The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

Stirred by the noise of the Fresh Flower Vessel docking, Sea Sprite Ake woke up from her shell, stretched lazily, and then quietly cracked open a slit, “Li Si Te, have we arrived?”

“We have. I will take you to visit my castle first.”

“Castle… The place where landlords live… I’ve heard of it, with many princes and princesses dwelling in the castles, and there’s beautiful… love.”

Hearing that Li Si Te would take her to the castle, Ake felt somewhat uneasy but also filled with excited anticipation, wondering about the stories of castles she had heard in the past. Perhaps they were the beloved fantasies of commoners, filled with the poignant and elegiac, emotive love stories between princes and princesses.

“There are no princes or princesses in my castle, only myself as the landlord, the male and female servants, and many Elf Bugs and the mischievous Thorn Minor Elf Jela.”

“Minor elf… so pretty, I have seen them… a long, long time ago, by the seaside.”

“Which seaside?” Li Si Te’s eyes lit up as he inquired.

“I do not know; it must be far away… I was chased by Dulu Miqita and ended up here… I have forgotten… where that was.”

What a pity.

If Sea Sprite Ake could provide the exact location, Li Si Te would certainly have set sail to try to capture a seaside minor elf – in this world, there are many wild Elf Bugs, but wild minor elves are extremely rare, for evolving from an Elf Bug into a minor elf requires an abundance of pheromones.

With the Elf Bugs alone, it’s hard to gather enough pheromones to overcome other difficulties and evolve.

…

The workers at the dock had already begun unloading the cargo.

Captain Kostor came to ask Li Si Te about how to transport the large shell.

“Let me think for a moment, Captain Kostor, please wait for a while,” Li Si Te said, sending Kostor away before questioning the sea sprite again, “Ake, can you make your shell a bit smaller? It’s too large, there are no suitable carriages to transport it.”

“Ah, Ake cannot… The shell has been this size since Ake was born, it has always protected Ake… from being eaten by sea monsters.”

Ake had the ability to control water currents, allowing her to swim through the sea in her shell. However, once on land, the shell couldn’t move at all.

As for Ake herself, before she grew legs, she couldn’t leave her shell.

Because she and the special seawater inside the shell were one and the same, just like an Elf Bug that has yet to mature and fall from cordyceps.

“Then I will command people to dismantle the carriage body and transport the shell. After you have visited my castle, I will find a way to settle you in safely, away from the threat of Dulu Miqita.”

From within the opened shell, Sea Sprite Ake revealed a sweet smile, “Hmm… thank you, Li Si Te.”

Li Si Te bowed gracefully, “It’s my honor to protect the beautiful Ake.”

He turned and left.

He immediately ordered his subordinates to dismantle a valuable carriage body, retaining only the carriage frame. This way, the three-meter diameter shell could be placed on the frame and secured with ropes.

Under the curious gaze of officials like Goltai who hurried over, Li Si Te rode Douson, personally escorting the large shell along the gravel road, securely transporting it to the castle.

“Continue with your own work, do not gather here; it’s just a large shell picked up from the sea, similar to the previous Tridacna,” Li Si Te scolded those officials like Goltai whose curiosity got the better of them.

He had the shell placed in the great hall of the castle.

Now a new problem arose – the three-meter diameter shell was light in weight – the shell, along with the seawater inside and Sea Sprite Ake, were not much heavier than two or three people – but due to its large size, it was very difficult to move into the second floor of the castle.

“Sigh, I neglected many problems earlier, my mind has turned to mush… Accommodating Ake in the castle is quite challenging, my castle is too small.”

If it were Tulip Castle, it would be very easy to prepare a special room for the sea sprite on the upper floor.

But the castle in Fresh Flower Town was just a nameless small castle, with only two stories, and the passages and stairways were extremely narrow, so the large shells simply couldn’t fit through.

Putting it downstairs and living on the same floor as the servants was even less appealing to Liszt.

It was selfishness that made him lose his reason, wanting to monopolize Ake’s beauty, and of course, Ake did indeed need to be kept secret. Once faced with the issue, he regained some semblance of rationality after calming down.

He let Carter take the servants out of the hall first, then he knocked on the shell.

The shell opened, and Ake, filled with curiosity, carefully observed the castle’s hall: “Liszt, this is a castle… such a beautiful castle, Ake has arrived at a human castle.”

“Actually, the upstairs is even more beautiful, that’s where I live. This floor is for the servants. But the stairway is too narrow; I can’t get you up there.”

“Oh.”

Ake looked disappointed.

Liszt’s heart softened and suddenly, he had a bright idea, “How about this, I’ll build a two-story wooden house outside the castle. You can live in the upper part, and I’ll break through the wall between the wooden house and the castle. That way, you can visit the second floor… Yes, let’s do that.”

As someone who was action-oriented, Liszt didn’t hesitate to call Isaiah over and issued his orders.

He pointed to the north side of the castle’s Worm Room, “Isaiah, arrange for the workers to build a two-story wooden house at this spot, connected to the castle.”

“My lord, are you planning to keep the Shell Sea Monster on top of the wooden house?” Isaiah asked curiously, as it was hard to ignore the immense shell.

“Yes, it’s a very interesting shell. I think there might be pearls inside, so let’s raise it for now and see.”

“Aren’t shells supposed to be kept in water?”

“If it stays in water, it might run away. I still need to do some research. We know too little about sea monsters. It’s a great opportunity for observation, don’t you think?” The advantage of being a noble landlord was that his word was law. Once Liszt made a decision, no matter how peculiar it was, his subordinates would faithfully carry it out.

Isaiah bowed respectfully, “As you wish.”

…

During the construction period, the shell parked in the hall never opened. It only opened when Liszt brought fruit for Ake.

Using construction as a reason, the castle stopped hosting banquets.

Liszt still dealt with official duties, practiced Dou Qi, and went out on inspections every day, but he had stopped writing “Dragons Fight in the Wild,” the history book series of his lifetime. This period demanded soothing the Sea Sprite Ake, who was somewhat uneasy about the new environment, to make it feel more at home.

The beauty of the sea sprite was one aspect, but more importantly, with a sea sprite, one would not get lost while sailing the high seas.

Besides, after questioning, he also learned that sea sprites can predict storms, sense sea monsters, and perform some water attribute magic. Therefore, the significance of Sea Sprite Ake was immense, having strategic value.

Three days’ time.

The illegal construction of the Shell Wood Tower—was completed successfully, and the large shell was smoothly hoisted up. The passage that connected to the Worm Room was opened, and Sea Sprite Ake and Minor Elf Jela became neighbors.

“Wu wa!”

Jela was very irritable towards strangers, but towards Sea Sprite Ake, it showed intense curiosity and a cordial affinity.

It circled around the shell.

When the shell opened, it stared curiously at Sea Sprite Ake: “Wu wa, wu wa!”

“Hello, Jela… My name is Ake, I’m a sea sprite.” Ake extended her hand, and Jela, tilting its head and making a few meaningless sounds, landed in her palm.

The sea sprite cradled the elf.

Liszt watched this scene from the side, feeling quite regretful that he didn’t have a camera to capture this beautiful moment.