After spending a week recovering from the poisoning caused by wild berries, and working hard to adjust to his new identity after transmigrating, Liszt often found the whole thing unbelievable.
He had worked himself to death from overtime, only to be reborn as a noble.
A noble in another world, no less.
This world was somewhat like medieval Europe, with castles and knights ruling over everything. But it was also a magical fantasy world, where dragons and elves existed, knights could cultivate Battle Qi, and mysterious mages roamed about. Even Liszt himself had cultivated Basic Battle Aura and become an Apprentice Knight.
"Primary Battle Qi, huh."
A ceaselessly circulating current of energy flowed through his body. With a thought, it gathered between his hands. His palms instantly grew hot, and a powerful force filled them.
The slight, stinging pressure of it made him feel as though he could tear a tiger or leopard apart with his bare hands.
Knights ruled the boundless land by relying on Battle Qi, the very embodiment of strength.
Battle Qi cultivation.
Those who mastered Primary Battle Qi were called Apprentice Knights; those who mastered Intermediate Battle Qi were Earth Knights; and those who mastered Advanced Battle Qi were Sky Knights.
Liszt's father, William Tulip, was the hereditary Count of Coral Island and a Sky Knight who had mastered Advanced Battle Qi. On his territory, Coral Island—a landmass about the size of a prefecture-level city—he held absolute power over life and death. All he had to do was swear allegiance to Grand Duke Sapphire.
Unfortunately,
as the third son of a count, he hadn't inherited the Tulip Family's talent for Battle Qi. Even though he was already sixteen and of age, he was still only an Apprentice Knight.
His older brother, Levis Tulip, had become an Earth Knight at thirteen. Now, he was an elite among Earth Knights, able to take on three of them by himself.
His older sister, Lvera Tulip, had also become an Earth Knight before coming of age.
He had a younger half-brother as well, Lytton Tulip. He was twelve this year and, supposedly, close to advancing to Earth Knight.
Liszt had inherited more of his late mother, the countess, in his looks. He had short, slightly curly, pale-gold hair, eyes as deep as sapphires, regular features, fair skin, and a tall, slender build. He had all the natural charm and elegance of a nobleman. But his talent was utterly hopeless.
Perhaps because he looked so much like his mother, his father had once held great hopes for him.
The higher the hopes, the greater the disappointment.
As Liszt grew up, his father lost all hope in him and became cold toward him.
His older brother Levis had temporarily been granted the title of Life Viscount and was destined to inherit the title of Hereditary Count. His older sister Lvera had also, remarkably, been granted the title of Baron of Falcon Town, becoming one of the few Hereditary Baronesses with land in the Sapphire Grand Duchy, rather than a Life Knight without a fief.
And he had been made a baron just like his sister, but his fief was Flower Town, the most remote part of Coral Island.
Liszt, who had taken after his mother in temperament, had always been timid and weak, and his older siblings had often bullied him. As he grew up, he spoke to the count less and less, until he would rather live at the Knight Academy than go home.
Thankfully, he was an ignored waste of space. No one will notice that I've replaced him... And having my own hereditary fief, with absolute power over life and death in my territory, is wonderful. Liszt had long since overcome his initial panic and was doing his best to fit into this world.
He had to fit in, and live like a native.
Transmigrators didn't have much of an advantage in this world—magic and Battle Qi surpassed technology. He couldn't build nuclear weapons and scatter mushroom clouds everywhere, so he had to put aside the idea of making technology rival magic and Battle Qi.
In fact, the more he learned about this world, the more he felt he had to keep a low profile. All metal ore came from dragons, and flourishing plant life depended on elves!
Without dragons and elves,
farming and an industrial revolution were nothing but pipe dreams!
But dragons and elves were rare treasures in this world. The Sapphire Grand Duchy had only one dragon—the Sapphire Dragon, the mount of the Grand Duke Sapphire from one hundred and fifty years ago. The entire Sapphire Family had been built on the back of that dragon.
They said dragons could live for a thousand years. That meant the Sapphire Grand Duchy could enjoy several more centuries of good fortune.
There were more elves than dragons, but they were divided into clear ranks.
Liszt's father, William Tulip, owned a Tulip Great Sprite. It helped the family grow large quantities of tulips, allowing the family to establish itself; they had even changed their surname to Tulip. Great Sprites could live for two hundred years, so barring any accidents, the Tulip Family could enjoy another hundred and fifty years of prosperity.
Below Great Sprites were Little Elves, which could live for a hundred years.
The Tulip Family had twelve Little Elves, which helped them cultivate all sorts of plants.
Below Little Elves were Elf Bugs, a kind of elf born from plants. They lived for ten years and could influence plant growth. If they were fortunate enough, they could evolve into Little Elves within those ten years. As for Elf Bugs themselves, one only appeared in a plant through a lucky coincidence.
The Tulip Family had cultivated Coral Island for more than twenty years and harvested over a hundred Elf Bugs. Including those that had already died, there had been no more than a hundred and fifty or so in total, and only twelve of them had evolved into Little Elves.
Elves... What a shame that the previous Liszt had really displeased the count. Even Lvera got a Little Elf, while I only got four Elf Bugs!
At Liszt's coming-of-age ceremony, the Count of Coral Island had announced that he was granting him the title of Baron of Flower Town and giving him four Elf Bugs.
That was all.
"My lord, it's time for dinner. Shall I have it served?" Butler Carter knocked and came in, bowing slightly.
"Is it already dinnertime? All right, invite the two teachers to join me." Liszt stretched his back, not very elegantly. Being cooped up while he recovered had left him terribly bored.
Before long, the two teachers arrived together.
The blond man in a tailcoat was Gortai, the family tutor. He was already forty-five and a down-on-his-luck Baronet Knight who depended on the Tulip Family. His main responsibility was teaching Liszt. Of course, his actual job was as Flower Town's administrative officer, helping Liszt manage the entire town.
"Liszt, you're looking much better. Thank goodness I'll get to see you running around in good health again," Gortai said playfully, entirely at ease.
The other man, whose expression was stern and whose movements were precise, was Liszt's knight instructor, Marcus.
He was already an Earth Knight, but he hadn't yet earned a noble title. His family had served the Tulip Family as Retainer Knights for generations, and at last, someone in his generation had become an Earth Knight.
Liszt smiled faintly. "You're both here. Mr. Carter, please have dinner served."
"As you wish, my lord." The old butler Carter left the sitting room with elegant steps to tell the kitchen downstairs to bring out the food.
"Teacher Marcus, I've nearly recovered. I'd like to resume my knight training tomorrow," Liszt said.
Marcus's square face remained expressionless. "All right."
Liszt smiled faintly at the sight, knowing that the Earth Knight was disgruntled. He wanted to earn merit on the battlefield, win a Baronet Knight title, and rise into the upper echelons of society as a noble. Instead, he'd been assigned to serve as Liszt's knight instructor, stuck in the backwater of Flower Town.
And Liszt was famous as a good-for-nothing in the Tulip Family. In other words, the chances of Marcus becoming a noble by serving him were practically nonexistent.
Soon, the old butler brought servants who carried in the dishes.
There wasn't much food. Life in Flower Town was poor, and it produced little. Liszt was also a son whom the count didn't favor, so the supplies he'd brought with him were meager and couldn't support a luxurious lifestyle.
Liszt, however, ate with great care.
Transmigration was a delicate business. Becoming a noble was already incredibly lucky. After all, aside from the nobility, most commoners in this world were little more than two-legged sheep at the mercy of others.
Including his two teachers, everyone here was, in truth, his servant. With a single word, he could decide whether they lived or died.