The New Home of the Tulip Elf Bug

Flower Farm had a history even longer than that of Flower Town.

Eighteen years ago, shortly after being enfeoffed with Coral Island, William Tulip mobilized his knight order to survey the island's terrain and discovered a wild field of flowers here.

Among the flowers, two new varieties of tulips were growing vigorously.

To the Tulip Family, tulips were their lifeblood, so the Count relocated his subjects here to cultivate them. However, due to poor transportation, the Count transplanted the new tulip varieties to Coral City after only a few years, and Flower Farm gradually fell into decline.

To this day, aside from a small number of tulips, the vast fields of flowers had been cleared away and replaced with other crops like barley and wheat.

Therefore, after Liszt arrived, he did not see colorful flowers, only lush green wheat seedlings.

"My Lord, there are only twenty mu of tulips left here. The red ones are Sundance Tulips, planted to commemorate your ancestors; the yellow ones are William I Tulips, planted to commemorate your supreme glory." Steward Victor, his hair graying, sighed with emotion.

In its heyday, Flower Farm spanned a full eight hundred mu. Now, it was only two hundred mu, and one hundred eighty of those were planted with wheat.

"They aren't magic herbs?"

"Regrettably, they are indeed not magic herbs, which is why the Count rarely picked the tulips here later on. But now, they are about to be revived. My Lord, look over there, right in the tulip field—that black tulip with the purple-black petals, I have never seen one like it!"

Liszt looked over. Indeed, that tulip stood out from the surrounding yellow and red ones; it was purple-black.

It was like a proud black swan, quietly preening its feathers while surrounded by a flock of geese.

"Is it a magic herb?"

"I do not know, My Lord."

"I will go take a look." Liszt pushed aside the ordinary tulips and walked up to the black tulip. As his fingers touched the purple-black petals, he immediately sensed an aura that felt both familiar and strange.

His eyes brightened suddenly.

Liszt wore a satisfied smile. "It is a magic herb!"

Magic herbs were medicinal plants infused with magic power.

Mysterious mages could not cast spells without the aid of magic herbs, and a knight's cultivation of battle qi also required the assistance of magic herbs. Various magical treasures all required magic herbs as auxiliary materials to some degree.

Although prices fluctuated greatly depending on the herb's properties, even the cheapest magic herb could sell for at least one silver coin.

Liszt had never heard of a magic herb cheaper than a silver coin.

To possess a magic herb was to possess immense wealth.

Now, the black tulip was growing on Liszt's land, and without a doubt, this wealth belonged to Liszt. According to aristocratic systems and laws, even the Count had no right to seize the interests of a minor lord. Fealty was one thing, but interests were another; when a lord enfeoffed a minor lord, the minor lord owned everything within their territory.

"It seems I haven't just gained a fortune; my Tulip Elf Bug has also found its new home." Liszt took a deep breath. "Flower Farm truly should be revived!"

He signaled for Steward Victor and his squire to withdraw from the tulip field.

He crouched alone beside the black tulip.

He focused his mind and calmed his breathing.

A moment later, faint smoke appeared before his eyes, twisting to form words.

"Task completed. Reward: new tulip variety."

Then.

The smoke twisted, and the text changed.

"Task: The decaying Flower Farm seems to have reached a turning point in its fate. The new variety of black tulip should, together with the Tulip Elf Bug, shoulder the heavy responsibility of revival. Please plant the Bug Grass for the Tulip Elf Bug. Reward: one magic beast cub."

The task had been updated.

It was effortless, like receiving a gift.

What made Liszt's eyes light up was that the reward included a magic beast cub.

Magic beasts—even the most common low-level magic beast—were stronger than a squire and could contend with an Earth Knight. The Wind Blade Wolf Liszt had encountered a while ago was a low-level magic beast, slightly inferior to the Earth Knight Marcus. Some low-level magic beasts could even go head-to-head with a Sky Knight.

"What kind of magic beast cub will it be? Can it be raised, or will it have to be slaughtered?" Liszt was filled with anticipation.

"My Lord, the Tulip Elf Bug has been brought here." Steward Carter, under the escort of a squire, arrived at Flower Farm and solemnly handed a jade box to Liszt.

Taking the jade box, Liszt could feel a living, breathing little life inside, connected to his own bloodline.

He opened the lid.

He immediately saw a "silkworm" inside that was thicker than a thumb and shorter than an index finger, with cyan stripes on its pale yellow back. Compared to a silkworm, the Elf Bug possessed a jade-like luster all over its body, looking like a long, wriggling piece of jade—it was beautiful to the extreme.

At this moment, the Elf Bug was sleeping lazily on a bed of crushed soft jade powder.

During the transplantation period, the Elf Bug's Bug Grass was still in its stomach and could not provide nutrients, so it relied on gnawing on jade powder to maintain its vitality. Jade, also known as Magic Jade, was a stone containing magic power. It was much cheaper than the gemstones produced by dragons, but it was still a rare and precious mineral.

"Little guy, have you rested enough? It's time to see your new home." Liszt extended his index finger.

Sensing his thoughts, the lazy Tulip Elf Bug slowly crawled onto his finger and lay down on his palm. Its sesame-sized, bright black eyes looked around incessantly, as if sizing up the environment of its new home.

"What a beautiful life. No matter how many times I see it, I can never get enough." Gortai, who had hurried over upon hearing the news, gazed at the Elf Bug and exclaimed in admiration.

As a down-and-out Baronet Knight, he did not own an Elf Bug.

As the lowest rank of the nobility, a Baronet Knight usually had a fief, and the wealthy ones might buy an Elf Bug. But Gortai's fief had long since decayed and been sold off; as a destitute knight without a fief, he naturally could not afford to raise an Elf Bug.

Liszt walked to the center of the tulip field, pointed at the black tulip, and said softly, "Little guy, make your home here. Plant your Bug Grass."

With the connection established by the contract, the Elf Bug understood Liszt's intention.

It slowly opened its mouth and spat out a ray of green light, which fell onto the empty ground beside the black tulip. Immediately, a tulip took root and sprouted, growing branches and leaves. At the tip of the cyan branches was a pale yellow tulip. This was its Bug Grass, which could influence the growth of the tulips in the surrounding dozens of mu.

As an Elf Bug, it could likely make the tulips grow two seasons in the time it usually took for one.

Furthermore, the quality of the tulips would be improved.

Liszt placed the Tulip Bug into the flower of the Bug Grass; that was its home. It seemed that spitting out the Bug Grass to replant it had consumed a lot of its energy, so the Tulip Bug lay lazily in the flower, not moving. Liszt had to urge it, "Little guy, there are new tulips next door. Don't you want to go taste them?"

Tempted, the Tulip Bug finally crawled slowly out of the flower, climbed along the stem onto a leaf, and then kept climbing upward until it reached the tip of the leaf.

Just as it was about to fall, it raised its head and crawled into the air.

A faint radiance emanated from beneath its body, as if it were crawling on something transparent, and it "crawled" bit by bit into the black tulip flower next door.

It wiggled its chubby body.

The Tulip Bug sent back a feeling of "excitement" to Liszt, then began rolling around in the purple-black flower—this was assimilation.

It meant the Tulip Bug had begun to collect the "pheromones" of the black tulip and was applying its own abilities to it.

Of course, Liszt preferred to think that the Tulip Bug was collecting different genes to perfect itself.

Once it collected enough, it would have a chance to evolve.

In 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 sister, Lvera. In Liszt's memories, he had felt envy, jealousy, and hatred toward this, and he felt even more jealous when he was enfeoffed as a Baron.

Because he had never received a Sprite.