Chapter 45

Chapter 45: A Friend Made with Smoking Grass and Cows

Thankfully, after a flashback of more than five hundred words, Gulliver finally returned to the dragon-slaying story.

I swore that I was determined to quit smoking back then, but I forgot it later because I was shocked by the invisible dragon’s actions. It robbed me of my smoking grass and ate it. I think something might be wrong with its nose.

Sorry that I badmouthed the invisible dragon. As a matter of fact, we became friends later. Since it ate my smoking grass, it did not kill me. I earned the friendship of an invisible dragon with a bundle of smoking grass and two cows. To be honest, the invisible dragon is not huge. It’s only slightly larger than a house.

I saw Archduke Maple Leaves’s bronze dragon before. It was almost thirty meters long. The invisible dragon is like its child, if dragons ever have children.

We spent an afternoon together. In the evening, it shook itself before me and dropped me a gem. Then it flew away, but its gem was left behind. I’ve been wearing it ever since.

Haha. Now you know the origin of my space ring. Too many honorable sirs were willing to pay everything for my ring, but I never agreed, because it’s proof of my friendship with the invisible dragon!

That marked the end of the chapter on the invisible dragon.

Another Gulliver story immediately began.

Liszt skimmed through the novel, but there was no more information on the invisible dragon. Even the space ring was only mentioned once.

It seemed that Gulliver only mentioned the invisible dragon when he thought of it.

It seems that the reward this time is the knowledge of the invisible dragon recorded in the novel… Only people of courage and integrity can see the invisible dragon? In that case, I don’t think I can see it at all. He knew himself quite well.

However, he doubted the accuracy of the information. How could the criteria for seeing the invisible dragon be personality, something that could not be measured?

However, he still found information that was of use for him. Gulliver resisted the invisible dragon’s attack with smoking grass. He also exchanged a bundle of grass and two cows for the invisible dragon’s gem… The reward for my current misty mission is smoking grass. It seems part of a longer quest.

The first reward was information on the invisible dragon.

The second reward was new information on the invisible dragon.

Then the reward was the smoking grass that the invisible dragon liked.

All the rewards were associated. In that case, the target of the missions was quite obvious. It was possible that an invisible dragon was truly going to invade Flower Town.

Cows? Liszt thought of something else. The Cow Farm has two cows that are too old to produce any milk. They haven’t been butchered yet because there is still enough food in the castle. Maybe the two old cows are the food that I need to prepare for the invisible dragon?

The information was still not specific enough.

Liszt believed that his top priority was to keep on accomplishing the missions to get more details on the invisible dragon so that he could take measures accordingly.

Somebody knocked on the door.

“Come on in.”

Carter came in with a lamp. “My lord, the hour is late. You should rest.”

“I’m about to.” Liszt put the book back on the shelf and frowned at the smell of his hand. “Mr. Carter, please add a box of air freshener in the study. I can’t tolerate the strange smell of the thick-hide paper.”

The wagon of books offered by the earl carried a tremendous stink that could not be concealed with Liszt’s air freshener.

There was no clean white paper, but only the hard, stinky yellow thick-hide paper.

The paper was made with the materials inside animal skin after a special tanning process. The cost of the paper was high, and it was difficult to preserve it. Liszt was eager to replace the thick-hide paper with white paper, but he knew that it was not the right moment.

Firstly, white paper was not in demand.

Secondly, due to the lack of copyright laws, the grand nobles could steal the technology.

These were also the reasons why he hadn’t worked on horseshoes, saddles, or cement. Also, he had the basic structure of a schooner in his head. It would definitely be a boost to the sailing age once it was invented.

Most importantly of all, he was short of people.

The whole town only had a population of 1,991 people. Two seniors died recently, and three babies were born.

Ignoring the old and the young who could not work, only 1,500 people could be used. They had to farm, build roads, establish Oysterton, and craft fishing equipment soon.

As for Liszt, he was quite busy in improving himself, too.

He had picked up Dragon Drill and Furious Fire, but he needed more time to master them. After the Red Blood Sword was gifted to him, he practiced even more diligently, hoping that he could break the hold of gravity and leap into the sky someday.

Carter lit the air freshener.

Blowing the candle, he asked, “My lord, should we hire more servants for the castle?”

“Are we short of hands?” Liszt was surprised. Ten servants for him should be enough.

Carter, however, said solemnly, “The elvish insects are quite obedient, but the footmen have to take care of their wormgrass every day. It’s Jesse’s job for now, but after the millet insect and the thorn insect are settled, it will be too much for him.”

Pausing for a moment, he said, “Dudderson, Black Dragon, Fire Dragon, and the other horses all need tending. The seafood in the castle has to be gathered by servants until Oysterton is built. Also, Mrs. Abby is overwhelmed as more dishes are added.”

Castles and town halls had a lot of overlapping functions.

However, the castle focused more on feeding itself, and the town hall had to manage the whole territory and collect taxes. Liszt was not satisfied with the system and felt that the greatest obstacle of productivity was the castle. It was a twisted monster that controlled all the elves, the greatest source of productivity.

After all, the greatest function of the castle was to ensure the luxurious life of nobles instead of increasing productivity.

He knew that well, but he did not intend to change it. He was a noble himself, after all!

“Since we are short of hands, Mr. Carter, you will hire new servants.”

“All right, my lord.”