The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

A low-level Magical Beast, Marcus could contend with one and find an opportunity to kill it.

But three, if he charged blindly, he would only be dismembered.

Marcus didn’t have time to ponder how Liszt knew there were three Magical Beasts, he immediately reined in his horse to return. At the same time, with fast dexterity, he returned the Spear to its place on the horseback, and with a reverse hand, took down the bow and arrow, and bent the bow to load the arrow, firing four arrows in quick succession toward the bush fifty meters away.

Although the arrows all missed, their effect was clear.

Suddenly, a Wind Blade Wolf leapt out from one of the bushes, its gaze coldly fixed on Marcus. It didn’t attack rashly, merely looking on coldly, watching as the serfs of the Lumberjack Team gathered toward a pile of fire.

Karl and the other Retainer Knights pulled out the dried Smoked Grass leaves distributed to them, ready to throw into the fire at any moment, to create a pungent smoke from the burning leaves, designed to scare away the Magical Beast.

Liszt rode the Li Dragon Horse, joined Marcus, and confronted the grey Wind Blade Wolf.

“Sir, are you sure there are three Magical Beasts?”

“Quite sure,” Liszt held the Crimson Blood Sword, still not dissipating the Eye of Magic, “There is one in that clump of bushes to the left of this Wind Blade Wolf, and another one in the bushes to the right rear side. It obviously wants to attract our attention, allowing the other two to sneak attack.”

Marcus bent the bow to load another arrow, “Wolves are cunning and cautious by nature, I’ll flush them out!”

Two arrows were shot, but there was no movement in the bushes.

In a situation that should have been tense, Liszt suddenly felt like laughing. These three Wind Blade Wolves thought they could play tricks on him, believing that by hiding in the bushes they would go unnoticed, but under the watch of the Eye of Magic, they had nowhere to hide.

“That one on the left, move a meter to the left below the bush. The one on the right rear side, move one and a half meters to the right.”

Upon hearing this, Marcus.

Immediately drew another arrow, this time not two with one bow, but a single arrow, aiming for the bush on the left.

Thwack!

Awooo!

A sound of flesh splitting open, followed by the pained howl of the Wind Blade Wolf, and the shaking of the bush. The Wind Blade Wolf, with an arrow in its shoulder blade, fled, tucking its tail and quickly disappearing into the depths of the forest.

The Wind Blade Wolf that served as a distraction also turned and ran.

Only the Wind Blade Wolf hidden in the right rear bush remained, perhaps still hoping to launch a sneak attack.

But the next moment.

An arrow grazed its back and flew past, startling it, and no longer daring to hide, it bolted out of the bush, silently turning to flee.

After just a few exchanges of arrows, without even needing to use the Smoked Grass, the three Wind Blade Wolves vanished without a trace.

The Eye of Magic could no longer see the traces of magic power, Liszt called up the Smoke Mission to see the updated content, and with slight regret waved his hand, “The Wind Blade Wolves have completely fled, stand down the alert, continue with the lumber work.” They hadn’t managed to leave a single Magical Beast behind, nor had they a chance to show off.

But it was good that the mission was complete.

“Mission completed, reward: Miniature Saltpeter Mine.”

“A Saltpeter Mine?”

Metal and gemstones came from Dragons, as for other mineral substances, they all originated from the land itself. Some time ago, Liszt was still complaining about the lack of saltpeter for making ice, unable to enjoy even a chilled beer in the height of summer. It was unexpected that he’d now be rewarded with a Saltpeter Mine, quite considerate indeed.

“However, isn’t it too wasteful to use saltpeter to make ice? I remember saltpeter is one of the components of black gunpowder,” he reflected briefly and recalled the formula of black gunpowder he had learned in high school physics—charcoal, sulfur, and potassium nitrate (saltpeter).

Now that a use had been found for the saltpeter, it was a pity sulfur hadn’t been accounted for.

“Let’s just use it to make ice first. The days are getting hotter and hotter. Without ice blocks to cool down, without chilled beer, life simply isn’t worth living.”

As his thoughts churned, the Smoke Serpent Script began to transform.

“Mission: The crisis of the magical beast invasion has been resolved. It is time to go all out in logging, widen the roads of Thorn Ridge, and re-integrate Fresh Flower Town into the trade of Coral Island, winning development opportunities. Reward: a new species of mushrooms.”

“A new species of mushrooms?”

Liszt immediately thought of Mushroom Hamlet: “Could it be that magic potions are going to grow in the mushroom sheds of Mushroom Hamlet, just like the Black Tulips?”

Mushrooms are a very important ingredient in noble cuisine.

In terms of classification, they are categorized as mushrooms, which people of this world call Abandoned Cordyceps—meaning plants abandoned by Elf Bugs.

Because they can’t produce a single Elf Bug.

In this world, even a weed could potentially give birth to Elf Bugs, the only exception being mushrooms which can’t produce them, leading some to question whether they are plants at all. However, they do contain many varieties of magic potions, and only plants can grow into magic potions, which again places them in the plant category.

In the end, no definite conclusion had been formed.

The knowledge Liszt possessed told him that mushrooms are fungi—but in this world, whether they’re fungi or plants doesn’t really matter; this isn’t a world that speaks of science.

“Although they can’t produce Elf Bugs and hence supernaturally increase yield, as mushrooms, they grow very fast under appropriate conditions. If we indeed come across a new variety of magic potion mushrooms, that would be enormously good news. It would mean that Fresh Flower Town had gained a new local specialty.”

The Black Tulip could have become a specialty, but he had only one Tulip Bug and couldn’t scale up. Therefore, it would be best to cooperate with Tulip Castle.

But it’s different with magic potion mushrooms. Without the need for help from Elf Bugs, they could expand their planting scale on their own, making them an excellent choice for a local specialty.

Just the addition of one type of magic potion mushroom might draw an endless stream of merchant caravans.

At least, Levis and Li Vera would certainly not miss out on a new magic potion—for the dream of becoming a Sky Knight, they both aspired to be filled with potions.

“Logging! I will supervise the logging every day during this period. We must open up the roads of Thorn Ridge as soon as possible!” Liszt decided, excited.

In the scorching heat of summer, as it became unbearable, he had been preparing to return to the castle earlier.

Now revitalized, he immediately had Thomas pack food from the castle so they could enjoy a picnic right at the logging site—a precaution in case the Wind Blade Wolves decided to return.

They had just finished their picnic.

On the nearby road, there suddenly came the clip-clop of horse hooves, and several knights galloping with a whoosh. It seemed that they had spotted the Lumberjack Team, and headed straight to the logging site.

Karl and four Retainer Knights immediately went to greet them and then brought the knights over to Liszt.

“Baron,” said the knight leading them, a familiar face to Liszt, Lord Layden, a Knight Captain of Tulip Castle, who gave a Knight’s salute, “Lord Layden sends his regards.”

Lord Layden had been the one to escort Levis and the others for the assimilation trade last time.

Liszt returned the Knight’s salute: “Sir Layden, we meet again. What brings you here this time?”

“In five days, on June 26, it is the Festival of Sailing. The Earl has sent me to convey a message that all members of the Tulip Family will come to Fresh Flower Town to celebrate the Festival of Sailing with you.”