The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

“Good morning, Brother Meioubao,” Duniko always addressed Meioubao as brother, showing the closeness between their families.

Meioubao then, behind Duniko’s back, gave a thumbs-up and mouthed “well done” before saying, “Liszt, I’m glad to see that you’ve grown up.”

Such an obvious and brash jest nearly made Liszt want to roll his eyes.

But what was done was done, and since Duniko had been quite open about it, there was no need for him to be squeamish. He merely changed the subject, “Have Levis and Li Vera gotten up yet?”

Li Vera had gotten up early.

Levis was a bit late; the night before, he had, unsurprisingly, been holding hands with a certain noble maiden, talking about life and aspirations deep into the night.

After breakfast, the carriage from Long Taro Castle was ready.

Marquis Merlin, leaning on his cane, came to the castle’s entrance to personally see his grandchildren off. Not just the three Liszt siblings were leaving today, but Aunt Melinda’s family was also returning home.

“Grandfather, you must take good care of yourself. I’ll come to visit you again in a little while,” Liszt said with some reluctance.

But Marquis Merlin wasn’t particularly touched, “Don’t act like a woman. If you’re going to leave, then just leave.”

The relatives said their goodbyes.

Liszt saw Duniko, standing with Meioubao and smiling at him, and without waiting for Liszt to say anything, Duniko walked over and hugged him.

It was nothing too over the top.

A simple hug among nobles that represented their friendship, as for what kind of friendship, it was in the eye of the beholder.

“I thought you would play “For Alice” for me before you left,” she said.

“It’s a bit of a rush; if you’d like to hear it, I’ll play it for you the next time I come to Red Crab Island.”

“Will you practice it so that you’re proficient?”

“If I have the time.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever forget last night’s events for a long time, Liszt, dear.”

“We will always have the memories of Long Taro Castle,” Liszt replied with a smile, indeed a period worth reminiscing about for a long time.

If at this moment, Duniko had given a tender and heartfelt plea for him to stay, he might have been ready to stay regardless of everything. Not caring about Duniko’s past, just wishing to stay by her side from now on. He had learned the libertine ways of nobility, yet deep down, he carried the traditions of a Chinese man.

Alas, after only a brief exchange of sweet nothings, Duniko waved him off with an insouciant gesture.

Without any dithering or dragging.

Unwilling to appear more affected than a woman, Liszt nodded calmly and boarded the carriage. The coachman raised his whip and with a loud “hup,” the procession began to move slowly.

Li Vera pulled her head back into the carriage.

Looking at Liszt, who seemed a bit dazed, she chuckled, “Why don’t you take one last look at your thorny rose? My dear brother, you were quite the show-stealer last night, your ‘For Alice’ enchanted so many noble maidens that they wanted to spend the night in your room, even Duniko was swept off her feet.”

“It’s just basic tactics,” he replied.

After a moment of thought, Liszt leaned out to take one last look at Long Taro Castle, now gradually receding in the distance. There were many people at the door; there were many nobles leaving today. He could no longer find the figure of Duniko Hyacinth, so with a touch of disappointment, he sat back inside the carriage.

He rested his hands behind his head, leaning against the cushion behind him.

He didn’t know what he was pondering, but he couldn’t help mutter, “There are so many castles in the world, and inside those castles so many barons. Yet she managed to make her way to my side.”

Losing the beautiful fantasies he had about Asina Salmon, he’d acquired wonderful new experiences brought on by Duniko Hyacinth.

Liszt felt a strong fondness for Red Crab Island.

Of course, the bigger change was in his mindset.

It was as if he had been reborn.

After a night of frenzied baptism, he had truly come of age, both in soul and body, from the inside out.

…

Sapphire Calendar, Year 152, January 6th, at the port of Sea Crab City, clear skies.

Boarding a sea vessel at the port, this time, the Long Taro Family had employed a swift sailing ship and four ordinary double-masted sailing ships as escorts to take the three siblings back to Coral Island.

The Ghost Ship incident made Long Taro Castle take no chances.

Count Sharke had already led the fleet from Red Crab Island to patrol the vast waters between Red Crab Island and Coral Island, clearing out pirates and searching for Ghost Ships.

Standing on deck.

The caress of the chilly sea breeze freed Liszt from his pleasant reminiscences; his attention temporarily shifted to another matter.

“Where will the Sea Serpent be waiting for me?”

Definitely in the sea, since it is a Sea Serpent, after all. Perhaps he would hear the Sea Serpent’s song during the voyage and then be able to find it.

However, he still had no clue how to obtain the Sea Serpent.

In the legends, kind Sea Serpents would use their songs to save people but never show themselves, hiding from humans. On the other hand, evil Sea Serpents would use their songs to bewitch people and then kill them. In short, except for Knight’s Novels, no human had ever encountered a Siren.

However, even on the ship where he’d wake from sleep from time to time, as the fleet neared the waters around Coral Island, he still hadn’t heard any sea songs, nor had any strange occurrences taken place.

Not until he landed on the dock of Coral City.

There were no signs of the Siren.

“It seems that the Siren might be waiting in the waters near Fresh Flower Town, no, maybe around the waters of Black Horse Island, waiting for me to claim it. I just don’t know how to claim it, whether it would require some kind of contract like with a Little Minor Elf.”

He rested for a night at Tulip Castle.

Equipped with a batch of specialties from Long Taro Castle and a batch from Tulip Castle, Liszt couldn’t wait to leave the next morning, returning to Fresh Flower Town which he had been away from for over a week.

Snow blanketed everything in white.

The roads were muddy.

In terms of latitude, Coral Island should be much higher than Red Crab Island, so the climate is a bit colder. But to this day, Liszt hadn’t figured out whether this world was spherical or if it had a North or South Pole. As for the exact latitude and longitude of Coral Island, it was even more of a mystery.

And there was one thing that puzzled him.

He had observed the position of the Sun and found that the Sun’s elevation was nearly the same in both summer and winter, not very off. This suggested that the location of Coral Island didn’t have much of a changing angle with the Sun. Or perhaps, the planet’s rotation and orbit didn’t have a tilt.

“It’s a shame there’s no astronomer to solve these mysteries for me, to understand what kind of environment lies under my feet.”

He remembered the ancient legends of the Moon Empire, where a profession known as ‘Astrologer’ existed, and it’s said the reckoning of years, months, and days was passed down from the Astrologers of the Moon Empire. Sadly, with the fall of the Moon Empire, many technologies, discoveries, and inventions from that era had been lost.

They had become but snippets of fantasy in Knight’s Novels.

“My lord, we’ve arrived at Thorn Ridge,” Thomas’s voice interrupted Liszt’s daydreaming.

Indeed, ahead the serfs could be faintly seen laboring in Thorn Ridge. In this winter of dancing snowflakes, only the serfs of Fresh Flower Town, well-fed and strong, had the energy to go out and work.

All at once.

A feeling of ‘returning home’ emerged from within him.

A golden nest, a silver nest, none as good as one’s own dog nest; in Fresh Flower Town, he was the supreme Landlord!

“Woof woof!” Douson must have felt the same.