The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

The East Coast stretches for several kilometers, and there are a total of 171 Fragrant Coconut Trees of various sizes.

The smaller Fragrant Coconut Trees might be only a few meters high, and there are even some that have just sprouted. The largest Fragrant Coconut Tree, which was the site of the battle between the Wind Falcon and the Fruit Thief Monkeys, is nearly sixty meters tall and leans towards the sea.

Liszt rode his Fire Dragon Horse and took shelter under the shade of the tallest Fragrant Coconut Tree. He guessed that if there truly was an Elf Bug, it would definitely be in this “Tree King”.

Cordyceps are generally larger, stronger, and more vigorous than ordinary plants.

If it had been before, he would have had to search each tree one by one to be sure of the Cordyceps. Now it was different; he just needed to deploy the Eye of Magic and look up at the top of the sixty-meter-tall Fragrant Coconut Tree.

A few changes appeared in his field of vision.

Faint traces of pale blue Magic Power circulated in the foliage at the top, not very clear, but certainly enough.

“There are traces of Magic Power, just as I thought, this Fragrant Coconut Tree has become Cordyceps. My eighth Elf Bug is about to arrive! However, this Elf Bug has climbed quite high,” Liszt thought for a moment and then decided not to investigate personally—climbing trees was really not becoming of a lord’s dignity.

He turned to look at a farmer next to him, “You’re Jiggs, the steward of the Fruit Thief Monkey Training Ground, aren’t you?”

Jiggs nodded hurriedly, “Yes, Lord Landlord.”

“Can you climb trees?”

“I can.”

“Then climb this tree for me. Be careful not to damage the bark. Go up and take a look for me to see if there is something unusual about the Fragrant Coconut Fruits.”

“Yes, Lord Landlord.” Jiggs immediately set to work, climbing hand over foot toward the crown of the tree.

He was not as agile as the Fruit Thief Monkeys, but he was steady enough, gradually making his way to the foliage. Moments later, Jiggs climbed down and began to report, “Lord Landlord, it’s very strange. There’s a Fragrant Coconut Fruit that looks like it’s fully ripened, smells very sweet, and it’s very large, oh, about the size of a basin.”

The size of a normal Fragrant Coconut Fruit is about that of a sea bowl.

Now that a basin-sized Fragrant Coconut Fruit has appeared, there’s no doubt that an Elf Bug is hidden inside.

Liszt smiled, “Jiggs, remember this, the tree is Cordyceps, and my Elf Bug is growing inside its Fragrant Coconut Fruit. You guys must guard this tree for me, not allowing anyone to touch the Fragrant Coconut Fruits, and you must go up each day to observe. If the Fragrant Coconut Fruit cracks open, notify the Castle immediately, do you understand?”

“My goodness, an Elf Bug? Incredible!” Jiggs was overjoyed and replied eagerly, “Please rest assured, Lord Landlord. Jiggs will definitely guard the Elf Bug!”

He nodded lightly.

Liszt concentrated his mind and summoned the Smoke Mission.

He felt somewhat lightheaded; he had just completed a Smoke Mission half an hour ago, and now, he had finished another one—this efficiency couldn’t be too high.

Just as expected.

The Serpent Script formed by the smoke said, “Mission completed, reward: Fragrant Coconut Tree Elf Bug.”

Suddenly, a new mission appeared, “The new-style milky bread brought by the trade caravan has sparked an inspiration in Reynard, the baker. He wants to make a new kind of bread, perhaps adding some meat would be a good idea, but he’s distressed that he can only sell black bread. Please help him realize the development of a new bread. Reward: Sunken Ship Treasure.”

“Sunken Ship Treasure?”

Liszt’s eyes gleamed at the sight of the word ‘treasure’; there’s nothing more exciting than discovering treasure and gaining an unexpected fortune.

A task that must be completed.

“Reynard wants to make a new type of bread, with a bit of meat? Is he planning to invent meat-floss bread?”

In this world, the culinary realm is still at a very primitive stage of food processing—roasting meat, roasting fish, boiling eggs, boiling meat, frying steaks, tossing salads; sauce was invented, and everyone likes to spread it on everything they eat; milk is only used to make cheese and pudding, and they also like to stuff it with minced meat.

The worst is their fondness for baking complete ingredients into a batter—the respectable name for it: “Pie!”

Mrs. Abbie was previously very skilled at making a dish called mushroom pie, the specific method being—mix flour with sugar and oil into a paste, then sprinkle the whole mushrooms into it, stuff it into the oven, and bake it till done—with that, a mushroom pie was ready to eat.

Liszt really couldn’t get used to these “pies,” always feeling like it was an insult to his taste buds.

Even to his intelligence.

But many times, he had to endure the torment of this dark cuisine and deeply regret why he didn’t go to New Oriental to learn how to be a chef before.

Eight hundred stainless beds, two hundred…

Bread is the staple food of the Different World, from the king down to serfs, they all eat bread. Except nobles eat white bread, and the poor eat black bread. The nobles’ requirements for food are definitely aspirational, but alas, the chefs’ talents are limited, and after so many years, white bread is still white bread, black bread is still black bread.

“How do you make meat floss bread?” Liszt tried to recall the meat floss bread he had eaten, “It seems like it’s just bread with some meat floss sprinkled on top? But, how is meat floss made?”

He couldn’t figure it out.

He quickly gathered his thoughts, gave a few instructions to the fruit farmers, mounted his horse, and left Oyster Village. The retainer knights had already gone to inform Goltai that Liszt wasn’t too concerned about the protection work for the Fragrant Coconut Tree Cordyceps. He was ready to head straight for the town’s bakery, to inspect the lives of the common people.

The bakery was in the most conspicuous position in town, a rare two-story wooden building.

The first floor sold bread, and the second floor was the residence of the baker’s family.

The bakery provided two main services, one was naturally selling various kinds of black bread, the other was to bake bread on behalf of others. Not all serfs could afford black bread, they would more often come to use the bakery’s oven, bringing their own various bran and other ingredients to bake black bread.

Reynard was a freeman, and also the richest freeman in town, it was said that his family wealth amounted to as many as five gold coins.

The undisputed richest man in Fresh Flower Town.

However, some said the Old Drunkard was the richest man, as he had sold his smithy to the landlord for three gold coins, and despite his love for fine wine, his excellent blacksmithing skills still brought him a great deal of wealth.

At the moment, Reynard stood watching the baking oven, waiting for a new batch of bread to come out, but his mind was wandering. He was one of the few people in town who could regularly taste white bread, and the cream bread brought by the caravan a few days ago, he bought a bit and tasted its unique and wonderful flavor.

It also made him realize that bread could be made even more delicious.

“Could I make better-tasting bread?” In the past, he wouldn’t have thought about it because even if he made it, no one in town could afford it.

But now it was different, the road to Thorn Ridge had been opened, and the castle’s caravans went on trade missions almost every three days. He could definitely follow the caravans to sell his own bread outside—as long as he could get to North Valley City, where many nobles resided.

“And, I could also sell to Lord Landlord.” Reynard thought of the day the caravan arrived, when he met Mrs. Abbie and chatted with her, learning that she could only make the simplest white bread, “Lord Landlord must be tired of the monotonous white bread by now, most of the cream bread was bought by the castle.”

Just at that moment.

He suddenly heard his wife shouting loudly, “Reynard, come out quickly, Reynard, are you listening, the landlord, Lord Landlord is here!”