The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

Liszt regarded the issue with calm objectivity, freeing himself from the unrealistic fantasies about dragons and came to believe that the so-called information about the Formless Dragon was likely not a rewarding discovery.

According to his previous deductions:

First, the Smoke Mission was doing science outreach— but this made no sense at all; as a ‘golden finger’, it shouldn’t be this boring.

Second, there might be a Formless Dragon nearby that could be captured—if this were true, it would definitely be explosive news; however, Liszt had no power to capture a dragon. Those nations possessing dragons often captured them as youngsters since adult dragons were too difficult to handle. But even a young dragon would be too much for all the knights of Coral Island to overcome.

Third, a Formless Dragon had traveled thousands of miles to deliver equipment—Liszt didn’t believe his dragon fate was that good yet.

Fourth, it was possible that a Formless Dragon was about to launch an attack on Fresh Flower Town.

The fourth deduction was undoubtedly the most likely since dragons attacking human villages and towns was no longer big news, or else the profession of ‘Dragon Slayer’ wouldn’t have come into existence. In most knight’s novels, Dragon Slayers were celebrated protagonists, second only to Dragon Knights.

Essentially, in a satisfactory knight’s novel, the protagonist was bound to become a Dragon Knight or slay a dragon, and then he would undoubtedly marry a beautiful Princess.

“So, the rewards for these two missions are telling me that I have to resist a dragon and strive to become the protagonist of a knight’s novel, Dragon Slayer Liszt?”

Liszt looked into the mirror and chuckled, “Then, if the big dragon is gone, where is the princess?”

Feeling somewhat conflicted, he worried that his speculation might come true while also feeling that such an event couldn’t possibly happen. After much thought, he decided there was no need to borrow trouble. First, he would complete his mission and see what clues the final mission rewards would provide before making a decision.

If there really was an invasion by a Formless Dragon, and he couldn’t hold it off, that didn’t mean he couldn’t request help.

The moment he delivered this news to the Sapphire Family, he believed it wouldn’t be difficult to exchange for a Marquis title—the highest rank that could be conferred by the duchy.

He called over Goltai, and immediately delegated the task: “This type of Corn Grass wouldn’t appear out of nowhere, it’s definitely with the birds or wind that the seeds have been blown over. Teacher Goltai, mobilize all the idle farmers to search between the hamlets, we must locate more Corn Grass.”

Goltai didn’t quite understand the importance of the task: “Liszt, is this type of Corn Grass very important?”

“Of course, it is highly nutritious fodder, even more suitable for use in horse farms and dairy operations than alfalfa grass… Anyway, planting a variety of fodders allows livestock to grow quicker.”

“If it’s that valuable, I will arrange for people to search right away, we won’t miss a single corner.”

As they were talking, Liszt suddenly noticed a group of people marching in formation outside the castle, passing by the gate, heading towards Thorn Ridge in the south.

“Teacher Goltai, is that the new Patrol Team?”

“Yes, your Retainer Knights have been really helpful. At first, the bastards in the Patrol Team wouldn’t take orders from me as the Administrative Officer, but after a few fights, they quickly learned to curb their tempers.”

“Well done, discipline is the first priority for the Patrol Team, Teacher Goltai, we need to continue strengthening our control over them. I have several ideas that need to be realized… The Patrol Team needs to take on the security management of the town and the hamlets, with the town paying them, uniform dress codes, uniform behavioral standards.”

Liszt outlined some broad ideas, planning to build the Patrol Team into a police station, initially responsible for public security, and eventually, to also take over the management of civil registration.

This way, he could thoroughly know everything about the town, and any individuals with suspicious identities wouldn’t be able to settle in Fresh Flower Town.

“However, there are not many Gold Coins in the town, and Isaiah has complained to me more than once that without Gold Coins, he can’t do anything.”

Gold Coins, Liszt’s castle didn’t have many either; previously the butler had reported that there were roughly one hundred and fifty left.

However, the castle now is very “affluent”: just Li Si Te’s Crimson Blood Sword alone is worth a thousand or two Gold Coins, not to mention the profits from the Black Tulip Industry each year, as well as a large amount of materials obtained through assimilation.

“I will allocate fifty Gold Coins from the castle’s treasury for the development of the town, and this portion of Gold Coins will be deducted from the town’s retained tax revenue each year.”

“Fifty Gold Coins, Li Si Te, that’s a lot—I’ve looked into it, and the town’s annual tax revenue is a mere fifteen Gold Coins.”

“Fifty Gold Coins is not much, Teacher Goltai. Inform Isaiah and Blair that Fresh Flower Town is entering a busy period, and they need to be prepared.”

“As you wish!”

The development of Fresh Flower Town was something Li Si Te was indeed serious about.

He was already working on drawing a map of the town—an abstract and rudimentary terrain map that essentially depicted Fresh Flower Town as a right-angled triangle.

The two perpendicular sides were Thorn Ridge, and the hypotenuse was the East Coast.

The town was located at the center of the triangle, with the castle near the right angle, and the dairy farm and Barley Hamlet occupying the other two corners.

“To be rich, build roads first,” he said, holding a quill pen and emphasizing the dirt road from Thorn Ridge to the town. “This main road—I need to turn it into a gravel road. There’s no cement, but there is plenty of sand. The East Coast has large quantities of sea sand, which can be hauled here for road construction.”

Then there are the muddy paths between the farms, all of which can be paved with sand.

However, paving with sand alone is not the best choice, as it’s hard to drain and gets into shoes, spreading sand everywhere. Unfortunately, there aren’t many stones near Fresh Flower Town to mix with the sand, so they’d have to make do with sand roads for now—it’s still better than muddy roads that become unusable when it rains.

Road construction is a major affair, as is farming.

Elves can influence crop growth, but you can’t rely solely on elves. Before the arrival of elves, the farmers of Fresh Flower Town still had to till their land.

“Scientific farming has only taken the first step, making the villagers aware of the need to fertilize crops. But that’s not enough. We also need to create a batch of farming tools to increase the productivity of the farmers, so they can cultivate more fallow land for crops. I’ve exchanged a bunch of iron from Tulip Castle and Falcon Town and can contact the smithy.”

These two matters are urgent, but their effects won’t be seen immediately.

Yet another matter could bring immediate rewards—sea harvesting.

On the back of a Fire Dragon Horse, Li Si Te gazed at the endless sea, the unique briny scent of the seawater filling his nostrils as the waves beat against the shore, sparkling in the sunlight and filling his vision with little stars.

Thomas led Douson around, allowing it to frolic on the sandy beach.

Douson was growing rapidly, almost daily, and was now the size of a country mutt. It was not known whether it was because of the good diet, but it already showed signs of magic power flowing within. It might not need to reach adulthood before it could cast magic.

Li Si Te planned to intensify its training to prevent an overly wild nature and potential harm to people.

“My Lord, is there anything of note along the East Coast? There are no deep-water bays here, not suitable for a dock,” Marcus said as he watched the waves, still not seeing the wealth of the sea.

Li Si Te pointed to the rocks occasionally visible beneath the sea waves. “Teacher Marcus, do you see those rocks? They are covered with food. When the tide is out, we can have the farmers go and pick up these foods… Compared to the freshwater fish we usually eat, these are the real seafood.”