancy than carnivores as they do not have enough nutrients.”

As the man had come to stir trouble, he was naturally knowledgeable in this subject. He did not refute Mado’s answer and simply laughed coldly and sat down.

It was clear, though, that he would fire some difficult questions at Mado again eventually.

Sui Xiong observed this situation with interest and had greater anticipation for the rest of the speech. As a foodie, he was really quite interested in finding out more about “healthy eating” in this world.