The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

The task was easy to accomplish.

He didn’t need to pay attention to how much the residents of the town traded, as he had already decided that the castle would directly purchase any goods above three Gold Coins.

Recently, seafood had started to turn a profit, and the East Coast had become a constant stream of Gold Coins for the castle.

His money pouch had successfully stopped deflating and was slightly recovering; he now had about five Gold Coins saved.

“Old Geronte, I’ve called you here because I have a task for you. Tomorrow, a merchant convoy from North Valley City will come to Fresh Flower Town. I’m giving you three Gold Coins, and you must spend them all, purchasing anything you can.”

Old Geronte was astute, “Lord Landlord, are you using the allure of Gold Coins to entice the merchant convoy to come again next time?”

“Exactly.”

“Old Geronte understands, I will see to it that it’s done.”

“Good, you may go now.”

“Yes, Lord Landlord, I wish you a good night.”

As Old Geronte turned to leave, he saw Bunier at the castle gate and greeted him, “Bunier, has the Lord Landlord also summoned you?”

“Oh, no, I made some soap and brought it to the castle specially.” Bunier shook the bag he was holding, “Did the Lord Landlord call for you about the merchant convoy’s matter for tomorrow?”

Old Geronte said with a hint of pride, “Of course, I’m the leader of the castle’s merchant convoy, and the Lord Landlord trusts me.”

“I’m envious of you, but I must be going now.” Bunier passed Old Geronte and, led by a servant, entered the castle to see Liszt.

He bowed respectfully and handed the soap to the servant.

“Finally, the soap is made, and we no longer have to buy those soaps from Coral City, where they charge two silver coins for materials that plainly cost a copper coin.” Liszt picked up a bar of soap, feeling that Bunier’s craftsmanship was decent and not much worse than the soaps bought from Coral City, “You’ve worked hard, Bunier.”

“It’s Bunier’s fortune to work for Lord Landlord.”

“I have another task for you.”

“Lord Landlord, please command me.”

Liszt said, “I’ve heard of a formula, mixing pig pancreas and wood ash—basically these two materials—to create a soap that is more potent in cleaning than soapberry. It’s called ‘fat soap.’” The term ‘pancreas’ didn’t sound pleasant, so Liszt simply described it as ‘fat soap,’ since it was a new concept with no contention over naming rights.

“There is something better than soapberry? Lord Landlord, can pig pancreas also clean and remove stains?” asked Bunier, surprised.

“That’s the case, but I can’t remember exactly how to mix them. Therefore, I’m handing over the task of making fat soap to you, hoping that you can quickly figure out how to create a bath soap using pig pancreas and wood ash. Once you’ve succeeded, I will reward you handsomely.”

Bunier quickly replied, “It is Bunier’s fortune to work for Lord Landlord. Please be assured, Lord Landlord, that Bunier will make the fat soap as soon as possible.”

“Hm, don’t forget to keep making the regular soap as well; we cannot run out of soap in the castle.”

“Rest assured, Lord Landlord.”

The rewards for the Smoke Mission arrived quickly.

The next morning, Liszt received a report that the fishermen from Oyster Village had found a stranded giant sea creature on the East Coast. A sea monster, the Black Pearl of the Deep Sea, Liszt immediately realized and set off for the East Coast.

By the seaside, he saw the stranded sea monster, accompanied by a putrid smell.

“Lord, do you recognize this kind of sea monster?” Goltai and the others had rushed over early, but they did not recognize what species the stranded sea monster was.

Liszt looked closely and saw that the sea monster was some kind of mollusk, extremely large, at least over ten meters long. It had tentacles, soft and entwined together, and upon examining its body, which resembled a squid and lay spread out on the sand, he noticed signs of decay that made it hard to discern what it looked like alive.

He used the Eye of Magic and discovered that there was no flow of magic power in the body of the sea monster.

Strictly speaking, this was just some sort of marine animal, not a sea monster.

“It might be a type of large squid, not a sea monster,” Liszt fanned away the air in front of his nose, as the putrid smell of the decaying squid was extremely foul.

“I wonder if it’s edible?” Blair suddenly asked.

Goltai made a face of aversion, “I can hardly stand the smell, let alone eat it. I think it’s not seafood; it’s a monster! Maybe it’s poisonous, or it might even have eaten people in the sea. I’ve heard of a kind of sea monster that entangles ships, and this squid has ‘hands,’ so it definitely could entangle ships as well.”

Whether or not it was poisonous or had eaten people, Liszt would not consider it seafood.

Something rotten should just be thrown away.

But thinking of the Black Pearl of the Deep Sea, which might be related to this large squid, he ordered, “Teacher Goltai, find some people to dissect this large squid to see if there’s anything interesting inside. If there’s nothing, chop it up and throw it into the sea to avoid creating a stench.”

Goltai began organizing fishermen to come and dissect the large squid.

Liszt then rode his horse towards the beached sailboat not far from the beach; this damaged sailboat, with a few holes, had already been repaired by carpenters. When the tide went out, they would move it back into the sea, and after the tide rose again, it could basically sail back out… It’s just that, while they had a captain who could steer, they lacked qualified sailors.

“Lord Landlord, Kostor sends his regards to you.”

While Liszt was admiring the sailboat, his Retainer Knights Philip and Zavier stopped a fisherman. The fisherman knelt on the ground in a hurry, shouting loudly.

Kostor?

Liszt remembered the name, turned his horse around, and said to Thomas following behind, “Let him come here.”

Kostor was a tall, middle-aged man with a sun-baked, weather-beaten face: “Lord Landlord, Kostor sends his regards to you.”

“You’ve already said that once,” Liszt looked at him with a critical eye, “Stand up to talk. If I’m not mistaken, you are the captain of this ship, aren’t you?”

“Lord Landlord still remembers Kostor, I am honored,” Kostor stood up and respectfully said, “I used to work for Lord Little Papa as the captain of the Flying Number, a three-masted sailing ship that could reach 3 knots speed with the wind. This sailboat is even more outstanding than the Flying Number; it can reach 5 knots with the wind.”

Knot was a unit of speed, and Liszt wasn’t quite sure how fast a knot really was.

But he knew that the fastest ship in the Tulip Fleet could reach 7 knots. It was said that the fastest sailing ships in the Court Fleet could reach a speed of 10 knots.

Kostor looked up at the sailboat, his eyes filled with inexplicable emotion. “Lord Landlord, don’t you wish to see it return to the sea?”

“Do you want to captain this ship again?” Liszt looked with interest at Kostor, who clearly seemed ready to offer himself for the role. “But Fresh Flower Town doesn’t have a single sailor.”

“They can be trained. I started out as a sailor, traversing the seas year-round. I know how to train qualified sailors. If Lord Landlord trusts me, you only need to give me twenty people; within three months, I can train them into qualified coastal crew members, and within a year, they should be able to sail in distant waters!”

Liszt looked at him, “Fresh Flower Town doesn’t have an appropriate seaport; how will you train the sailors?”

“We do, Lord Landlord, Fresh Flower Town has a place that is very suitable for building a seaport! The terrain is flat, the water is deep, and it can accommodate medium-sized ships and below!”