Elf Bugs needed plenty of nutrients to develop. The soil in the peanut fields was so poor that it stunted their growth. Once the nutrients had been concentrated in the middle of the field, the peanut plants everywhere else had nearly withered away.
The solution was simple: fertilize the peanut fields.
Liszt recalled what he knew about farming and said to Old George,
"Old George, I have a few things for you to do. First, get the farmers to gather firewood and dry grass from around the area, then burn it and collect the leftover ash. Second, have the able-bodied farmers dig mud from the pond—but only the layer at the bottom. Third, have the children gather droppings. Any kind will do; tell them to collect it all."
Old George had no objections to his lord's orders. "Of course, my lord. Old George will carry out your command."
Once Old George had limped away,
Liszt said to Gortai, "Teacher Gortai, Peanut Hamlet probably won't have enough droppings. Go organize things in town and have all the farmers collect them... Actually, here's what we'll do: have the government office buy the droppings. Set the price at one Copper Coin per basket."
Copper Coins, silver coins, gold coins, and Dragon Coins were the common currencies of this world.
However, each empire, kingdom, and grand duchy issued its own gold, silver, and copper coins. The Copper Coin Liszt had mentioned was the currency of the Sapphire Grand Duchy. One Copper Coin could buy about four boxes' worth of black bread, enough for an adult to eat for several days.
One silver coin was worth a hundred Copper Coins, and one gold coin was worth a hundred silver coins.
As for the Dragon Coin, its full name was the Sapphire Dragon Coin. It was a gemstone coin imbued with the magic of the Grand Duchy's sole Sapphire Dragon. It could be exchanged for ten thousand gold coins and was itself a magical item.
Hearing that, Gortai couldn't help complaining. "Wow, Liszt, why would you pay such a high price for filthy, lowly droppings? They're nothing but stinking pollution for the nose. They're completely useless."
"No, droppings are very useful. Just issue the notice, and find a place to pile them up—preferably a wasteland well away from the prevailing winds." Liszt knew the value of droppings very well. With no chemical fertilizers and too few elves, they were the best source of fertilizer for farming.
As the great landowner who owned all the land in Flower Town, Liszt had many fields to cultivate, and he needed plenty of fertilizer. Besides, he didn't want the streets of his little town covered in randomly discarded droppings and urine. Such conditions were an affront to civilization.
He planned to buy droppings over the long term: first, to make compost; second, to improve sanitation. Promoting the use of toilets wasn't feasible for now, so buying droppings was the cheapest and easiest option.
"But that price is far too high. One Copper Coin should buy ten baskets. No, it should buy twenty."
"Just do it, Teacher Gortai." Liszt's tone grew slightly stern.
Gortai finally stopped complaining and shrugged. "As you wish."
In these times, the lord's word was law.
Once Liszt's orders were given, no one dared to shirk or stall. The clerks and farmers moved quickly, and soon the pond mud, droppings, and wood ash he'd requested had been piled up in Peanut Hamlet.
"Good. Old George, now get some people to mix all of this together. Then dig a small hole beside the roots of each peanut plant, sprinkle some of the mixture into it, and cover it back up. Water the plants afterward, and weed often. I believe they'll recover soon."
Riding his Fire Dragon Horse, Liszt cheerfully directed the farmers of Peanut Hamlet as they fertilized the peanut fields.
As a lord, he naturally wouldn't do the labor himself—the aristocratic system wouldn't allow it, and he wasn't willing to, either.
The peanut fields in Peanut Hamlet covered about a hundred acres, roughly the size of ten soccer fields or seven or eight elementary schools. The hamlet had twenty-three farming households, ninety-two people in all.
After excluding the children who were too young to work, there were ninety-two serfs, along with more serfs brought in from town. All told, a hundred and twenty people were hard at work.
"Teacher Gortai, what's the population of Flower Town?"
"Um, I'm sorry, Liszt. I haven't been in town long enough to get the records in order." Gortai didn't know, so he turned to a clerk. "You've lived in town for years. Do you know how many households and how many people there are? More than a thousand?"
"I don't know, my lord." The clerk shook his head.
Gortai turned to another clerk.
The second clerk shook his head as well.
And so, no one in all of Flower Town knew exactly how many people lived there. Liszt was speechless. Was Flower Town a forgotten town? Had the administrators of Coral Island never come to conduct a census? Had the previous government official never counted the population?
"We'll have to conduct a thorough census. It's hard to believe a lord doesn't even know how many people live in his territory."
With that in mind, he gave the order. "Teacher Gortai, organize a team and arrange a census as soon as possible. I want to know how many households and people there are in Flower Town, along with everyone's name, family relationships, occupation, age, sex, and marital status."
"That's going to keep us busy, Liszt. You know how few officials we have in town. We have no treasurer, no defense officer, no legal officer, no diplomat—and, in fact, no government official at all. I'm supposed to be your advisor, not the town's government official."
In a noble's territory, the civil administration was headed by an advisor, who oversaw the government official, treasurer, defense officer, legal officer, and diplomat.
The military, meanwhile, was headed by the knight commander, who oversaw the knights.
There was no question that Gortai, a down-and-out Baronet Knight—the lowest rank in the aristocratic system, but still a noble—had followed Liszt here hoping to serve as his advisor. The other knight instructor, Marcus, was obviously meant to be the knight commander... Whether Flower Town could afford to maintain a knightly order was another matter.
"Don't rush, Teacher Gortai. Flower Town has a lot of rebuilding to do, and my castle is waiting to rise as well. For now, manage the town's affairs for me and complete the census."
The advisor's authority was too great for Liszt to hand over to Gortai right away. He wasn't afraid of being sidelined; it was just that Gortai had aristocratic conventions on the brain, was out of touch with ordinary people, and couldn't keep up with Liszt's plans for development.
"All right. You've come of age, Liszt, and you're starting to think like a proper lord. I'll follow your orders." Gortai gave a one-handed salute, displaying his noble bearing. He was neither impatient nor flustered.
For three days straight, Peanut Hamlet was a hive of activity as the peanut fields were fertilized. It was a great campaign of agricultural labor. Before long, all one hundred acres had been treated with organic fertilizer made from a mixture of pond mud, droppings, and wood ash.
The central plot received several times as much fertilizer.
Liszt had come to direct the work for all three days. Once everything was done, he could only wait for the peanut fields to recover.
"I've done everything I can. I hope the mission is completed soon." He wasn't one to dwell on things. Once this job was done, he quickly moved on to other matters in his territory.
The most important thing was the Elf Bug.