The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

The storm approached with fury, and as Fresh Flower Town was swayed by strong winds and sand filled the sky, there was a moment when suddenly the entire world fell silent.

Then, large raindrops pattered against the spires of the castle, as if a bucket of water had been overturned, splashing everywhere upon hitting the ground.

From the doghouse, came the loud barking of Douson.

Downstairs, in one of the rooms, Juan Fu was also making a “cluck, cluck” noise.

Outside and inside the castle, there were two different worlds.

If one listened closely, Liszt could hear the servants in the kitchen downstairs chatting together—with the storm hitting, there was nothing to do but to chat.

Mr. Carter’s footsteps meandered upstairs and downstairs; he was always on the move, checking every aspect of the castle. He ran into Mrs. Morson, who was inspecting the maid’s cleaning, and they seemed to exchange a few words, evaluating the performance of the male and female servants.

The two butlers were conscientious and diligent.

Yet the fifteen servants did not always get along so pleasantly.

Thomas’s attitude towards the male servants was particularly nasty, but as he was Liszt’s personal manservant and held a high position, no one dared to say much.

Not only did he often pick on the male servants and occasionally speak ill of them, but sometimes he was not so respectful to Carter either.

Carter could not understand why Liszt would tolerate someone as unpleasant as Thomas—Thomas ruined the familial harmony among the castle servants.

But it can only be said,

Carter and Liszt had different statuses and thus looked at things from different perspectives.

Carter tried to fill the castle with harmony and love.

But Liszt did not wish for that—if the servants united, it would make him, the master, uncomfortable. Just imagine, if a servant made a mistake and all the servants, being too friendly, helped to cover it up, they could easily fool Liszt.

Without Thomas, the shit-stirring stick, the servants would become increasingly indulgent.

With Thomas keeping an eye out and picking faults, the servants would work with trembling fear.

Superiors always have to plant a few confidants within the lower ranks; it’s just common sense, something even schoolteachers know when they cultivate students adept at snitching.

Liszt chose not to eavesdrop on how the servants were chatting.

His expression turned slightly stern.

His thoughts wandered: “Do phantoms really exist in this world?”

In his younger years, the bedtime stories passed down by word of mouth mentioned specters. It was said that these were souls that had left their earthly shells after death, without consciousness, aimlessly wandering.

Almost no one had truly seen a phantom.

He rummaged through all of the memories of his former self, and on Coral Island, he had never heard of anyone encountering a phantom. Among the hundred-plus knight’s novels he had recently read, a few mentioned phantoms, but mostly they were rare side characters with low frequency, just like vampires, werewolves, and mine zombies.

Before, he would laugh it off when reading; it didn’t seem important.

Now, the reason he was thinking about phantoms again was due to the Smoke Mission which reminded him of them.

“Mission: An old, run-down sunken ship, weathered by the seaside winds and sun, but passing fishermen often feel a chill down their spine, as if something in the ship is watching them, keeping them from approaching. Please find out the reason. Reward: A piece of broken bone.”

The sunken ship hiding five treasure chests was not something Liszt had people chop up for firewood.

He felt that the sunken ship could barely be considered a tourist attraction, so he left it at Oyster Village to add to its historical depth. He even planned to one day have it well-maintained when he found the time.

But this sunken ship, it turned out, still held secrets.

“What could be inside a sunken ship? When the patrol team searched for the treasure before, they turned the whole ship inside out. Besides some fabrics, grain residues, and five chests, there wasn’t anything else… Or is there something that’s hard to see?”

He could easily let his mind wander—ghosts, dirty things, sunken ships, ghost ships, and eventually to the specters of legend.

Crack! Boom!

A flash of light streaked past outside the castle, followed by a thunderous boom of lightning.

The wind picked up again, accompanied by the sound of the pouring rain, isolating the castle from everything outside.

Walking to the window, he lowered a plank of the shutter and watched the rain curtains that seemed to connect the sky and earth. Liszt felt a sense of desolation as if he was isolated from the world. Loneliness welled up inside him as he abruptly realized he had been in this world for half a year, transitioning from a world of technological civilization to one of magic and Dou Qi.

It was neither good nor bad.

Back in his hometown, the standard of living had been higher, but he was just a miserable, overworked drone.

Here, the living standard was relatively poor, but he was an all-powerful noble with Dou Qi to strengthen his body, making him immune to hundreds of ailments.

“Comparatively speaking, I prefer my life now, and I like the sight of maids bustling in front of me…” The corners of his mouth lifted slightly in a smile; he was not overly concerned.

Soon his thoughts returned to the Smoke Mission.

“If there really is a specter in the sunken ship, then it needs to be eradicated soon to prevent endangering the lives of the fishermen… The mission reward is a segment of broken bone, but what does that have to do with the specter?”

He really wanted to go to the sunken ship right now, find out the reason and complete the mission.

But the rain outside was too heavy, making it hard to travel.

He could only stay in the castle, bored and waiting.

However, the wait

lasted for three days.

The relentless rain of varying intensity flooded the entire town. Fortunately, they had carried out maintenance on all the wooden houses beforehand, and the patrol team braving the rain had not found any collapsed houses. The cordyceps were also safe, even the most fragile Dragon Kui Cordyceps, which remained intact due to proper protection.

Nevertheless, the three days of heavy rain still claimed two lives.

An elderly serf who went out to pick vegetables slipped and never got up again. Another was a mother of three who braved the rain to collect seashells on the beach; she fell ill after returning and died.

“Collecting seashells on the beach?”

Upon hearing Teacher Goltai’s report, Liszt was struck with a thought: “Could it be related to the sunken ship?”

He immediately asked, “Teacher Goltai, has the body of the deceased woman been examined for anything unusual?”

“Examining the body, I’m sorry, sir, I did not examine the body. I thought it was just a serf who died of illness, which is quite common.”

Perhaps Liszt was being too sensitive.

But he still decided to personally inspect the dead woman’s body: “Teacher Goltai, we must remain alert. Lately, some fishermen have reported that there is something seriously wrong with that sunken ship, like there’s some kind of dirty thing there. I suspect that this woman’s death might have something to do with the sunken ship.”

“The sunken ship?” Goltai was puzzled.

He hadn’t heard such news, but since Liszt mentioned it, he couldn’t ignore it—he believed that Liszt had many informants in Fresh Flower Town, and nothing could escape Liszt’s attention.

“Then, my lord, shall I arrange for it now? Do you want to go check the body together?”

“Let’s go together.”