The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

This kind of maneuver was not taxing for Liszt, as the resources of this world were vast, but those currently within his grasp were limited and required competition.

On Coral Island, if Liszt didn’t vie for resources and channels, he wouldn’t be able to develop.

Kindness was a word for the civilians, but plundering resources was the essence of nobility. Clearly, Liszt was now well-adapted to the identity and modus operandi of a noble.

After reminding Sherlock, he put the matter aside and didn’t pay it any more heed—with mithril, crystal, and jade in his hands, as well as the Black Pearl, selling even a little could exchange for a pile of Gold Coins.

With Gold Coins in hand, the world is mine.

There was no need to focus on the trivialities of a minor business or two.

Carter took away the empty milk tea cup and closed the door; the study was completely silent. The light from three Crystal Lamps converged, making it as bright as day.

He opened the Knight’s Novel and continued his grand writing endeavors, until Carter knocked on the door again, reminding him the night had grown deep.

“I’ll go rest now, Mr. Carter. You should rest early too. Good night.”

“Good night, Lord.”

He shook the stack of thick vellum on the desk, which was filled with his own Serpent Script writing—a thick pile. He closed the Knight’s Novel, slid it back onto the shelf, and organized his stack of papers.

Looking at the densely written minuscule characters made with a quill pen, he felt a profound sense of achievement.

As a visitor from a civilized world, he always felt something was missing amidst this cultural and historical desert. Therefore, he decided to take up the pen himself and write a truly epic masterpiece—he had the idea before to compose a grand work on sociology but never acted on it.

Now he had truly started writing.

Of course, he wouldn’t write something like “Das Kapital”, a sociological treatise.

He planned to compile a chronological history based on the various nations’ histories and customs mentioned in the Knight’s Novel.

Confucius revised and organized the recorded major events of the State of Lu’s historians into the Confucian classic, the Spring and Autumn Annals, which influenced Chinese values for thousands of years. He himself became a revered sage, a symbol of Chinese culture, whether he was denounced or revered.

Having fantasized about riding dragons, Liszt felt he should strive for even loftier ideals.

Dragon Knights only enjoyed a century of glory; their descendants might rely on dragon’s blessings for a few generations, but eventually, both their names and they themselves would be obliterated. If he were to write an otherworldly version of the Spring and Autumn Annals, he could truly influence for thousands of years and continue to do so.

Of course.

A historical record like the Spring and Autumn Annals, which is based on historical materials, was impossible for Liszt to replicate—there was no concept of history here, not even a single history book.

Compiling a history based on the contents of Knight’s Novels was more like writing Homer’s Epic. Most of Homer’s Epic came from adapting myths, folk tales, and street songs, but it did not prevent it from being hailed as a monumental work of Greek civilization.

It quite seemed like it was on the way to being praised as proper history.

Perhaps years later, when Liszt and his dragon had vanished into smoke, this world would have greatly advanced, undergone various transformations, and someone would regard the history book he was writing now as real history.

Inventing history?

That was exactly what Liszt was doing, and he was doing it with an exhilarating sense of audacity that felt like calling a deer a horse.

“It’s a pity there’s so little material. Even if I copied all the fabricated stories from Knight’s Novels, it wouldn’t fill the vast void of history… This book will most likely become my lifetime series.”

He even began to doubt if he could maintain his enthusiasm for writing a book for more than three minutes.

After all,

weaving stories, no, recording history was an extremely brain-consuming task.

“Now this book doesn’t have a name yet, I need to think of one that will be passed down through the ages… Actually, ‘Dragon Lance Chronicles’ would be best, as it fits perfectly with the dragons and knights with their long spears characteristic of this world,” Liszt mused thoughtfully. Unfortunately, an archmage named Odom Truth had already written a storybook called”Dragonlance History: Dragons of Autumn Twilight”.

That book was a record of different types of dragons and had nothing to do with history.

So he came up with names like Dragon History, Elf Dragon History, Chronicles of Dragons and Elves, History of Dragon Knights, and Chronicles of Knights, to name a few.

But each was rejected in turn.

Until another name emerged in his mind.

“Dragon War in the Wild…”

He savored these four words, feeling a strong connection. Confucius revised the historical materials of the State of Lu and named it the”Spring and Autumn Annals”because the materials were recorded based on the four seasons. In this world, battles involving slaying dragons occurred often, and inter-state conflicts mostly centered around dragon battles.

“Dragon War in the Wild”, such a title for a book held a very poetic and sophisticated ring to it.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!

Picking up his quill, he began to write the title on thick parchment. After finishing, he placed all of the pages into the Gemstone Space to prevent them from deteriorating with time—since white paper was not yet ready to be developed—knowing that this parchment wouldn’t last long and after all, this history book was part of his life’s work.

He held back his ambitious desire to continue creating history.

Standing up, he stretched and left the study.

In the days when Liszt was engrossed in compiling history,

under Bunier’s leadership, the Soap Making Workshop was operating at full capacity every day, churning out Fresh Flower Soap. Perfumed soap and tallow soap had been forgotten in a corner. Expensive soap powder and cheap pig pancreas were continuously refined and mixed, then pressed into pink, fragrant blocks of Fresh Flower Soap.

The finished Fresh Flower Soap was quickly delivered to the Thorn Caravan.

Sherlock was a very innovative merchant. Old Geronte had risen to be an official, Abagon took over the vast Fresh Flower Caravan, and only he remained with the Thorn Caravan. Not willing to be outdone, he put a lot of thought into selling the Fresh Flower Soap, aiming to make a name for himself in one fell swoop.

He wanted to demonstrate his capabilities to Lord Landlord.

For this purpose, he specifically hired a carving artisan from North Valley City—an advanced profession of carpenter responsible for intricately carving patterns into wood.

He requested the carving artisan to etch a tulip on the face of the Fresh Flower Soap, along with the words “Fresh Flower Soap” in Serpent Script.

The back was inscribed with a small line of Serpent Script: “Specialty Fresh Flower Soap from Fresh Flower Town, a masterpiece by Master Soap Maker Bunier.”

Then, he had the town’s Carpenter’s Shop make soap boxes for the Fresh Flower Soap. Each box was painted with a Black Tulip and the name of the Fresh Flower Soap.

With such packaging, the grade of Fresh Flower Soap immediately elevated several levels.

“This way, the Fresh Flower Soap is no longer just a bar of soap, but a product that represents status; I believe the nobles will surely love it!” Sherlock presented the exquisitely packaged Fresh Flower Soap for Liszt’s inspection. As expected, it received high praise and commendation from Liszt.

Lord Landlord even called him “a natural-born merchant.”

Excitement continuously swirled around Sherlock, as he could hardly wait to take this batch of exquisite Fresh Flower Soaps, flying the flag of Liszt, to visit the nobles of North Valley City.

“Respected Baron Gelta, the distinguished craftsman Bunier from Fresh Flower Town has created a perfect bathing soap, its cleaning effect far surpasses any other perfumed soap on the market. We hope you will appreciate its charm, and here is a piece of Fresh Flower Soap presented to you as a gift, we hope you like it.”