The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

Castles, instead of cities, deserved more expectations. Nobles generally appreciated hygiene more. They had bathrooms and toilets as well as servants who moved the waste out of their castles.

Nobody knew that feces could be used for fertilization, so they were simply dropped in the wilderness.

Feces could reduce the reliance on elves—but could not to zero, because elves could also improve the phenotype of the crops.

The brig sailed on the blue ocean. Coral City was already gone. Tulip Castle was sinking from the mountaintop, too.

Did it prove that this world was also a sphere?

Once in a while, Liszt considered the structure of the new world, but there was too little information for him to reach any conclusion.

“What are you looking at, my lord?” Marcus approached him.

“The blue ocean, where infinite treasures are buried.”

“I grew up by the ocean. I have fewer fantasies about it. There are monsters and deadly fish in the ocean. The continent, on the other hand, is much wealthier. Knights and nobles compete for glory on the continent, too.”

Archduchy Sapphire was a country of islands, but it never stopped attacking the continent. Knights were organized every couple of years to fight for mines on the continent.

Many nobles had been made in the attempts.

It was also how the Tulips rose to prominence. Marcus had always dreamed of joining the war and being accoladed as a lord.

Now that he’d pledged his loyalty to Liszt, he certainly did not hesitate to convince his liege.

Liszt stared at the deep ocean, unmoved. Why would anyone go to the dangerous battlefield? Accomplishing missions and farming as a countryside lord seemed much better. He believed that he could distinguish himself with the misty missions very quickly.

As for what the misty missions were exactly, he would solve the mystery someday.

“Mr. Marcus, I’m told that there are many undeveloped islands outside the territory of the archduchy, right?”

“Yes. I talked with some old sailors. There are more islands beyond, but they are surrounded by storms and reefs that make it difficult for boats to come by. They are of little value.”

“Maybe.”

Liszt did not express his opinion.

As long as pelagic fishery thrived, the wealth of the ocean would be unveiled. Then, people would fight over the islands as fiercely as they fought on the continent.

It was still far away right now. As the lord of a small town, he had to develop his own territory first.

“Hoist the sails! Move forward!”

“Hoist the sails! Move forward!”

The crew roared from the masts. The southern wind was blowing from the end of the ship. The captain immediately asked the sailors to raise the sails and make use of the power.

Sailing ships allowed human beings to explore a larger area. The fleets in Archduchy Sapphire were mostly equipped with sails. However, they were all brigs; schooners had not been invented yet. Brigs could move fast with favorable winds, but had to count on oars when against the wind.

With the tailwind, all the ships raised the sails, forming a splendid triangle on the sea.

They set sail in the morning and reached Red Crab Island in the evening.

Red Crab Island was ten times as huge as Coral Island. Taro Castle was not on the coast but on a mountain at the center of the island. So, Liszt and his companions had to spend the night there and ride for another day to reach Taro Castle.

Pigeons were not trained to carry letters yet. Also, the paper was probably too heavy for them.

However, a knight had delivered the message that someone from the Tulip family would visit soon. So, Tulip Castle had sent servants to wait at the port. They picked up the visitors and directed them to a manor so that they did not need to stay in the dirty city.

After dinner, Liszt took a bath and went to bed.

He was somewhat seasick.

He was more used to planes and trains in his home world. Thankfully, his former self was a good swimmer, which soothed his nausea.

“As an islander, you are seasick, Liszt. I have to say that you are an embarrassment to the Tulips. I thought you had grown up, but you are just as despicable and stupid as before.” Lvera entered Liszt’s room at some point without knocking.

Liszt was shocked, because he was reading his misty words to check for updates.

But he soon calmed down, because Lvera apparently did not see them. His secret was safe.

“You forgot to knock.”

“Did I? It’s not important.” Lvera gazed at Liszt with disdain.

“It’s important to me. You do not respect my privacy. Also, it’s not expected of a lady. Nobles like ladies, dear sister.”

“I don’t need to change myself to please any nobles! Besides, Liszt, when do I ever need your opinion? If we were not on Red Crab Island, I would teach you a good lesson about how useless you are even though you became an earth knight!”

Lvera had been mean to Liszt since childhood.

He believed that it was because Lvera was jealous of his face, which was prettier than most females’.

“You’re not here to tell me that I’m still weak, are you?”

“I’m just here to see how seasickness makes a fool of you.”

“You have seen it. Can you go now?”

Lvera glared at him and left. Liszt locked the door. She was only a capricious nineteen-year-old girl.

He was not bothered. Lvera had always been a careless, if not frivolous, person.

The earl often remarked that Liszt and Lvera should swap personalities.

He was shyer than a girl, and she was brasher than a boy.

After lying down again, Liszt couldn’t fall asleep. He could only think about boring things. I came to Taro Castle five months ago for a new year visit. Marquis Merlin was still the commander of the royal fleet back then. It’s been five years since we last met.

Because nobles practiced monogamy, their families were often not large.

Marquis Merlin had one son and two daughters. His younger daughter had died, and his second daughter was married to Roland Pineapple, a viscount and a follower of the marquis. His son, Mesiro Taro, had an only son named Mayop Taro.

Cousin Mayop is almost 25 and still unmarried. I’m told that he’s been pursuing Archduke Sapphire’s daughter? That princess is said to be a social butterfly.

The highest ruler of an archduchy was the archduke, who technically was not a king. So, their daughters were not supposed to be called princesses. Besides, the title of the current Archduke Sapphire had been reduced to duke because he couldn’t become a dragon knight.

In the noble system, prince, archduke and duke were titles on the same level, but only when they became knights could they be proclaimed princes or archdukes. Otherwise, they would remain dukes.

However, rules were only rules. Within Archduchy Sapphire, all the nobles called the ruler archduke, and his daughter was treated like a princess.

Liszt thought jokingly, If Mayop ever marries the princess, he will likely get a child whose father is someone else… Hehe.