Chapter 42

Chapter 42: The First Fishing Experience of Flower Town

“It’s starting to ebb, my lord,” Thomas said to Liszt while reining in Dudderson.

“Give me Dudderson. You, Tom, and Jesse will search for the seafood as I described it.” Liszt took Dudderson’s leash.

Dudderson was still trying to chase after the waves.

Liszt immediately shouted, “Quiet, Dudderson!”

Dudderson would not listen.

Liszt got off the horse and pressed Dudderson onto the sand, immobilizing it. Then, he commanded, “Dudderson, quiet!”

Dudderson moaned and, unable to break free, could only crouch.

Then, Liszt slowly lifted his hand.

Dudderson struggled and tried to run again.

Liszt seized it and commanded it again. After a few repetitions, Dudderson finally stopped moving. Carl hurried to deliver a piece of meat, which was rewarded to Dudderson by Liszt. Liszt said, “If you listen to me, you will have meat. Do you understand, Dudderson?”

Dudderson tore apart the meat and gulped it down.

Before they left, Liszt specifically reminded Thomas not to feed the dog. It would be easier to form conditional reflexes and complete obedience training with hunger.

“My lord, you are gifted at taming monsters. I can foresee that Dudderson will be a qualified and docile monster.”

“Of course, if it’s not, I’ll butcher it. The smoked meat of the Rampant Earth Dog tasted quite good last night. I didn’t enjoy much monster meat even in Taro Castle.”

The meat of the Rampant Earth Dog was not sold but dried in the castle.

“It’s indeed delicious. I can sense the magic power in the meat.” Marcus also had dinner in the castle last night.

After training Dudderson for a while, Liszt gave Dudderson to Carl and rode to the coastline to check the servants’ work.

At this moment, Thomas, Tom and Jesse were all busy with gloves, buckets, hammers, and shovels.

Thomas was flipping the stones and searching for the seafood below them.

Jesse was digging in the sand and searching for the seafood buried underneath.

Tom, on the other hand, was picking up the seafood that was stranded due to the ebbing.

“Mr. Marcus, do you know the relationship between tides and the moon?” Liszt asked, in a good mood.

Marcus shook his head. “I don’t.”

“The moon moves all the time. The tide rises and ebbs because of its draw. Of course, the sun also has such a draw, but it’s much further away and the draw is much slighter .”

“My lord, I can’t understand any of that.”

Marcus was only being nice.

The moon and the sun could attract the seawater? He would’ve spat in their faces if someone else said it. If the moon and the sun attracted seawater, why were human beings not flying?

Liszt was bored after seeing Marcus’s face—what an idiotic native.

Then, he thought to himself, Since the moon here also causes tides, does it mean that this world is indeed a planet? Would I be able to reach the same spot if I sail along the Blue Wave Ocean? In that case, can I accomplish a global tour someday?

The thought was too distant, so Liszt did not waste too much time on it.

He rode his horse to Tom.

Tom hurried to bow to him. “My lord.”

“You do your job. I’m just passing by.” He saw clams, sea snails, sea stars, and seaweed in Tom’s bucket. There were also insects, including sea centipedes and sea cockroaches.

The sea centipedes and sea cockroaches were jumping out of the bucket all the time.

So, Tom had to pick them up in a hurry.

“The running insects are not food. You can throw them away,” Liszt reminded him.

“Oh, o-okay, my lord.” Tom threw the insects out in a flurry. There was no telling if it was because his lord was around, but he couldn’t grab them and sweated hard.

Not far away, Thomas, who was examining the rocks, saw Thomas’s embarrassment and gloated internally. He was the most excellent of the three footmen in the castle; he was a suitable choice for the next butler.

On the other side, Jesse failed to capture any of the shrimps and clamps that his lord wanted. He had no idea that he should dig into the holes through which the creatures breathed.

How useless! he thought to himself.

He knocked the rocks happily, picking up the seafood, and he even found a few crabs.

He then broke the shells and dug the fresh meat out.

Before they left, his lord claimed that the meat of shellfish was delicious.

Thomas was not convinced that this ugly, soft thing was delicious, but he still carried out his orders dutifully.

It was no trouble at all.

There were clams and mussels everywhere on the bare rocks after ebbing.

After only two hours, Thomas had filled the two buckets he carried. One of the buckets contained only the meat of the shellfish.

He looked at Tom. Tom’s buckets were also full, but he picked up a lot of things that their lord asked them not to.

He couldn’t recognize the same animal at all.

How stupid.

As for Jesse, he could be ignored. He was sweating like a pig, but the bottom of his bucket was barely covered. There were only a few fat lobsters inside.

Thomas put down his buckets laden with trophies and held his head high, waiting for his lord’s inspection.

…

Liszt, who spent most of the time in the shade of the coconut tree, stopped the fishery experiment when the sun was high.

He checked every bucket on his horse.

“Tom, you need to work harder to distinguish seafood from vermin. Not everything from the ocean is edible.”

Tom lowered his head in shame. “I’m sorry, my lord. I’m too stupid to tell the difference.”

“It’s all right, Tom. It’s perfectly normal for your first fishing experience. Don’t feel guilty.” Liszt comforted him and turned to Jesse’s bucket. “Well, Jesse, I can see that you worked hard, but you apparently did not do what I taught you.”

“My lord, I dug hard, but the holes disappeared every time I did.” Jesse was anxious.

“You need to dig along the holes.”

“I… I can stay here and keep digging. My lord, I can certainly fill my bucket.”

“If you stay here, nobody will fetch water for the castle. Jesse, I’m not blaming you. It’s not an easy task to dig up shrimps and razor clams.”

In the end, Liszt reached Thomas’s buckets. One of the buckets was full of meat, and the other contained crabs and other sea creatures.

“Job well done, Thomas.”

“Thank you for your praise, my lord. I will always try my best for my lord.” Thomas was delighted.

Liszt responded with a big smile, acknowledging Thomas’s work. He knew what was on Thomas’ mind. Carter told him a long time ago that Thomas had ambitions, but he was not bothered as his lord, because Thomas’ ambition couldn’t be greater than to be the butler of the castle.

If the man was truly capable, he could always appoint Thomas as the butler when Carter was too old.

No servants could drift out of his control.