Chapter 20

Seeing off the exhausted Marcus, Liszt dropped his irrelevant thoughts. One of the responsibilities of nobles was to expand their connections, and the Taros were an important connection for him. However, he was not a diplomatic guy; he preferred to stay in his own territory.

I’d better practice the techniques and accomplish the misty missions first.

He opened Furious Fire first. The book taught ways to build up the fire-natured combat aura and powerful techniques with both texts and illustrations. Furious Fire highlighted area attacks.

Area attacks are more suitable for the battlefield. However, shouldn’t my knights lead the charge for me while I command them from behind?

Thinking about that, Liszt opened Dragon Drill.

The book focused on one-on-one battles and was not suitable for a battlefield. Liszt soon decided to practice Dragon Drill. He was more worried about assassinations than he was about wars. So, the second technique was better.

It’s decided then… I could still take a look at Furious Fire when I have more time.

No techniques were significantly better than others in this world. Talent and personal understanding mattered most.

A civilian could turn into a great expert, and the son of a great expert might be unremarkable.

…

The next day, Liszt practiced Dragon Drill and waited for the merchant caravans to come.

Three days passed quickly.

The rain stopped.

Good news came nonstop.

The peanut insect in Peanuton was about to mature. Carl Hammer reported excitedly, “My lord, the bud on the peanut has a slit that reveals a pink peanut insect. It will wake up soon and is already shivering.”

“Is that so? I’ll go there!”

By the time Liszt arrived, the bud had entirely blossomed. A plump pink elvish insect was crawling on the wormgrass with infinite curiosity about the world.

The farmers of Peanuton watched the insect curiously and nervously.

Liszt spread the jade powder he carried before the insect. The insect sniffed and soon began to devour it. After the powder was finished, the insect wriggled to Liszt’s finger, feeding on the powder there.

Then, he felt a slight pain as the peanut insect bit his finger.

That moment, a mental connection was established between Liszt and the peanut insect. It was a contract of service that was born with the elvish insects.

“Come with me, little buddy.”

Liszt put the elvish insect in a jade box and planned to feed it in his castle while leaving the wormgrass in Peanuton.

“Here’s the fifth elvish insect. There will be a harvest in Peanuton soon.” Feeling happy, Liszt reminded Old George, “Old George, take good care of the wormgrass. Don’t forget irrigation and fertilization. The more you fertilize the peanuts, the more you will harvest.”

“Rest assured, my lord, we will definitely water and fertilize the peanuts frequently as you instructed!”

He collected the peanut insect.

Another good thing happened. The baby Rampant Earth Dog in the castle finally opened its eyes on the seventh day and saw Liszt. It lunged at him and rubbed against his pants intimately.

“Dudderson, you have to live outside of the castle from now on.”

Pulling the rope on Dudderson’s neck, Liszt summoned Thomas.

“My lord.”

“Thomas, I have a mission for you: feed Dudderson for me. Right, have you built a kennel for Dudderson?”

“Yes, my lord.” Thomas took the rope and was about to lead Dudderson to the kennel.

Dudderson acknowledged Liszt as its master, but it did not obey any others. When Thomas tried to pull it away, the dog immediately barked and bit Thomas’ shoes ferociously like a dangerous beast.

However, Dudderson’s little teeth could not break Thomas’ shoes at all.

“Take good care of it.”

“Rest assured, my lord. I’ve raised hounds before.”

“Rampant Earth Dogs are much more dangerous than hounds. They’re monsters. However, it’s all right. After the dog grows older, I’ll make sure that it’s exhausted every day.”

After appointing a keeper for the dog, Liszt climbed to the pinnacle of the castle and observed the desolate land around the castle which he had ignored. He never noticed that the land around the castle was arable.

Peanuton, Tomaton, Mushroomton, Barleyton, Wheaton, Cow Farm, Flower Farm, the town, and the castle… This place actually has nine villages. I have to make the best use of every village. However, it seems impossible to till so much land without machines.

Machines could plow lands much faster than humans could.

It sounded amazing that two thousand people were working on tens of thousands of acres of land, but most farmlands were left alone after the seeds were sown.

This must be what agriculture is like in Africa, isn’t it? Population is the most valuable resource, but where can I find enough population?

It’s rather difficult.

Even so, Liszt was confident that Flower Town could prosper. As a transmigrater with goldfingers, he’d better jump off a building if he couldn’t do it in case he embarrassed other transmigraters.

…

“Dragon Assault!”

In the garden before the castle, Liszt performed the moves in Dragon Drill with a single sword. A fire was ignited on the blade and spread out like a burning fan with cracking sparks.

The fire was not real, but the effect of the combat aura when it was attached to the sword.

Liszt’s fire-natured combat aura was explosive.

Even the combat aura of the same quality often had different highlights. For example, his fire-natured combat aura focused on explosiveness, and that of other people might focus on temperature.

I’ll finally grasped Dragon Assault. Now, I only need to pick up the last move, Heart of the Fiery Dragon, before I can claim the reward.

He was very delighted.

His talents were quite impressive. Dragon Drill was divided into two parts. The first part was ways to improve the combat aura, and the second part was sixteen offensive moves. Liszt mastered the first part easily and was working on the second part.

It often takes other people half a month to learn a technique, but I’ve finished it in less than a week.

It’s hard to imagine that he failed to become an earth knight before adulthood. Was his aptitude too poor?

Since the physical qualities of the body were not bad, aptitude could be the only problem. Liszt was probably too silly before adulthood. As for the Liszt of now, he wouldn’t say he was smart, but he was definitely not stupid.

I should continue studying and try to grasp Heart of the Fiery Dragon today.