The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

Ties, shirts, vests, undershirts, boxer shorts, suits, dress pants, gentleman’s hats, leather shoes—Liszt had a whole series of clothes he wanted to produce.

But he couldn’t be so innovative, after all, he was just a Baron from the countryside. If one day he became the ruler of a country, then he could freely reform and set trends.

For now, he had to endure the cumbersome outfits to maintain the so-called noble dignity.

“My lord, I have given the servants half a day off, starting tomorrow, they will devote themselves to working for the castle.”

“Hmm, arrange it as you see fit.”

“Yes.”

Sweating profusely, Liszt wasn’t too interested in small talk, “Mr. Carter, have someone prepare my bathwater, this kind of weather isn’t too kind to people.”

“As you wish,” Carter hurried to instruct the maids to prepare the bathwater.

Nowadays, the small castle always had bathwater ready because the servants all knew their lord was an exceptionally clean noble. It was normal for him to bathe once a day, usual to bathe twice, and he even bathed three times in a single day on occasion. It would only be abnormal for him not to bathe for a day.

After taking a bath, he changed into home clothes, loose robes.

This type of robe was a kind of pajama—the nobles here knew that it was uncomfortable to always wear tight formal wear, so they modified pajamas to serve as home wear.

Liszt still found it cumbersome and uncomfortable to wear.

During summer, he most liked to wear short-sleeve shirts and T-shirts, so he rolled up the sleeves of his robe to expose his forearms. Although this wasn’t in line with noble etiquette, within the confines of the small castle, who would dare to question his minor transgression? The countryside did have its advantages.

“My lord, it’s a pity we don’t have ice; otherwise, I could make you a glass of ice sugar water to relieve the heat.”

“Even at Tulip Castle, there isn’t much ice to squander in the summer. I can bear this difficulty, but, unfortunately, I’ll miss being able to drink chilled beer again.” He wasn’t fond of drinking, and his present consumption at banquets was due to his predecessor’s love for alcohol combined with the need for social interaction.

But he exclusively enjoyed drinking chilled beer during the hot summer, which was refreshingly cold to the core.

As the height of summer was fast approaching, each day was hotter than the last. He remembered that at Coral Island, during the hottest days, eggs could cook on the ground, likely reaching forty degrees.

Every year, a good number of serfs would die from the heat.

“I’ve heard that saltpeter can be used to make ice, but it’s hard to come by. It seems Coral Island doesn’t have a saltpeter mine, and even if it did, I wouldn’t recognize one… I remember reading that the earthen wall corners of rural houses, stables, and toilet corners are rich in saltpeter, but Fresh Flower Town is all wooden houses, and there are no toilets…”

The technology to make ice with saltpeter was basically impossible for Liszt to replicate.

He could only do like other nobles: store ice in an icehouse during winter and use it during summer, “Mr. Carter, don’t forget to remind me to build an icehouse this winter.”

“Of course, my lord.”

Dinner.

As usual, he invited Goltai, Marcus, Isaiah, and Blair—only these four people from Fresh Flower Town had the privilege to dine at the same table as Liszt.

“Liszt, the planning for Oyster Village is complete. Tomorrow, the first group of fishermen from Oyster Village, clad in the new gear you’ve prepared for them, will head to the East Coast to officially fish. They are all old men, women, and children, foolish and impulsive. These past two days, they’ve already started collecting shells at the seaside.”

Once the news spread that the lord personally served seafood at the banquet, the commoners began to imitate him, ready to catch seafood for themselves.

They always followed the actions of their lord.

Liszt spoke gravely, “Teacher Goltai, you must ensure proper safety guidance. I do not want any civilian to be in danger from eating seafood. As officials of the town, you must take this matter seriously. The population is the most important productive force in Fresh Flower Town.”

Perhaps in his heart, he still found it somewhat incredulous.

However, having understood Liszt’s attitude, Goltai and the others nodded without hesitation, indicating they understood.

“So, tomorrow, if you have time, accompany me to Oyster Village to see the effect of the fishermen’s first experience of gathering at sea. At the same time, you should actively promote every kind of seafood that can be caught, as well as those that cannot be harvested. Moreover, you must teach them how to preserve seafood.”

“Baron, we have already organized clerks to repeatedly emphasize this point. Moreover, the seafood in the castle has been sampled by every clerk, and they are very enthusiastic about it.”

“Good.”

On the next day, considering the timing of the low tide, Liszt, accompanied by the Retainer Knights, arrived at Oyster Village. There were no houses in Oyster Village just yet; only a barren area not far from the beach had been leveled, which would later be used for building wooden houses.

At that time, around two hundred elderly, weak, women, and children were turning over every rock and shoveling through the sand on the flat beaches of the East Coast, carrying baskets or buckets.

Many of them did not have gloves, shovels, hammers, or other tools; they were working entirely with their hands—the productivity of the tailor shop and smithy in town couldn’t keep up.

“Lord Landlord!”

Seeing Liszt, the fishermen greeted him with bows.

Liszt nodded slightly in response, riding the Fire Dragon Horse, patrolling around. Gathering from the sea was hard work, exposed to blistering wind and burning sun, but the workload was not very large. Thus, the fishermen, who often had a reputation for being somewhat idle, were buzzing with enthusiasm, busy and happy regardless of their experience.

After watching for a while, Liszt felt unbearably hot and promptly took shelter under the coconut trees.

Looking up at the tall coconut trees, he felt something was amiss. Then, it dawned on him: “There are no coconuts!”

He turned and asked a clerk standing by: “Do these trees not bear fruit?”

“They do bear fruit, Lord Landlord. These are Fragrant Coconut Trees. Their fruit is called Fragrant Coconut Fruit. But when the fruit is very small, it gets picked by the monkeys from Thorn Ridge.”

“Monkeys?”

“Yes, a type of greyish-yellow monkey. We call them Fruit Thief Monkeys. They are quite ferocious and sometimes even descend in groups to ravage the crops in the fields.”

“Fruit Thief Monkeys…” Liszt nodded but did not speak.

He suddenly remembered a news story he had read. It seemed that in some Southeast Asian countries, there was a tradition of training monkeys to pick coconuts. Coconut trees are very tall, and it’s difficult for humans to climb, but monkeys can easily scale them to pluck the coconuts—if the town could train a group of Fruit Thief Monkeys, maybe they could develop the coconut industry.

Of course, he was still not sure whether these Fragrant Coconut Trees were real coconut trees—Fresh Flower Town in winter was buried under snow for more than two months; real coconut trees would have frozen to death by now.

“How does the Fragrant Coconut Fruit taste?”

“Once I picked up a Fragrant Coconut Fruit dropped by the Fruit Thief Monkeys, it had a lot of milk-like juice inside, tasting sweet and sour—quite delicious.”

Liszt’s cravings were ignited.

The East Coast had many Fragrant Coconut Trees; if they could be protected, many Fragrant Coconut Fruits could be harvested. They could completely be treated as a kind of beverage, perhaps even developing into a local specialty.

He cast his gaze toward the distant Thorn Ridge. “Sooner or later, Thorn Ridge must be taken. All threats to Fresh Flower Town must be eradicated!”

The Fruit Thief Monkeys could be used to train in fruit picking.