The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

The trade caravan didn’t return that evening, but waited until the following afternoon to make their way back to Fresh Flower Town.

Out of the six horse-drawn carts, two were filled with goods, while the other four carried Marcus, the Blair family members—six nags, all quite exhausted. Each pulling a cart alone seemed a bit too much of a burden.

“My lord!”

Marcus dismounted and bowed in greeting, with a large group of people quickly descending from the cart behind him.

“Teacher Marcus, if I remember correctly, you don’t have that many family members, do you?” Liszt counted carefully; just Marcus’s family alone amounted to 22 people.

“My two sisters and their families are also willing to follow me and settle in Fresh Flower Town,” Marcus replied. “They live in poverty in Coral City, mainly because they have too many children. Even though I help them out often, it’s still tough to provide for even basic needs.”

Liszt nodded; he was always welcoming of more people.

Then members of the Blair family also paid their respects. The Blairs weren’t as numerous—just his wife with four children. Their eldest son had just gotten married not long ago and had no children of his own yet.

He instructed Goltai to arrange for the settlement of the two families.

Only then did Liszt begin to inquire about the business of this trade caravan.

Old Geronte spoke with some nervousness, “Lord, we didn’t sell much seafood. Half of it was given away for free tasting to the citizens of Coral City. In fact, many who tasted it said the seafood was delicious, but one man broke out in red spots all over his body and suffered from vomiting and diarrhea after eating it, which caused the other citizens to become fearful of seafood.”

Abagon added, “If it weren’t for the patrol team hearing that the trade caravan belonged to you, Lord Landlord, we might have had all of our goods confiscated this time.”

Seafood allergy?

Liszt pondered. Some people are indeed allergic to seafood, but none of the residents of Fresh Flower Town had shown any allergic reactions to it, which made him think that seafood from the Different World wouldn’t cause allergies.

He hadn’t expected that there would actually be people who are allergic to seafood.

“Such an incident is indeed unexpected, but don’t feel pressured. Only a very few individuals will experience physical reactions from eating seafood. But these are rare cases, and once they stop eating, they’ll recover quickly. Next time you sell seafood, remember to make this clear.”

“Yes, Lord Landlord.”

“Did you procure everything I needed?”

“Thick paper, powdered milk, hops for beer, red wine… we got all of those, but we didn’t find the pig pancreases you asked for. The few butchers’ shops in Coral City didn’t keep any. I’ve already made arrangements with them to save pig pancreases for us, so we can buy them next time we go.”

Pig pancreases are used for making pancreatin, which is soap.

The castle currently uses soap powder, ground from the fruit of the soap pod tree. Among the new serfs, there was a soap maker who could add flower petals to the soap powder to make scented soaps.

But scented soap production is complex; the soap maker Bunier lacked the equipment, and thus far, had not managed to produce any.

Thus, Liszt wished to make pancreatin himself.

After reporting the situation, Old Geronte prepared to hand over the money from the sale to Liszt, who of course wouldn’t handle money directly, as it would be beneath him. He picked up the cup on the table and said indifferently, “Mr. Carter, please take care of the handover with Old Geronte. From now on, you and Old Geronte will be in charge of the castle’s purchasing.”

“As you wish, sir,” Carter willingly took on the task.

After enjoying a meal at the castle, Liszt did not inquire further into the arrangements for Marcus’s and Blair’s families, entrusting the matter entirely to Goltai.

As the landlord, his most important job was to enjoy himself.

“Sir, there is a minor issue at Mushroom Hamlet; I wonder if you’d be interested in hearing about it.” Mrs. Morson, with Maisie helping to clean the study, spoke to Liszt, who was passing the time with a knight’s novel.

Mushroom Hamlet?

Liszt’s thoughts instantly turned to the reward for his quest, a new variety of mushroom, “What happened at Mushroom Hamlet?”

“The mushrooms used in the castle are mostly picked from Crooked-neck Bob’s place, his mushrooms are the freshest and most tender. But these past few days, Bob has been looking troubled. A kind of bright red mushroom appeared on the racks where he grows his mushrooms. He shovels off a batch, and another batch grows back.”

Before he had finished speaking.

Liszt had stood up from his chair and walked out of the study without looking back, shouting from upstairs, “Thomas, prepare the horse!”

Thomas, who had been getting ready to sleep, hurried out of the room and quickly went to prepare the horse.

Carter also walked over quickly, “Master, do you need to go out for something important tonight?”

“It’s a very important matter, I need to make a trip to Mushroom Hamlet. Inform Goltai for me.” He suddenly remembered something, turned around to the housekeeper still in the study, and said, “Mrs. Morson, come with me to lead the way to Crooked-neck Bob’s place.”

A moment later.

Thomas had the horses ready.

Holding torches and under the moonlight, they set off toward Mushroom Hamlet.

Jessie, the manservant, rode to the town to call on Goltai and the four Retainer Knights who served Liszt, to meet up with Liszt in Mushroom Hamlet.

Mushroom Hamlet was in an uproar for a while.

Crooked-neck Bob was extremely nervous. Mrs. Morson knocked on his door and told him that Lord Landlord was going to his mushroom greenhouses. He thought there was a problem with his mushrooms, and the Lord Landlord was coming to hold him accountable. As a serf responsible for farming for the landlord, failing to cultivate properly could mean a whipping.

“Bob, don’t be nervous, the master is kind; this is not a mistake made on purpose by you, he will not punish you easily.”

“Mrs. Morson, is this true? You must plead for mercy for me from Lord Landlord, please, I beg of you!” Bob was still nervous.

By this time, Liszt was already inside his mushroom greenhouse.

Thomas followed closely behind, holding a torch.

“Master, what are you looking for?”

“The thing I was looking for, I’ve found it already.” Liszt’s pupils swirled like whirlpools, and tiny specks of starlight twinkled as if within the vast universe, in his field of vision, the rotten wood used to grow mushrooms had pale red traces of magic power, outlining the shape of one mushroom after another.

Dispelling the Eye of Magic, and aided by the torchlight, he saw the thing that was emitting magic power—it was the bright red mushrooms.

They looked a bit like Positive Red Mushrooms, dotted among the vast expanse of regular mushrooms. It was obvious that the surrounding mushrooms were already wilting, but this red mushroom alone was growing very fresh and vibrant.

“It’s indeed a magic potion mushroom.” Liszt wanted to laugh heartily because the magic power of such mushrooms revealed a red color; it was a hue characterized by the Fire Attribute of magic, “I have the Fire Attribute Dou Qi. For me, these red mushrooms are an excellent tonic!”

Sky Knights are essentially potion-philes, hardly able to push through to higher realms of Dou Qi with their own bodies without a large amount of magic potion supplements.

“Thomas, have Mrs. Morson bring Bob over.”

When Bob stood before him, anxious and unsure, he said with a smile, “You are Bob, aren’t you? Don’t be nervous.”

Bob was so frightened that he knelt down, continually kowtowing, “Lord Landlord, I… I have erred, I spoiled the mushroom ingredient, I… please, forgive me, Lord Landlord!”

“Bob, please get up. Not only will I not punish you, I will reward you.”