Sailing is incredibly boring.
Liszt had to maintain his aristocratic demeanor and couldn't mingle with sailors or Retainer Knight, so after lunch he took a nap and continued practicing his battle qi in the afternoon.
This practice lasted the entire afternoon.
The Flower arrived at the location marked on the nautical chart at around 1:30 p. m., but found no trace of Black Horse Island and had to continue searching at sea.
It took nearly three more hours to find the exact location of Black Horse Island.
"This nautical chart is off by a full ten kilometers! Those rats have learned all that navigational knowledge from dogs!" Kosto roared through gritted teeth.
If it weren't for good luck, we might not have found Black Horse Island even by nightfall.
"Don't complain. Finding Black Horse Island is lucky." Liszt was quite philosophical about it, even a little reluctant to stop. He was increasingly enjoying the feeling of cultivating with drugs. "Now, are we looking for a place to dock?"
"Yes, sir, Black Horse Island is, after all, an undeveloped desert island. We need to find a suitable landing point. Black Horse Island is much larger than I imagined, perhaps the size of Beer Island. This area is all beaches, making it difficult to land." He pointed to the island's horizon outside the window.
Is it as big as Beer Island?
"This is just my visual estimate, but it shouldn't be too far off."
This deduction pleased Liszt greatly; the size of Beer Island was just right as a viscount's fiefdom. If it were too large, it would be divided and shared with other nobles; if it were too small, it would be a disadvantage. The perfect size was just right.
Go around half a circle.
As the sun began to dip below the horizon, a suitable landing spot was finally found. The Flower slowly approached, dropped anchor, and lowered its wooden boat. Apart from a few sailors responsible for guarding the Flower, the rest of the crew disembarked in the boat. The shore was made of piled Rock, similar to the dock in Flower Town.
Looking around, the island's vegetation is not lush, with only a few scattered trees in the distance.
It was mostly weeds.
Some deer and fawns watched Liszt and his party warily from the distant weeds, especially the tall and imposing Dousen.
They were too far away to sense Dousen's mid-level magical beast aura, but just by looking at him, they knew he was not someone to Dousen.
"Professor Marcus, let's explore along the coastline first. There's about an hour until dark, then we'll be back. We'll spend the night on the Flower," Liszt instructed.
"Yes!"
No horses were brought; everyone walked except for Liszt, who could ride Dousen.
Dousen is huge, so riding on him is more comfortable than riding a horse.
Many knights, especially the powerful ones, no longer limit themselves to riding horses, but instead ride various powerful Dragon-Blood Beast and magical creatures. For example, Stephenland Vulture, the holder of the < Magic Eye > battle aura technique, rides Dragon-Blood Magic Beast, the Vulture, soaring through the skies.
The individual combat power of Sky Knight surpasses that of a Knight's Charge, thus the mount highlights individual combat strength.
Ordinary knights rely on charging side by side to form a powerful torrent of fighting spirit, so their mounts highlight the standard, and the horses are the most suitable.
Riding a dog may not sound very appealing, but on Dousen's back, Liszt didn't look out of place at all. On the contrary, having a mid-level magical beast as a mount made everyone envious and subtly enhanced his image.
Grabbing Dousen's black fur to keep him in place.
Liszt's mind went blank for a moment, and taking advantage of the brief interval, he summoned the Smoke Mission.
The Smoke condensed and formed Snake Script: "Mission complete, reward: Li Dragon Horse." Undoubtedly, once the Flower docked, its voyage was complete; it didn't need to return to be considered finished.
In a short while.
The Smoke shifted and changed.
A new task was subsequently issued.
"Mission: You have set foot on new land. As a lord who takes it upon yourself to expand and advance, how can you allow Black Horse Island to remain abandoned and neglected? Please establish a temporary outpost on Black Horse Island and house one hundred serfs. Reward: A few rotten bones."
"A temporary base?"
"A few rotten bones?"
Liszt quickly recalled a Smoke Mission from before, the one about ghosts, whose reward was a broken piece of bone.
Ultimately, it was determined that the Dragon-Settling Bone was crafted from the bones of a high-level Dragon-Blood Magic Beast beast.
"So, what do these rotten bones look like?" Unable to guess, he didn't dwell on it. Sometimes Liszt would become lazy with Smoke Mission, because as long as he completed the mission, the reward would always coincidentally come his way. "Establishing a temporary base was part of the plan anyway; it's a freebie."
The procession had only traveled a few miles.
They discovered that the Rock coastline had disappeared, replaced by a sandy beach.
"The location where the boat is moored is roughly at the boundary between east and west. The eastern part of Black Horse Island is mostly sandy beaches, while the western part is mostly Rock cliffs." Kosto often goes to sea and has been to many islands, so he can deduce the overall situation of an island from its details. "Looking at the central part of the island, there are no undulating mountains, but rather gentle slopes."
He squinted, carefully examined the distance, and added, "Sir, I've noticed that Black Horse Island is very round."
"Very round?"
"Yes, the island's terrain is continuous, at least on our side. We don't know about the other side. Perhaps we can sail around the island again tomorrow to get a clearer view of Black Horse Island's shape."
Liszt glanced at the setting sun that had already disappeared on the horizon and said, "Then let's wait until tomorrow. The situation is unclear right now, let's go back to the Flower first."
Nothing happened that night, and nothing untoward occurred.
Liszt wasn't used to sleeping on a ship. The sound of the waves crashing against the shore, mixed with the snoring of the sailors and Retainer Knight in the cabin, made it difficult for him to fall asleep.
Dousen was waiting outside his door.
Dogs snore too, so it's not surprising that Dousen's snoring sounds like he's blowing bubbles.
Liszt himself never snored and preferred a very quiet environment when he slept. If he couldn't sleep, he would simply sit up, take out a crystal lamp, and place it on the table.
The crystal table lamp was purchased from Granney; it was very portable and easy to use, essentially functioning as a flashlight.
With the light in, he continued to take things out of the Gemstone Space to play with—a Red Blood Sword, worn at his waist during the day and stored in the Gemstone Space at night; a bow and arrows, a set of fine steel knight's equipment, and three fine steel knight's lances, just in case; mithril ore, crystals, and jade, all neatly stacked.
Other items include Black Pearl, Dragon-Settling Bone, telescopes, message in a bottle, and Smoke-Cured Grass.
And a huge amount of food, including plenty of milk, eggs, roast meat, vegetables, fruits, bread, and various seasonings. In the Gemstone Space, matter is static and will not spoil, so food can be stored for as long as desired.
With these supplies, he could easily live comfortably for months on a deserted island—he even put a few bars of Flower Soap in there.
Also in the Gemstone Space are the thirty Flame Mushroom Magic Power Potions that Elkeson had finished making.
"It wasn't easy. I saved up little by little and accumulated a substantial fortune." Satisfied, he reorganized the supplies, carefully stored the Space Gem away from his body, lay on the bed, and counted sheep.
I don't know how much time passed, but I finally succumbed to exhaustion and fell asleep.