The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

A desk with drawers, a bedstand with drawers, a curio shelf with an odd design, a bookshelf with carved patterns, a stool made of thorn branches, an armchair with a well-designed relief, a tall and sturdy liquor cabinet, a small and exquisite pen holder…

These pieces of furniture were replaced and arranged in their respective places.

Right away, they transformed Liszt’s study into an entirely unprecedented style.

Because the temperature had risen, the Fire Dragon Brand Air Conditioner had been removed, and the study’s style was now completely harmonized without a trace of inconsistency.

“Master, I have seen the Earl’s study, grand and imposing, but as for the quality of refined and prestigious temperament, this study now is even more astonishing,” praised Butler Carter.

He had supervised the placing of the furniture in the study, which carried a hint of self-flattery.

But Liszt agreed with the assertion, “Indeed, my study is not large, but this matching set of furniture is very harmonious, coupled with the uniform Iron Wood Thorn style and the light grey wood tones, it looks particularly comfortable.”

He was very satisfied with the furniture.

But what satisfied him the most was another Iron Wood Thorn creation—the Thorn of Rise Civilization Stick.

A one-meter-three stick was engraved with patterns of purple-black Tulips.

Each line of the pattern was meticulously filled with molten iron by the most skilled blacksmith, creating silver-white traceries. Then, they used colored paint for woodworking to outline the purple-black contours around the iron lines, finally coating them with a layer of resin akin to varnish.

This was done to protect the iron patterns from oxidizing.

So when the Thorn of Rise Civilization Stick was handed to Liszt, he instantly fell in love with the understated yet luxurious patterns.

Clusters of Black Tulips connected to one another, with roots and stems sprouting thorn-like spikes.

It was clearly a hybrid design of Tulips and Thorns.

It has to be said that though the craftsmen might lack innovative thinking, might be conservative and outdated, and might not understand what constitutes high art, the objects produced by their rough hands possessed an ingenious craftsmanship, and plain details made up a majestic whole.

“I like this Sdeke,” Liszt commented.

Leaning on the Thorn of Rise Civilization Stick, Liszt walked slowly around the castle’s great hall. For a young man to use a walking stick might look a bit awkward, but paired with Flack Abbieye and a tall posture, he exuded the distinguished presence of a noble.

With genuine admiration, Butler Carter said, “Master, you possess the most elegant temperament of a noble. Standing by your side, I can feel your distinction every moment, like the clouds high out of reach. You embody all the excellent traits of both the Tulip and Long Taro families.”

“I accept your compliments, Mr. Carter,” Liszt said as he handed over the Civilization Stick. “I am very satisfied with these Iron Wood Thorn products. You may replace all the wooden furniture and items in the castle with Iron Wood Thorn ones at your discretion.”

Carter bowed slightly, “As you wish, Sir.”

After admiring the Iron Wood Thorn furniture,

Liszt began to summon the Smoke Mission.

With the furniture products from the woodworking workshop now off the line, the task was also completed: “Task completed, reward three wild tea bushes.”

The wild tea bushes would probably grow on Black Horse Island. Perhaps Marcus and his associates had already discovered their existence.

Then, a new task caught Liszt’s attention.

“Quest: The Iron Wood Thorn furniture exudes elegance and luxury. The Iron Wood Era has already descended upon Fresh Flower Town, thanks to the landlord’s wise leadership. Why not continue to work hard and rapidly propel Fresh Flower Town into the Brick Era? Please build a brick factory and produce qualified bricks. Reward: An architect who made mistakes.”

After the carpentry workshop, the Smoke Mission started to guide Liszt in building a brick factory.

He understood that these should all be his own deep thoughts, reflecting through the form of the Smoke Mission—the power of fate was truly astonishing.

Since the Smoke Mission was urging him on, Liszt didn’t hesitate any further.

He summoned Goltai, “I plan to build a brick kiln to fire bricks, for the purpose of accelerating the construction work on my land. This will require some hard work from you for a while.”

“Earl, what is a brick kiln, what are bricks?” Goltai was perplexed.

This world had pottery but not porcelain.

Strictly speaking, ordinary bricks of course didn’t exist, but bricks did exist—they were made of fired potter’s clay, used to build houses, and were a luxury only nobles dared to indulge in.

Although pottery was not as valuable as jade ware or crystal ware, nor as esteemed as metal wares in the Duchy of Sapphire,

It was still a high-end technology firmly in the hands of nobles. Tulip Castle had its own pottery workshop, producing pottery of mediocre quality, but capable of being engraved with designs. The Tulip Family’s specialty product, Crescent Moon Wine, was contained in pottery jugs and sold everywhere.

The “fifty-year old” Fresh Flower Brew was also bottled in pottery.

Brick kilns were not like pottery kilns; they had little technical content and the materials required were widely available. As long as the soil was adhesive, it could be used to make bricks.

Of course, firing high-quality blue bricks took no less skill than firing pottery.

Therefore, Liszt only planned on firing red bricks; perhaps, in the future, craftsmen who fired bricks would continue to explore the craft and eventually figure out how to make blue bricks, or even the method to fire porcelain—it was not impossible.

“A brick kiln is specifically designed for firing bricks, and bricks, well, they are made by firing clay into hard stones.”

Goltai exclaimed in surprise, “Can soil be fired into stone?”

“What do you think pottery comes from? Pottery is made by firing clay. Some nobles use the method of firing pottery to make block-shaped stones, called pottery bricks. Pottery bricks require potter’s clay to undergo multiple procedures to be fired. I’ve decided to simply fire ordinary stones, which we will call red… bricks.”

He suddenly remembered that whether it was blue bricks or red bricks, they were caused by iron elements; full oxidation resulted in red bricks, while incomplete oxidation resulted in blue bricks.

In this world, metals came from dragons, and there clearly was no iron in the soil; so, he didn’t know what color the bricks would turn out to be when fired—maybe yellow, black, but probably not red.

“So, Earl, how should I go about making bricks? I know nothing about firing pottery, let alone bricks.”

“I will contact Tulip Castle and have you lead a group of serfs to visit the pottery workshop, and incidentally spirit away a few pottery apprentices. After coming back, establish a brick kiln; we’re not firing pottery, just bricks.” He thought for a moment and then said, “Whether or not they learn, or whether we are able to spirit away the apprentices, doesn’t matter—it’s all up to fate.”

With the Magic Little Fire Dragon present, he just needed to prepare the clay and let the Little Fire Dragon blaze the clay bricks.

After a few experiments, he should be able to find the right temperature and the suitable clay material.

This wasn’t pottery or porcelain firing; there was no need for any secretive apprenticeship—Liszt believed that he could fire the bricks himself, and the visit to the pottery workshop was simply to let the serfs understand the basic way and steps of firing bricks.

He sent Goltai away, who was still quite baffled.

He sighed, “It seems I will have to personally experiment with how to fire bricks. Tasks that don’t leave one idle… oh right, the reward for the Smoke Mission seems to be an architect who made mistakes? The only architect on Coral Island comes from a subordinate line of the Shattered Stone Family, Mbappé Sui Shi—could it be him who made a mistake and is about to be punished?”

Suddenly, some inspiration flashed in his mind.

He felt that he might not need to complete the construction of the brick factory to receive the quest reward.