The Defeated Dragon Chapter 106

106 – Inspecting the Fief

Although the East Coast was only a few kilometers long, but it contained a lot of seafood. However, if it was overfished, then there would be no seafood to catch for an extensive period of time.

To kill the goose that lays the eggs, Liszt was not willing to do such a thing.

He was going to adopt a fis.h.i.+ng ban in the Flower Town, or at least, implement a summer fis.h.i.+ng ban. In other words, during the reproduction and growth season, which spanned from mid June to mid August, the sea's resources were to be protected.

Of course, the summer fis.h.i.+ng ban was just a stop-gap measure. He would promote offsh.o.r.e fishery once the Thorns Ridge offensive plan was executed and the deep water bay wharf was constructed. The East Coast's resources were too little and therefore, had to be protected. However, offsh.o.r.e resources were definitely enough to feed the entire Coral Island.

Currently, there was no docks, no fis.h.i.+ng boats, no fishermen, and therefore, only coastal fis.h.i.+ng could be developed.

“Isaiah, I leave the establishment and supervision of the Coral City's fis.h.i.+ng team to you. Have everything ready as soon as possible. Choose the guards and managers for each trade route, and dispatch them as soon as possible. Old Grandet will a.s.sist you. Here are fifty gold coins, use the money to rent warehouses and purchase horses and horse drawn carriages.”

“Yes, Sir Baron.” Accepted the order Isaiah.

Shortly after, the details regarding the caravan's project were ironed out.

On the whole, the project was divided into two parts.

One part consisted of establis.h.i.+ng the ‘Flower Caravan', with Old Grandet and Harpagon respectively serving as the caravan's captain and vice-captain. The caravan was to be stationed in the Coral City.

Old Grandet would be mainly responsible for running the ‘Coral City – Whitebirch City', ‘Coral City – Elmwood City', and ‘Coral City – Snakefang City' trade routes.

Harpagon would be in charge of the ‘fis.h.i.+ng team' and the ‘castle's purchasing team', which would be responsible for purchasing and bringing back anything that the castle needed.

The other part consisted of establis.h.i.+ng the ‘Thorns Caravan', with Shylock serving as the caravan's captain. Shylock would be mainly responsible for the ‘Flower Town – Northvalley City' daily trade route.

Although the caravans emphasized different points, but both were very important. One focused on the seafood trade, responsible for providing the Flower Town with gold coins; the other focused on the daily trade, responsible for providing the Flower Town with a variety of daily necessities.

……

After getting up early, Liszt engaged in physical exercise and the cultivation of qi.

Now that the archery mission was over, Liszt no longer worked as hard. Leisure was a poison that quietly infected people, letting them degenerate and wear down their fighting spirit.

“Tremblingwoods, release your magic!”

While walking back the dog, Liszt could see servingmen breaking apart Rockthorns to continue the road paving. He felt emotional: “Game fowl, dog walks, that's more like it.”

The ‘Tremblingwoods Path' had currently reached a length of sixty meters and would probably be successfully completed before the end of the year.

Being well fed and diligently trained, Tremblingwoods' physique was even st.u.r.dier than that of its mother despite it still not having grown into an adult Violent Dog. Its magic release was fast and accurate, and its command execution was meticulous. It was already a very good fighting a.s.sistant and loyal guard.

“Tweet!”

“Tweet!”

From atop the castle's windowsill, ear-piercing calls following a familiar melody welcomed Liszt's return. It was Blessedcurls ‘singing' at the top of its lungs. This Wind Peregrine Falcon recently had the color of its feathers turn deeper and its size become bigger, much bigger than it had been as a chick. It was eager to take flight. As a result, Liszt tied a rope to its ankle.

He still hadn't come up with a good training method for Blessedcurls.

In the end, he might have to kill it for its meat as well as to silence a nuisance.

After tying up Tremblingwoods, Liszt went to the black nightshade field. The wild black nightshades transplanted last night looked a bit off, they had yet to adapt to the new environment. The black nightshade, which was very likely to conceive a sprite worm, was even worse off, looking a lot more feeble than yesterday. It was on the verge of wilting completely.

He released Magic Eyes. After careful observation, he found a vague flicker of magic power at the location of a flower bud of the black nightshade: “I hope that you don't die. Otherwise, everything would be in vain.”

All that could be done had been done, the rest would be up to luck.

There were still a lot of wild black nightshades in the town. After one day of transplanting them one by one, nearly all of the town's wild black nightshades were transplanted into the black nightshade field, which reached one mu (mu=666,7 m2) in area. The serfs cared the best they could for the black nightshades, watering, fertilizing, and weeding them, so that the black nightshades could live on.

“Sir, you should go to the shrubs with the thorns sprite worm's worm stalk to take a look. The thorns there have already grown to half a person's height.”

Blair gestured with his hands to ill.u.s.trate the madness of the fast-growing type of thorns.

In just a few days, the thorns sprouts had turned into thorns trees.

But he was also a bit confused: “Just that… Sir, I wonder if they can be of any use as they don't bear any fruit and can't provide wood. Perhaps we could plant these thorns on both sides of the road through the Thorns Ridge to supplement the palisades. Like this, beasts and even magic beasts would be forced to detour, not daring to trample them.”

“That would certainly be of use… Let's let them grow first, though.” Liszt also wondered if they would be of use.

Next, he inspected the circ.u.mstances of the fragrant coconut sprite worm's worm stalk and the cultivation of the Flame Mushrooms.

The fragrant coconut sprite worm's worm stalk was still gestating, not exhibiting much development. The cultivation of the Flame Mushrooms, on the other hand, gave him a surprise.

“Your wisdom and insight are simply amazing, Sir. After your pointer, the s.h.i.+take settlement's serfs tried cultivating s.h.i.+take together with the Flame Mushrooms and succeeded! Although I can't figure out why, but the Flame Mushrooms do indeed require s.h.i.+take in order to be cultivated.” Gort pointed to the Flame Mushrooms that had already started to grow into fruiting bodies from mycelia as he spoke excitedly.

The amazement of his subordinate left him with a sense of accomplishment. On the surface, though, he just adopted a faint smile: “After finding the cause, the next step is to cultivate the Flame Mushrooms on a large scale, Teacher Gort. The s.h.i.+take settlement is to expand as much as possible. If there is any lack of the Flame Mushrooms' cultivation ingredients, then the caravan is to at once purchase them from outside.”

He said solemnly: “I need magic ingredients!”

“As you wish. I'll squeeze the serfs dry in order to cultivate enough Flame Mushrooms. These wonderful, red mushrooms, they will bring unimaginable riches to the Flower Town!”

“Squeezing them dry is a must, but their treatment cannot be lacking. Inform all the s.h.i.+take serfs that the tax put on s.h.i.+take will be halved so long as they cultivate enough Flame Mushrooms!”

“Oh heavens, these lowly serfs will go mad from happiness. You really are benevolence incarnate.”

“I am a benevolent lord, of course. However…” Liszt changed his tone, “You have to also inform them that anyone who lazes about or carelessly damages the Flame Mushrooms, I will let them understand that apart from being generous and benevolent, an aristocrat also wields the authority to whip them bloodied.”

Gort nodded: “Naturally, it is imperative for them to understand this point!”

People weren't machines who worked monotonously and diligently, there were bound to be some parasites who wouldn't raise a finger after barely sc.r.a.ping a living.

Liszt didn't like such commoners, which was a trait worthy of an aristocrat.

……

Crookedneck Bob was at a loss as he watched the retreating figure of the sir lord.

“A Nalda, heavens, the old fellow Nash was actually rewarded a Nalda! How did that old hoodlum manage to cultivate the Flame Mushrooms before me?!” Cursed Crookedneck Bob indignantly.

Of course, he didn't have the courage to curse Liszt and only cursed Nash. The reason for his displeasure was very simple. Liszt rewarded Nash with a gold coin for cultivating the Flame Mushrooms, for being the first person to figure out the appropriate recipe.

Everyone in the s.h.i.+take settlement was greatly jealous and envious of Nash. In particular Bob, who was determined to get this reward.

After cursing for a moment, Bob clenched his fists, not resigned: “According to Sir Lord, for this Flame Mushroom harvesting season, the household that cultivates the most and the best Flame Mushrooms will also be rewarded! This time, I must get the reward, I will make everyone understand that the Flame Mushrooms I cultivate are the best!”