Flower Farm was older than Flower Town.
It had been established eighteen years ago, not long after William I Tulip had been granted Coral Island. He had sent out his knights to survey the island, and they had discovered a wildflower meadow here.
Among the flowers, two new varieties of tulips flourished.
For the Tulip Family, tulips were its lifeblood, so the Earl had moved his people here to grow them. But because transportation was inconvenient, the Earl had transplanted the new varieties to Coral City after only a few years, and Flower Farm had gradually fallen into decline.
By now, aside from a small number of tulips, most of Flower Farm's flowers had been cleared away and replaced with other crops, such as barley and wheat.
So when Liszt arrived, he saw no colorful flowers, only lush green wheat seedlings.
"My lord, only twenty acres of tulips remain here. The red ones are Sundance Tulips, planted in memory of your ancestors; the yellow ones are William I Tulips, planted in memory of your lordship's unparalleled glory." Victor, the steward, had graying hair and spoke with a sigh.
At its height, Flower Farm had covered a full eight hundred acres. Now it had only two hundred, and a hundred and eighty of those were planted with wheat.
"Are they not potions?"
"I'm afraid not, my lord. They really aren't potions, which is why the Earl rarely picked these tulips afterward. But now they're about to flourish again. Look over there, my lord—in the tulip field. That black tulip, with its purplish-black petals. I've never seen one like it!"
Liszt looked out across the field. Sure enough, the tulip stood out from the red and yellow ones around it. Its petals were purplish-black.
Like a proud black swan, it sat quietly preening its feathers among a flock of geese.
"Is it a potion?"
"I don't know, my lord."
"I'll take a look." Liszt parted the ordinary tulips and walked up to the black one. The moment he touched its purplish-black petals, he sensed an aura that was both familiar and strange.
His eyes lit up.
Liszt smiled with satisfaction. "It's a potion!"
Potions were magical ingredients.
Mysterious mages needed potions to cast their spells, and knights relied on them in their cultivation of battle aura. All kinds of marvelous treasures also required potions as supplementary ingredients to some extent.
Although their prices varied greatly depending on their effects, even the cheapest potion could sell for at least one silver coin per plant.
Liszt had never heard of a potion worth less than a silver coin.
Possessing a potion meant possessing a great fortune.
Now that the Black Tulips were growing on Liszt's land, there was no doubt that this fortune belonged to him. Under the laws and customs of the nobility, not even an Earl had the right to seize a lesser lord's assets. Loyalty was one thing; property was another. When a lord granted land to a lesser lord, the lesser lord owned everything on it.
"It seems I've gained more than just a fortune. My Tulip Elf Bug has found itself a new home, too." Liszt took a deep breath. "Flower Farm truly deserves to flourish again!"
He signaled to Victor and his Retainer Knights to leave the tulip field.
Then he crouched alone beside the Black Tulip.
He stilled his mind and focused.
A moment later, faint smoke appeared before his eyes, twisting into words.
Quest complete. Reward: a new variety of tulip.
Then the smoke twisted again, and the words changed.
Quest: The once-declining Flower Farm seems to have reached a turning point. The new variety of Black Tulip should take on the task of revitalizing the farm alongside the Tulip Elf Bug. Find a place for the Tulip Elf Bug to plant its Bug Grass. Reward: a magical beast cub.
The quest had updated.
It was effortless, practically a handout.
What caught Liszt's attention was the reward: a magical beast cub.
Even the weakest, most common magical beast was stronger than an Apprentice Knight and could hold its own against an Earth Knight. The Wind Blade Wolf Liszt had encountered some time ago was a low-level magical beast, slightly weaker than Marcus, an Earth Knight. Some low-level magical beasts could even withstand a Sky Knight.
"What kind of magical beast cub will it be? Can I raise it, or will I have to butcher it?" Liszt could hardly wait to find out.
"My lord, the Tulip Elf Bug is here." Escorted by Retainer Knights, Carter arrived at Flower Farm and solemnly handed Liszt a jade box.
As Liszt took the box, he could feel the tiny living creature inside, its bloodline connected to his own.
He opened the lid.
Inside lay a "silkworm," thicker than his thumb and shorter than his index finger, with blue-green stripes across its pale yellow back. Unlike an ordinary silkworm, the Elf Bug's whole body shimmered with a jade-like luster. It looked like a long, beautiful piece of jade that could wriggle.
The Elf Bug was currently sleeping lazily on a bed of ground soft jade.
During transplantation, an Elf Bug's Bug Grass was in its belly and could not provide it with nourishment, so it had to maintain its vitality by nibbling on jade powder. Jade, also known as Magic Jade, was a magical stone. It was far cheaper than the gemstones produced by dragons, but it was still a rare and precious mineral.
"Little fellow, have you rested enough? It's time to see your new home." Liszt held out his index finger.
Sensing his thoughts, the lazy Tulip Elf Bug slowly crawled onto his finger and settled in his palm. Its tiny, bright black eyes, no bigger than sesame seeds, darted around as if surveying its new home.
"What a beautiful creature. No matter how many times I see one, I never tire of it." Gortai had hurried over at the news and was now gazing at the Elf Bug, praising it loudly.
As a down-on-his-luck Baronet Knight, he didn't have an Elf Bug of his own.
Baronet Knights, the lowest rank in the nobility, often had fiefs, and those who were well-off might be able to buy an Elf Bug. But Gortai's fief had long since fallen into ruin, and he had sold it off. Now a down-on-his-luck knight without a fief, he naturally couldn't afford to raise an Elf Bug.
Liszt walked to the center of the tulip field and pointed to the Black Tulip. "Little fellow, make your home here. Plant your Bug Grass."
Bound to Liszt by their contract, the Elf Bug understood what he wanted.
It slowly opened its mouth and spat out a beam of green light, which fell on a patch of bare ground beside the Black Tulip. Immediately, a tulip took root and sprouted, growing stems and leaves. At the tip of its green stem bloomed a pale yellow tulip. This was its Bug Grass, which could affect the growth of tulips across dozens of acres.
As an Elf Bug, it could make one season's worth of tulips grow in two seasons.
It could also improve the quality of the tulips.
Liszt placed the Tulip Bug in the Bug Grass's flower, its home. It seemed that spitting out and replanting its Bug Grass had taken a lot of energy, because the Tulip Bug lay lazily in the flower without moving. Liszt had to urge it on. "Little fellow, there are new tulips next door. Don't you want to try them?"
Only then did the tempted Tulip Bug slowly crawl out of the flower and climb up the stem onto a leaf. It kept climbing until it reached the tip.
Just as it seemed about to fall, it raised its head and crawled into the air.
A faint glow shone beneath its body, as if it were crawling along something transparent. Bit by bit, it "crawled" into the flower of the Black Tulip next door.
It wriggled its plump body.
The Tulip Bug sent Liszt a feeling of "excitement," then rolled around in the purplish-black flower. This was assimilation.
It meant that the Tulip Bug had begun gathering the Black Tulip's "pheromones" and applying its own abilities to the Black Tulip.
Of course, Liszt preferred to think of it as collecting different genes to improve itself.
Once it had collected enough, it would have a chance to evolve.
At Tulip Castle, there were three Tulip Bugs that had evolved into Tulip Sprites using this method. One of them had been given to Liszt's older sister, Lvera. In Liszt's memories, he had been consumed by envy and jealousy over it. When he was later granted a barony, his envy only grew stronger.
Because he hadn't received a Little Elf himself.