The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

Liszt felt a sense of loss, as he did not have a secretary.

He was unable to realize the privileged class’s ideal of a leisurely life “the secretary handles the affairs, and if there is nothing to do, one does the secretary” without either shame or agitation.

In fact, he didn’t even have a personal maidservant—under the societal system of enforced monogamy, regardless of nobles having mistresses everywhere and illegitimate children being born in bunches, this system was still observed.

It was not an official system.

It was a social convention that had become customary.

To ensure the continuity of monogamy, female nobles could only have female personal maids, and male nobles could only have male personal servants, to prevent the disruption of monogamy under the guise of personal servants.

He had explored the origin of this social trend, eventually surmising that it probably stemmed from the queenly system of the Moon Empire.

This long-vanished empire, much like ancient Rome in Europe, had cultural and institutional influences that deeply affected the entire European continent, even though the Roman Empire was destroyed by barbarians. The Moon Empire, being the strongest empire of its time, had cultural influences that persisted as well.

Most countries now incorporate the Moon Language into their own languages, to a greater or lesser extent.

Including the classification of knights and the relationship between landlords and vassals, all were derived from the Moon Empire. The queendom was also preserved. Many countries have had women serve as kings. The Duchy of Sapphire had yet to see a queen, but the monogamous system was inherited nonetheless.

“The Moon Empire… I wonder what it was like,” Liszt mused.

As a small town landlord with quite some free time, Liszt enjoyed reading knights’ novels. Countless times he had come across references to the Moon Empire—knights would always encounter relics of the empire in some places, then acquire treasures, and immediately become overwhelmingly powerful, challenging the heavens, the earth, and the air.

Due to the lack of a tradition of recording history,

most of the information about the Moon Empire was passed down orally.

This method of information transmission had a high distortion rate of 99%, making the Moon Empire a legendary kingdom in tales, infinitely beautiful and amazingly prosperous. It became much like how Europeans regarded ancient Greece or how Confucius spoke of the ancient sage kings—adorned in all manner of praises, these legends replaced truth to become what people recognize as authentic history.

“It’s troublesome not to have historical records… I really fear that after reading too many knight novels, I might start believing their nonsense,” said Liszt, shaking his head.

He stopped pondering these confusing matters.

His study of history was meant not only to satisfy his curiosity but more so to learn from the past about power play and to deliberate on the great trends of the world… However, he figured it was best to steer clear of nonsensical histories.

He returned to his regret about the lack of a secretary.

He felt he needed to expedite the training of a group of female Retainer Knights as his personal guards; otherwise, his future speeches and guidance would lack atmosphere and passion.

After inspecting the buildings in town, he returned to the castle.

He entered the study directly, took out thick parchment and a quill, and prepared to reorganize his planning thoughts for Fresh Flower Town.

“If Fresh Flower Town is to be developed into an economy primarily based on the initial processing of agricultural products, then the current layout of the town must be re-planned, and trade routes also need to be adjusted. Land transportation is nowhere near as efficient as sea transportation, and sailing directly to Coral City by sea saves much more in terms of transport capacity,” he noted.

He first drew a rough map of Coral Island.

In the study of the Earl at Tulip Castle, there hung a map of Coral Island, which overall looked like a twisted figure “8.”

In the northeastern corner was Fresh Flower Town, and in the narrow part in the middle of the “8” lay the deepwater port, beside which Coral City was built.

From Fresh Flower Town to Coral City, due to the terrain, it was impossible to take a straight line. The route had to pass through North Valley City and Elm Forest City, forming a “z” shape and wasting a lot of time.

“Fresh Flower Town is in a remote location, so the dock must be built quickly to open up sea transportation; land transportation should be supplementary, and a checkpoint could be set up at the entrance to Thorn Ridge. In this way, Fresh Flower Town’s main areas would be divided into the dock, the small town, and Thorn Ridge, each responsible for trade, processing tasks.”

He wrote several pieces of Serpent Script in the workshop district of the small town.

They were plans for workshops to be constructed—sugar refinery, spice workshop, textile workshop, leather workshop, paper mill, tofu workshop, and dried Tulip flowers workshop, as well as a shoemaking shop, bone craftsman shop, and so on.

At the dock, he also wrote about workshops planned to be built—brick factory, cement factory, pottery kiln factory, salt drying field, glass workshop, and others.

Near the Thorn Ridge checkpoint, there were also plans for workshops—woodworking workshop, abattoir, horse market, and so on.

Some of these workshops lacked enough craftsmen to support them, while others were waiting for technology development, but in Liszt’s plans, these were all things that could be achieved through hard work.

However, soon.

He lost interest in writing again.

“Kostor has already reported that the Fresh Flower Vessel is ready to sail at any time. Now we are just waiting for Granney to finish making the Calming Sea Pearl, and then we can explore Black Horse Island.”

Once Black Horse Island is seized, future efforts would focus on it.

The importance of Fresh Flower Town would undoubtedly decline a lot. Especially when he earned military accolades and turned Black Horse Island into his fief, he would surely need to hand over Fresh Flower Town, much like the Tulip Family gave up their original lands to settle in Coral Island.

“Once I have enough financial and material resources to solve the issues of paper, cement, tofu, glass, and other technologies, by that time, I fear I will already be Viscount Black Horse Island.”

The birth of the Thorn Minor Elf was imminent, and once there was a Minor Elf, a steady stream of financial power would ensue, making it effortless to arm a Knight Squad.

Charging into battle and establishing achievements wouldn’t be difficult at that time.

Instead of laboriously researching technology, it may indeed be better to focus solely on accumulating Minor Elves.

The Lycra Family and the Shattered Stone Family both obtained the title of Viscount by relying on their respective Minor Elves. As the son of an Earl, as long as he made achievements in battle, the Earl had no reason not to grant his son the title of Viscount. At that time, Black Horse Island could be marked as his own territory—nobles can exchange their merits for barren islands.

If he managed to perform outstandingly in battle and caught the eye of the Grand Duke, it was not impossible that the Grand Duke himself would grant him his fief.

Becoming a direct vassal of the Grand Duke would be more impressive than being a vassal of a Marquis or Earl. His rise in rank would be much faster—the rulers always prefer to promote new nobles to counterbalance the old ones.

“But if I become a vassal of the Grand Duke, I’ll have to become independent of the Tulip Family, won’t I? Then perhaps I will be Viscount Liszt Thorn of Black Horse Island?”

Of course, this possibility was small—just a Baron, and it would take a significant accomplishment to be noticed by the Grand Duke. Besides, with his background as a vassal of an Earl, the Grand Duke generally would not overstep boundaries to win over another’s vassal. Especially since the Earl and the Grand Duke had a good relationship, he would not be recruited lightly.

“No matter what, Black Horse Island is going to be mine, and the Li Dragon Horse Herd must not be touched by anyone!”

To get Black Horse Island, one must achieve merits and receive a title.

Liszt set down his quill and looked out of the window. In the distance, on the horse field, a few horses grazed leisurely on the grass: “The battlefield is a place where people die… When the time comes, I’ll see if I can find a position like Levis, acting as a liaison, working in logistics, and picking up some military honors.”

He paused.

With a determined tone, he spoke to himself, “But, the Knight Squad must be trained as quickly as possible, I must also accelerate my Dou Qi cultivation, and Douson’s training must be intensified!”

Once a person has ambition, many thoughts begin to change unconsciously.