The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

All the town officials pledged allegiance, and there were no outsiders left in Fresh Flower Town.

Of course, apart from the unity of the people being stronger than before, there didn’t seem to be much change. Whether now or before, as the son of an earl, Liszt’s authority had never been shaken.

The atmosphere at the banquet was merry.

As the landlord, he inevitably drank a few extra glasses of Fresh Flower Brew, the specialty of Fresh Flower Town, and felt slightly tipsy. When the banquet ended, he held back Mr. Elkeson, “Mr. Elkeson, please wait a moment.”

“Baron, what instructions do you have for me?”

“If I remember correctly, you are skilled in Earth System and Water System magic.”

“Indeed, you have a good memory.”

“Then, I would like to purchase some spellcasting knowledge of the Water System magic from you.” Seeing Mr. Elkeson furrow his brows slightly in hesitation, Liszt added, “It’s indeed a bit abrupt and impolite to propose buying magic from a magician, but please believe that I am merely curious about magic, and I will pay an adequate amount of Gold Coins.”

Mr. Elkeson pondered for a moment.

He looked around to make sure there were no eavesdroppers nearby before hesitantly speaking, “Baron, as you know, I am not a sanctimonious or obsessive magician, my love for Gold Coins far exceeds my quest for Truth. I am very willing to assist you in obtaining Magic Books and produce Magic Potions, but selling magic could completely ruin my reputation.”

“Nothing about our transaction of magic will leak from my side. You also needn’t worry about an unidentified magician suddenly appearing. I myself will not learn magic, as I am well aware of the dangers of a knight learning magic.”

“Given that, I am willing to sell magic.”

“If the price is right, I need all the Water System magic you possess.”

“Are you not interested in the other types of magic?” Since selling one type of magic was the same as selling multiple, Mr. Elkeson naturally hoped to sell more, “I am proficient in Earth System and Water System, and I have some knowledge in Wind System, Fire System, and Ice System as well. Currently, I have mastered sixteen types of magic. If you purchase them all, Baron, I could offer a discount.”

Originally, Liszt had only intended to purchase Water System magic.

But after hearing what he said, it seemed like a good idea to buy all of them—after all, who knows if they might be useful in the future.

“First, determine the price of the magic. If it’s reasonable, I will buy all of it. If the price is too high, I am only willing to buy the Water System magic. Although I am a landlord, I am the head of a large household with limited spare Gold Coins for frivolous spending, as you well know.” Liszt started bargaining.

He wasn’t prepared to let Mr. Elkeson name an outrageous price, as Coral Island was not home to the only magician.

“The four spells that a Magic Apprentice can master, Water Arrow Spell, Flying Rock Technique, Fireball Technique, Wind Blade Spell, can be learned from Magic Books,” Mr. Elkeson said.

“I mainly have mastery over spells at the magician stage, including Water System’s Water Arrow Barrage, Water Wheel Wall, Water Bullet, Water Whirlpool; Earth System’s Rock Spike, Earth Wall, Rolling Rock, Rock Cannon, Earth Elevation Platform; Fire System’s Great Fireball, Fire Wall, Dancing Fire Snakes; Wind System’s Light Body Skill, Multiple Wind Blades, and Ice System’s Ice Blade; and Rock Grenade at the Grand Magician stage.”

“What’s the price?”

“For the magician stage, one spell costs two Gold Coins. The Grand Magician’s Rock Grenade costs twenty Gold Coins. In total, that is…” he counted on his fingers twice, “fifty Gold Coins in total. This is an absolute bargain, even if I were to exchange spells with fellow magicians, the cost would not be any lower.”

Frankly, the price wasn’t too expensive.

“`

Still, Liszt felt a pinch in his heart as he shelled out fifty Gold Coins at once; his liquid assets were not abundant.

After pondering for a moment, he said, “Let’s hold off on the Rock Grenade for now. I’ll buy your fifteen spells for thirty Gold Coins… However, I can promise that as long as you can bring more spells, I will continue to purchase them at today’s prices. You should believe in my potential for growth, buying spells is not difficult for me.”

Elkeson nodded in agreement, slightly disappointed not to have sold the Rock Grenade for twenty Gold Coins, “Of course, Baron, your future is as vast as the sea. Then, I shall return to write the casting methods for the spells, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask me directly.”

Liszt took out thirty Gold Coins and handed them to the other party: “A pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Elkeson.” He was not afraid that the other party would run away with the money as this was Coral Island.

“A pleasure doing business, Baron.”

…

With the motivation of Gold Coins, Elkeson delivered the written casting methods for four Water System spells to the castle the next day and continued to write the remaining spells.

Liszt handed them directly to the Sea Serpent, “Ake, I have found four new spells for you. These are spells that only magicians can grasp, and I don’t know if you can learn them right away. If you can’t master them, then meditate more to strengthen your spiritual power.”

“Mm-hmm, thank you, brother. Ake will definitely work hard to learn and strive to become a Sea Serpent Magician, hehe.”

“By the way, it’s your day to replenish water at the sea, don’t rush to read the spells, let’s go play at the beach for two hours.”

“Yes! Ake indeed needs to change the seawater in her shell, this water isn’t fresh anymore.” Ake stirred the seawater in her shell with her hand, which still looked crystal clear. It was unclear how the Sea Serpent determined whether the water was fresh or not.

At the seaside.

Snowflakes drifted down, as winter had not yet ended, expected to cease snowing in mid-February.

This strange world’s climate and hydrology are vastly different from Earth’s. For example, Liszt recently discovered an important piece of information: in Fresh Flower Town during winter, the lengths of day and night are equal – neither longer days and shorter nights nor vice versa.

This corroborates his previous assumption.

If this world is a planet, then it does not have an axial tilt in its rotation or revolution.

He also reviewed some Knight’s Novels, which seemed to imply that the whole continent experienced winter and summer at the same pace. As for temperature variations, the countries in the southern part of the continent are often depicted in the Knight’s Novels as not having snowy weather; there’s even one novel that talks about the far South of the continent.

It mentions there’s a country called Flame Country, where the weather is steaming hot all year round.

“Does this suggest that the southernmost tip of the continent is close to the planet’s equator? In other words, is it possible that the continent where I am located is just a part of the northern hemisphere of a planet and not the entirety of the world?”

The Sea Serpent Ake was thoroughly enjoying her bath in the sea, occasionally emitting tinkling laughter.

Jela soared above the coast, watching Ake, and every now and then shouting, “Wow.”

Douson lay in the snowy ground, with Storm and Flame crawling all over it. It was unclear whether it realized these two puppies were its offspring, but it tolerated their climbing and biting.

Liszt, on the other hand, continued to ponder astronomical geography.

“If that’s the case, this suggests that the continent’s southernmost point is near the equator, but the northernmost point is far from the North Pole, making it not a very large landmass… Although it feels vast in actual area, the total area of the continent may well exceed the land area of Earth.”