The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

“Black Horse Port needs a lighthouse, my lord. Navigating at sea at night by the stars might allow us to identify our direction, but it doesn’t help to accurately find the port,” Kostor said, after docking the boat.

“Let’s talk about it later. I don’t have an architect at the moment, and it’s not time to reveal Black Horse Island just yet.”

He disembarked.

Without any further ado, Liszt mounted Douson and headed straight for the location of the Rubber Tree Cordyceps. The crystal lamp illuminated the path, and he effortlessly followed the small trail that had been trodden through the bushes to his destination.

He used the Eye of Magic.

He saw the three Elf Bugs, motionless on a tree branch.

Without wasting words, he began climbing the tree. For an Elite Earth Knight, climbing a tree was a piece of cake, and he easily reached the branch where the Elf Bugs were perched.

In the light, three plump, ivory-colored Rubber Tree Elf Bugs lined up in a row. It was unclear whether they were sleeping or not.

They were almost pure white, even their eyes, and without careful scrutiny, it was hard to tell which end was the head and which the tail.

The fingers were long, about as thick as a thumb.

They resembled caterpillars, but were prettier and more delicate, as if they were living creatures carved from jade. Even though Liszt could see Elf Bugs in the Castle every day, he still marveled at their beauty and the incredible artistry of their creator.

“Little guys, no more sleeping, how about some Jade Powder for a midnight snack?”

He spoke softly, and then proceeded with the usual routine, smearing Jade Powder in front of the Elf Bugs to entice them awake and begin licking the Jade Powder.

Next, he applied Jade Powder on his own finger and extended it toward the mouth of an Elf Bug.

A gentle nibble.

He contracted one Elf Bug.

A gentle nibble.

He contracted another Elf Bug.

A gentle nibble for the third time.

With the last Elf Bug contracted, he had successfully bonded with the trio of Rubber Tree Elf Bug Triplets, establishing a soul-connected ownership relationship.

“Come, onto my hand.”

He stretched out his hand to catch the three chubby Elf Bugs and he felt something very peculiar in his mind—a sense of having three overlapping, fuzzy emotions appearing in his head, perfectly in sync. Their emotions were exactly the same and the feedback they gave Liszt was also the same.

They climbed from his hand to his shoulder.

And followed Liszt as he left the Cordyceps.

“Congratulations on contracting with new Elf Bugs, my lord!” Marcus, Lasse, and Griffin, who had gathered around, congratulated him one after another.

Liszt placed the Elf Bugs into the Jade Box held by a servant, smiling at the congratulations, “It’s been hard work for you guys guarding the Elf Bugs recently. I brought a barrel of Fresh Flower Brew base. You guys share it.”

“Thank you for your generosity, my lord!”

“I should thank you for your hard work in building Black Horse Island.”

After exchanging a few pleasantries, they soon arrived at the port town. He would rest for the night, and tomorrow Liszt would return to Fresh Flower Town. There was no need for his presence on Black Horse Island any longer.

“Marcus, Lasse, Griffin, the contracting of the Rubber Tree Elf Bugs is complete, but I do not plan on moving the Rubber Tree Cordyceps. The environment there is quite suitable for the growth of Rubber Trees. If you find the time, you can organize a group of serfs to relocate the scattered Rubber Tree saplings to the vicinity of the Cordyceps and plan out a Rubber Tree garden.”

“Yes, my lord.”

…

The following day, Liszt got up very early in the morning because he wanted to share a bond with his mount Lightning and take it for a spin. He left under Lightning’s reluctant gaze.

“`

Sitting at the bow.

Gazing at the sea, he had believed it would be another monotonous voyage, but the white clouds floating in the sky that day strangely stirred his heart, as if countless sparks of inspiration were bursting forth.

It was a familiar melody that quietly surfaced in his mind, lingering around his ears.

Without hesitation, he quickly took out heavy parchment and ink, picked up a quill, and, using Douson as a support, began to record the notes. Moments later, as the melody gently dissolved in his ears, the parchment was filled with dense musical notes.

“It’s “Castle in the Sky”…”

He shook the heavy parchment, the flash of brilliance in his mind had extinguished, but his heart still resonated with the excitement of recording the notes. The melody that appeared in his ears was indeed the widely known “Castle in the Sky”, comparable to “For Alice”, or rather, it should be called “With You”.

It was the classic work of the master musician Joe Hisaishi, the theme song of Hayao Miyazaki’s classic animated film “Castle in the Sky”.

The fame of this piece had even surpassed that of the film itself.

He carefully put away the hastily recorded music, then invoked the Smoke Mission.

The Serpent Script transformed remarkably: “Task completed, reward: Melody of “With You”.”

This meant Duniko Hyacinth had received the letter he had sent, and at the same time, the Smoke Mission opportunistically unearthed that segment of melody from his memory.

“The power of fate is indeed magical, to even bring memories to the surface… I wonder when it could reward me with the memory related to cement? I should have seen and studied how to make cement, but now I only remember a vague principle: limestone mixed with clay, finely ground then calcined in a kiln.”

He hadn’t yet figured out what limestone looked like, nor had he found clay.

Cement development, temporarily powerless.

If the Smoke Mission could dig out his memory, presenting images of limestone and clay he had seen, he would easily be able to find limestone and clay by comparison.

Glass was the same.

His thoughts were fleeting.

The Smoke Serpent Script changed swiftly: “Task: The Rapid Growth Iron Thorns have matured, and the carpenter at the Carpenter’s Shop has accepted the impact of the new invention; it is time to decisively drive the Iron Wood Era of Fresh Flower Town. Please build a woodworking workshop and produce modern furniture. Reward: Three wild tea trees.”

“Hmm?”

He saw the reward content—wild tea trees.

It was known that there was “tea” in this world, which was necessary for making milk tea, but this ‘tea’ was prepared from a kind of fruit known as the Red Tea Tree.

After the fruit was dried and fermented, it could be used to make milk tea.

There were Red Tea Trees on Coral Island, and Tulip Castle even had a Red Tea Tree Elf Bug, yet Liszt had never heard of tea made from fruit. He had also tried to brew the leaves of the Red Tea Tree after frying them, but found the taste too bitter and astringent to drink, and the fruit-infused tea had an odd flavor.

This Red Tea Tree was clearly not the tea tree from Earth, and according to the information in the Knight’s Novel, there were no tea products to be directly brewed; he once thought that no such plant as the tea tree existed here.

Unexpectedly, he was now being rewarded with wild tea trees.

“It must be in some corner of Black Horse Island! Tea trees are great, as drinking tea can be beneficial for health maintenance, especially for its ability to clear greasiness, aid digestion, and act as a diuretic… If I remember correctly, in ancient China, tea leaves were strategic commodities like salt and iron, particularly in trade with northern nomadic tribes.”

Nomadic tribes mainly consumed meat, which was too greasy and hard to digest without tea to offset it. Hence the Tea-Horse Exchange, trading strategic resources like horses for tea leaves.

Even America’s independence could be said to have been sparked by tea—the Boston Tea Party, in protest against the Tea Act, directly ignited the flames of the Revolutionary War.

The importance of tea was thus evident.

Liszt’s situation was similar; he ate too much meat, especially Magical Beast Meat which was greasier and harder to digest than regular meat, and the digestive effect of milk tea was limited. With the help of tea leaves, he could better absorb the nutrients of the Magical Beast Meat.

This applied to most nobles.

“One can imagine, tea leaves will become another major specialty of mine!”

His spirits lifted: “Once I return, I’ll immediately build a woodworking workshop, bringing the Iron Wood Era to Fresh Flower Town as soon as possible!”