Flower Town Census

The Elf Bug had not yet hatched, and Liszt couldn't just sit around waiting. After arranging for guards, he returned to the castle. The only path connecting Flower Town to the outside world ran through Thorn Ridge, and very few people traveled it.

Only when the Count came to collect taxes would merchant caravans accompany the knightly retinue.

Now that Flower Town was Liszt's territory, no one came to collect taxes, and it was unlikely any caravans would be willing to make the trip. Therefore, no one would ever set their sights on the Elf Bug.

As for the residents of Flower Town, they wouldn't dare covet the Elf Bug either.

Elf Bugs were nature's darlings. They would only form master-servant contracts with humans who possessed magic—perhaps magical beasts could too, but they had no such inclination.

Magic referred to both Battle Qi and sorcery; while their manifestations differed, their essence was the same.

In Flower Town, the only people with magic were Liszt, Marcus, and Gortai. Marcus and Gortai were well-known figures on Coral Island; even if they stole the Elf Bug, they wouldn't be able to escape. On Coral Island, no one dared touch the property of the Tulip Family, and Liszt was a member of that very family.

Thus, there was no need to worry about the safety of the Peanut Elf Bug.

He arrived at his study, closed the door, and focused for a moment, waiting for the smoke to appear. Through repeated exploration, he had fully grasped the pattern of its appearance; he only needed to calm his mind to see it.

Sure enough.

A minute later.

Twisted Snake Script appeared before his eyes.

"Task completed, reward: one Peanut Elf Bug."

Just as I thought, the Peanut Sprite was the reward for the previous task... This smoke task, which I don't know how it appears, doesn't seem to conjure rewards out of thin air. The rewards are things that already exist in reality or are about to happen... The sublimation of my Battle Qi was likely the result of my long accumulation, and the Peanut Bug was something that was bound to appear.

However, without the smoke tasks, these rewards would likely have gone to waste.

He estimated that he would still be a squire, and the Peanut Bug would have quietly died.

At this moment, new content appeared in the twisted, smoky Snake Script.

"Task: How can the lord of a territory not even know the number of his own people? Please complete a census of the territory to clarify the basic situation of the residents. Reward: A new variety of Tulip."

A census? Isn't that exactly what I was planning to do? It seems the smoke task updates its content based on my actual situation... A new variety of Tulip, what does that mean? Is it going to give me a magical herb? Liszt speculated.

The rise of the Tulip Family was due to the Tulip.

The Tulip was not just a flower, but a magical herb—a medicinal plant containing magic. Magical herbs were essential supplements for cultivating sorcery and Battle Qi. In Liszt's memory, the most valuable Tulip herb could sell for the astronomical price of ten gold coins.

If a new variety of Tulip turned out to be a magical herb, it would absolutely be a powerful weapon for revitalizing the economy.

Even if it wasn't a magical herb, contributing it to Tulip Castle to be assimilated by the family's Tulip Great Sprite would increase the Great Sprite's evolution and development potential.

"Then, the next step is to vigorously push for the census! A small town with only one or two thousand people—what could be so tricky about it? Gortai has truly disappointed me. If it comes to it, I will supervise it personally."

One or two thousand people was not much larger than a school in Liszt's hometown. As a former student council president, Liszt was quite confident in his own abilities.

But for Gortai, this was an incredibly thorny task.

During the handover, he had asked the previous administrator, a knight sent by the Count, who had done only one thing in Flower Town: collect taxes.

The knight ignored everything else; in fact, the knight himself had barely visited Flower Town, leaving the management to one of his squire knights.

The squire knight here had also done only one thing: collect taxes, ignoring everything else.

The taxes of Flower Town included peanuts, milk, wheat, barley, oats, tomatoes, and tulips. The Count of Coral Island collected taxes every three months, taking away the vast majority of the crops that Flower Town barely produced in the first place. After collecting the taxes, the knight would pay no more attention to Flower Town.

It was a backwater; how could it compare to the prosperity and joy of Coral City?

Therefore, as Gortai sat in the town's dilapidated administrative office, looking at his only four clerks and six patrolmen, he felt that the census was an impossible task.

"Has none of you ever read a book or learned a single character? Is there not a single literate person in the entire town?"

One clerk said embarrassedly, "My lord, the town has no school, and we have never left the town..."

A patrolman with a red, bulbous nose said, "Maybe the old cobbler can read. He came from another island. I saw a book in his house, a big book this thick, and I even flipped through it. It had little pictures inside. But the old cobbler beat me up. He's blind, but he stitches leather shoes very sturdily and is good at fighting, too."

A blind man—Gortai ignored the old cobbler without a second thought.

Since there were no literate people, he could only say, "You should at least know how to count, right? Each of you go to a hamlet and count how many households and how many people are there!"

This should have been a simple task, but when the clerks and patrolmen returned to report a day later, Gortai felt like he was going to go insane.

He shouted, "What? Peanut Hamlet has 18 households and 56 people? Mr. Teacup, are you trying to make me laugh!"

Mr. Teacup, whose full name was David Teacup, was a clerk with a conflicted expression: "My lord, I'm not! I counted several times. I don't know if it's right; the count is different every time."

Peanut Hamlet had 23 households and 92 people; this was the figure Gortai had personally calculated when Liszt was helping the peanut fields.

He couldn't fathom why David Teacup could count 18 households and 56 people.

No need to think about it.

The household and population counts for the other hamlets were definitely nonsense as well.

Thinking of this, Gortai waved his hand powerlessly: "Fine, don't report anymore. Keep the numbers to yourselves. Go bring my horse; I'm going to the castle to see Baron Liszt."

Riding to the castle, Gortai complained to Liszt with exaggerated distress: "You have no idea, those clerks and patrolmen can't even count from one to ten! It's impossible to rely on them to complete the census. Liszt, I've already written a letter waiting to be sent; perhaps we can wait for them to arrive before we conduct the census."

"And how long would that take?"

"Don't be anxious, Liszt, we have plenty of time, don't we?"

"I can't wait." Liszt tapped his fingers on the table. "Mr. Carter, who in the castle is literate?"

Carter bowed slightly and said, "My lord, I can read and write, Thomas can as well, and, well, Mrs. Morson should be able to too."

"Then, please ask Mrs. Morson and Thomas to come over. Also, help me call Master Marcus and my four squire knights; I remember they can all write."

When everyone had arrived, Liszt announced to the crowd: "Now, let us put aside what we are currently doing and assist me in completing the census of Flower Town. The town, Mushroom Hamlet, Peanut Hamlet, Tomato Hamlet, Barley Hamlet, Wheat Hamlet, the Flower Farm, and the Dairy Farm—everyone is responsible for one area."