The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

With a month’s pay docked, Liszt administered a simple punishment to Marcus.

His main goal was to assist Kostor in completing the Smoke Mission, so he required the members of the Knight Squad to learn to swim within three days. Swimming would definitely involve going into the sea, which could potentially lead to contact with the Sunken Ship Treasure—he was very eager to find out what the Sunken Ship Treasure contained.

Was it filled with Gold Coins, or dazzling jewels?

Or perhaps it hid a Dragon Egg.

“However, one wonders, do Dragons really hatch from Dragon Eggs?” The origins of Dragons in the Knight’s Novels were diverse and conflicting; there has never been an accurate answer.

He had asked the Earl, but even the Earl didn’t know where Dragons came from.

It remained an unsolved mystery.

The Knight Squad soon started their swimming lessons, but Liszt did not go to inspect; it was not too late to come back once there was a clue about the Sunken Ship Treasure.

He was on his way to the Thorn Cordyceps Shrubbery, where the reward for the new mission was the Mutated Thorn. He wanted to check if he could obtain the reward early—the previous Rapid Growth Thorn was not a Magic Potion, but this time, the Mutated Thorn was very likely to be one!

The thorns were as tall as half a person, and they covered a large area.

But, disappointingly, after deploying the Eye of Magic Power, he did not detect any traces of Magic Power.

“No Magic Potion… Perhaps because the mission is not yet complete, so the Magic Potion has not successfully mutated?” He summoned the Smoke Mission and found it was still incomplete.

Which meant that the attitudes of the young men had yet to be corrected.

“Ideological education alone is not enough; it seems I must make a trip to the seaside to see exactly who is resisting the nautical teachings.” He turned to Servant Thomas and said, “You return to the Castle and bring my whip, then come find me at the seaside.”

“Yes, Master.”

Ideological education by mere words is not very effective.

One has to use the whip, so that they may unite spirit and flesh in excruciating pain and remember the lesson.

Crack!

Crack!

With a dark expression, Liszt whipped two young Knights who feared the water ferociously—the inhabitants of the small coastal town on the island were actually afraid to get into the water.

Faced with the choice of whip or seawater, the two young Knights eventually chose the seawater.

Under Kostor’s instruction, when they started to paddle with a doggy stroke, Liszt summoned the Smoke Mission and finally saw a change.

“Complete the mission, reward Poisonous Mutated Fast-Growing Thorn.”

“Mission: The newly planted Dragon Hollyhock seems to be ill-adapted to the soil of Fresh Flower Town. Despite being well-nourished, it cannot quickly absorb the nutrients. Its gentle Magic Power is trickling away; it may be dying soon. Please help it gather Magic Power. Reward: One Elf Bug.”

The Dragon Hollyhock was added to the Smoke Mission.

Liszt was sure that it was indeed gestating an Elf Bug, but the problem was severe: “It is not adapting to the local soil and is unable to absorb sufficient nutrients; its Magic Power is fading, which suggests that the Elf Bug is at risk of miscarriage… How can I help it gather Magic Power? It is not a Douson that can release Magic by being stimulated.”

He was stumped by this problem.

At this moment, Kostor, who was teaching the Knight Squad how to swim, suddenly swam back from the sea and began shouting loudly, “Lord Landlord, Lord Landlord, I’ve discovered a sunken ship!”

He hurried over to Liszt: “A sunken ship! It’s the wreckage of a sunken ship, buried halfway in the sand, just a short distance ahead in the sea!”

“A sunken ship?” Liszt’s thoughts were reeled back in and quickly reacted, “Captain Kostor, salvage it.”

“I need manpower to assist.”

“I will have Goltai support you. How long will it take for you to bring it up?”

“Please rest assured, the location of the sunken ship isn’t very deep—when the tide goes out, it’s only about five meters deep. At that time, I can dive and wrap up the wreck so the people on shore can pull the ship out of the mud directly.”

“When will the tide go out today?”

“It should be after three o’clock in the afternoon.”

“Get ready.”

The countdown for the Sunken Ship Treasure had begun; a weight was lifted from his heart.

Unable to salvage for the time being, Liszt returned once more to the Thorn Cordyceps Shrubbery. He was searching for the poisonous mutated fast-growing thorns—the reward for the Smoke Mission.

“Mutated and poisonous, does that mean these thorns are toxic?”

“They can be referred to as Rapid Growth Poison Thorn.”

Still not a Magic Potion.

Sort of disappointing.

But Liszt felt that perhaps the reward was much more than that, “This seems to be a chain mission—a chain mission about the evolution of Thorn Bugs. It started with the reward of Rapid Growth Thorn, and now a Rapid Growth Poison Thorn has appeared. This thicket of thorns is becoming more and more interesting.”

Returning to the shrubbery, he didn’t use the Eye of Magic again.

He had used the Eye of Magic to search for Magic Potions in the morning; now, he wanted to find the toxic thorns. Faced with a large expanse of thorny shrubbery and not knowing what the Rapid Growth Poison Thorn looked like, he felt at a loss where to start.

He could only mobilize his Retainer Knights, “Look for thorns that are out of the ordinary. Remember, do not touch them carelessly; they could be poisonous.”

The six Retainer Knights took the order and began searching in the thicket.

Liszt, along with his personal servant Thomas, also searched.

This search took several hours.

They searched the shrubbery three times back and forth, eating meals delivered by servants—of course, Liszt himself didn’t search for long, as he had long since hidden in the shade of a nearby wild fruit tree, enjoying ice cream brought by a servant, watching others work.

Finally, under the scorching sun in the afternoon, a serf sent to find the distinctive thorns discovered a particular thorn bush.

This thorn bush blended into the thicket, not bearing the usual small spines on a green stem, but having a stem with purple stripes. The purple stripes lent it a touch of mystery, and each small spine was also purple, growing upon the purple stripes.

“Could this be the Rapid Growth Poison Thorn?”

Liszt decided to test it.

He had someone bring over a rabbit raised in the Castle and then used the small spine on the purple stripe to cut open a wound on the rabbit. The spine broke off instantly, releasing a purple liquid that mixed with the rabbit’s wound.

A moment later.

The rabbit convulsed and fell to the ground, dead.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, my Lord, this thorn is highly toxic; the rabbit didn’t last even a quarter of an hour. If it were a human who got scratched by such a spine, I’m afraid they wouldn’t survive either,” remarked Blair, who had been responsible for recording the growth conditions of the Thorn Cordyceps Shrubbery, in astonishment.

Liszt was satisfied with the experiment, “Reward this serf with ten silver coins.”

The serf left with many thanks.

The other serfs also left with thanks; although they did not receive a reward, each got a copper coin for their work—earning a copper coin for less than two hours of easy labor was such fortunate work.

Looking at this plant of Rapid Growth Poison Thorn, Liszt had already thought of how to use it, “Blair, I have a new task for you.”

“At your command.”

“Cultivate a batch of Rapid Growth Poison Thorn vigorously. In the future, I want to plant it along the paths of Thorn Ridge and decorate my castle with formidable hedges.”

Blair took the order, “As you wish.”