Chapter 1

After resting for a week due to food poisoning and trying to adapt to his new identity, Liszt still often found it unbelievable.

He had been reborn as a noble in an alternate universe after his sudden death during work.

This alternate universe seemed similar to medieval Europe, when castles and knights dominated everything, but it was also a marvelous world where dragons and elves existed. The knights could practice their combat auras, and there were mysterious magi. Even he had picked up the basic combat aura and become a beginner knight.

Beginner’s combat aura.

A stream of energy circulated in his body and reached his hands. He immediately felt that his hands were burning with power.

The stinging expansion made him feel that he could tear a tiger apart.

The knights’ domination over these sprawling lands was based on the combat aura that represented power.

Those who grasped the preliminary combat aura were known as beginner knights, those with intermediate combat aura were earth knights, and those with advanced combat aura were sky knights.

Leewilliam Tulip, Liszt’s father and Earl of Coral Island, was a sky knight who had mastered the advanced combat aura. He had absolute power in his dominion, the size of a small city—as long as his loyalty to Archduke Sapphire remained unchanged.

It was a shame that, as the earl’s third son, he failed to inherit the talents of the Tulips. He was still only a beginner knight when he reached adulthood.

Levis Tulip, his elder brother, had become an earth knight at thirteen years old, and he was already strong enough to defeat three earth knights at the same time.

Lvera Tulip, his elder sister, had also turned into an earth knight before adulthood.

He also had a younger half-brother, named Lytton Tulip. The boy was only twelve, but it was said that he would become an earth knight soon.

Liszt had taken mostly after his mother, the late wife of the earl. With his short, curly blond hair, his sapphire eyes, his fair skin, and his remarkable height, he looked like everything expected of a noble. However, his talents were simply too lacking.

Perhaps because he looked a lot like his mother, the earl once had high hopes for him.

However, the more hopeful one was, the more disappointed they tended to be later.

After he grew up, his father became indifferent to him because of this disappointment.

His brother, Levis, was temporarily listed as Lifelong Viscount and would eventually inherit his father’s title. His sister, Lvera, was also promoted to be the Baroness of Falcon Town, which made her one of the few female nobles in Archduchy Sapphire who had an actual dominion instead of a mere title.

On the other hand, he was only listed as a baron like his sister, and his territory was Flower Town, which was at the most remote corner of Coral Island.

Liszt, as gentle as his mother, had been bullied by his brother and sister while he grew up. His communication with the earl lessened, too. In the end, he would rather live in the knights’ academy than go home.

Thankfully, he was a loser that nobody paid attention to. Nobody realized that I replaced him… Also, it feels great to have my own territory where I have absolute power. The initial panic had passed, and Liszt was trying to melt into this world.

He didn’t have a choice. He had to live like a native, because transmigraters did not have many advantages in this world. Magic and combat aura were way ahead of modern-day technology, making it impossible for him to build nuclear weapons. So, he had to drop the idea of competing with magic and combat aura with technology.

After he learned more details of this world, he found it more and more necessary to keep a low profile, because minerals all came from dragons, and the plants couldn’t flourish without elves!

Without dragons and elves, farming and industrial revolution would just be fantasies!

However, dragons and elves were extremely rare. Archduchy Sapphire had only one dragon, which the Archduke Sapphire of 150 years ago rode. The whole Sapphire family was built on this dragon.

It was said that a dragon could live a thousand years, which meant that Archduchy Sapphire could still enjoy hundreds of years of prosperity.

Elves were more common than dragons, but they had a strict hierarchy.

Leewilliam Tulip, Liszt’s father, boasted a tulip big elf. It helped the family grow tulips, and the family changed their last name to Tulip after its rise. Big elves could live for two hundred years. If everything went well, the Tulips would still prosper for 150 years.

Below big elves were little elves that could live a hundred years.

The Tulips had twelve little elves. They helped the family grow all kinds of crops.

Below the little elves were elvish insects. They were spirits born inside plants, and they could influence the growth of these plants. With any luck, they could evolve into little elves in ten years before they died. However, elvish insects were extremely rare, too.

The Tulips had farmed on Coral Island for more than twenty years and harvested more than 150 elvish insects in total, including the dead ones. Only twelve of them evolved into little elves.

Elves… It’s a pity that the earl truly disliked my former self. Even Lvera got one little elf, but I only have four elvish insects!

In the ceremony of Liszt’s adulthood, the Earl of Coral Island proclaimed him Baron of Flower Town and offered him four elvish insects. Nothing more.

“My lord, it’s dinnertime. Shall we start?” Carter, the butler, knocked on the door and came in.

“Already? Okay. Please invite my teachers to join us.” Liszt stretched. He had been quite lonely while he rested and recovered.

Soon, his teachers gathered together.

The person with blond hair and a tailcoat was Goltai, his family teacher. The man was 45 years old and an unappreciated knight attached to the Tulips. He was mainly responsible for Liszt’s academics. Of course, his main job was to help Liszt manage Flower Town as the administrative officer of the town.

“Liszt, you look much better. Thank god that you are running healthily again,” said Goltai cheerfully and casually.

The other person, who was grim and solemn, was Marcus, Liszt’s knight teacher.

He was already an earth knight, but he did not have any title yet. His family had been serving the Tulips as squires for generations until he emerged as an earth knight.

Liszt smiled. “My teachers are here. Mr. Carter, please serve the food.”

“As you wish, my lord.” Carter left the dinner room gracefully and informed the kitchen.

“Mr. Marcus, my body has mostly recovered. I’d like to resume my knightly training tomorrow,” said Liszt.

Marcus was expressionless. “Sure.”

Liszt smiled. He knew that the earth knight would rather fight in battlefields, earn titles, and find his way into the upper class, than be stranded in a desolate place like Flower Town as Liszt’s knight teacher.

Liszt was famous for his lack of talent, which meant that it was almost impossible for him to become a noble by serving Liszt.

Very soon, the footmen and maids served the dishes.

There was not much food. Quality of life in Flower Town was below average. As an unfavored son, Liszt did not own enough assets to support an extravagant lifestyle.

Liszt, however, ate carefully.

Transmigration could be tricky. It was already extremely lucky for him to turn into a noble. In this world, most civilians were just two-legged lambs at the nobles’ mercy.

Even his teachers were actually his servants, and he could decide their fates easily.