After sending off the exhausted Marcus, Liszt drew his thoughts back from the past. Expanding his connections was certainly one of a noble's major responsibilities, and the Long-Yam Family was an important connection for him. But he himself wasn't suited to diplomacy. He preferred staying on his lands, amusing himself and being self-sufficient.
"I'd better cultivate my battle aura techniques first and finish the Smoke Mission."
He first opened Flame Wave. Through numerous illustrations and explanations, it taught how to strengthen fire-attribute battle aura and channel it to unleash powerful techniques. Flame Wave favored broad, sweeping attacks; most of its techniques spread out in waves, making it a manual for group attacks.
"Group attacks? That's suited for charging into battle. But shouldn't my knights handle the charging while I command from the rear?"
Thinking this, Liszt opened Fire Dragon Drill.
It was a manual for one-on-one combat. Its powerful techniques were all focused on single opponents, with plenty of killing power, though they were somewhat lacking for charging into battle. But Liszt quickly decided to cultivate Fire Dragon Drill. Compared with going to the battlefield, he was more worried about assassins. The one-on-one Fire Dragon Drill suited him better than the group-attack Flame Wave.
That settles it... Once I have more time, I can study Flame Wave too.
There were no divine martial arts manuals in this world. No battle aura manual was especially bad or especially powerful; everything depended on a person's talent and understanding.
An ordinary commoner could become an unrivaled powerhouse, while the descendants of the powerful could end up mediocre.
In the days that followed, Liszt cultivated Fire Dragon Drill while waiting for the merchant caravan to arrive.
Three days passed in a flash.
The rain had stopped.
Good news came one after another.
The Peanut Bugs in Peanut Hamlet were nearly mature. Retainer Knight Karl Iron Hammer reported excitedly, "My lord, the big flower bud on the peanut has started to split open. There's a pink Peanut Bug inside, nearly awake. It's already started twitching."
"Really? I'll head over right away!"
By the time Liszt rode there, the flower bud had opened completely. A plump, pink Elf Bug with a lustrous, jade-like sheen crawled about on the Bug Grass, endlessly curious about the world around it.
The farmers of Peanut Hamlet gathered nearby, watching the Elf Bug with curiosity and nervousness.
Liszt took out the jade powder he carried with him and sprinkled it in front of the Peanut Bug. It sniffed, then quickly began eating the powder. In no time, it had finished the powder on the leaf. Following the scent, it crawled onto Liszt's outstretched finger and nibbled at the powder he had smeared there.
Then came a slight sting. The Peanut Bug had bitten through Liszt's finger.
At that moment, a mental connection formed between Liszt and the Peanut Bug. The master-servant contract had been established. Elf Bugs possessed magic, and they were born with the master-servant contract.
"Come with me, little one."
Liszt cupped the Elf Bug in his hands and placed it in a jade box, ready to take it back to the castle to raise. The Bug Grass could stay in Peanut Hamlet.
"The fifth Elf Bug is mine. With the Peanut Bug, a bumper harvest in Peanut Hamlet is just around the corner." Liszt was in high spirits. He couldn't help reminding Old George, "Old George, take good care of the Bug Grass. Don't forget to water and fertilize it. The more fertilizer you spread, the better the peanut harvest will be."
"Rest assured, my lord. We'll follow your instructions and water, weed, and fertilize the peanuts regularly!"
After collecting the Peanut Bug,
another piece of good news arrived. The Violent Earth Dog pup in the castle had finally opened its eyes on the seventh day of Liszt feeding it. The first thing it saw was Liszt. Yelping, it rushed over and rubbed against his trouser leg affectionately.
"Dousen, from now on, you'll be moving outside the castle."
Holding the leash around Dousen's neck, Liszt called for Thomas.
"My lord."
"Thomas, I have a task for you. Take care of Dousen for me. By the way, is his doghouse ready?"
"It's ready, my lord." Thomas took the leash, preparing to lead Dousen to his doghouse.
Dousen had accepted Liszt as his master, but that didn't mean he would accept anyone else. When Thomas took hold of the leash, the Violent Earth Dog pup—probably not even a month old—bared its teeth and growled, then lunged at him and viciously tore at his shoes. It was fiercely beastly.
But Dousen still had a mouthful of milk teeth and couldn't bite through Thomas's shoes.
"Take good care of him."
"Rest assured, my lord. I have experience raising hounds."
"Violent Earth Dogs are much more dangerous than hounds. He has a magical beast's bloodline. But don't worry, he shouldn't go berserk. Once he's a little bigger, I'll train him every day until he's exhausted."
After arranging for Dousen's caretaker,
Liszt climbed to the top of the castle and looked out over the wasteland for several miles around it. He had always overlooked the fact that there was also land around the castle that could be cultivated. In reality, he had only turned a few acres beside the castle into a small garden, leaving the rest to grow wild.
"Peanut Hamlet, Tomato Hamlet, Mushroom Hamlet, Barley Hamlet, Wheat Hamlet, the Dairy Farm, the Flower Farm, the town, and the castle. Flower Town actually has nine hamlets, and every one of them should be put to use... But without machinery, and with fewer than two thousand people in Flower Town, could we really farm all this land?"
Machines could keep clearing land without pause, but human labor was slow.
Fewer than two thousand people farming tens of thousands of acres was daunting. Many fields were merely sown with seeds and left to fend for themselves.
"Is this what African agriculture is like? Population, population—only people are truly valuable resources! But where am I supposed to find enough people?"
"That's going to be difficult."
Though it would be difficult, Liszt was still confident that Flower Town could grow and prosper. As a transmigrator with a cheat, if he couldn't even manage that, he might as well jump off a building rather than disgrace other transmigrators.
"Fire Dragon Assault!"
In the small garden in front of the castle, Liszt held a one-handed sword and performed a technique from Fire Dragon Drill. A flame suddenly burst into being along the blade, roaring outward to a width of a meter like a fan fanning flames. Sparks flew, accompanied by a faint crackling sound.
The flames weren't real. They were merely an effect of battle aura coating the one-handed sword.
Liszt's fire-attribute battle aura had an explosive nature.
Even battle aura of the same type could have different characteristics. The fire-attribute battle aura of someone else might focus on high temperatures, the force of the flames, or condensation, while Liszt's was explosive.
"I've finally mastered Fire Dragon Assault. Now I just need the last technique—Heart of the Fire Dragon Drill. Once I've learned it, I'll get the reward!"
He felt pleased with himself.
His talent was quite strong. Fire Dragon Drill was divided into two sets of techniques: one for refining the methods of circulating battle aura, and another consisting of sixteen attack techniques. He had learned the methods of circulating battle aura with ease and was now working on the sixteen attack techniques.
"Other people need at least half a month to learn a manual. I've nearly finished in less than a week."
"It's hard to imagine that my predecessor couldn't become an Earth Knight before coming of age. Was his comprehension really that poor?"
His physical talent wasn't bad, so the only explanation was a problem with his comprehension. Before coming of age, Liszt had probably just been slow to catch on. The Liszt of today wasn't a genius, but he was definitely no fool.
"Keep studying. I'll try to master Heart of the Fire Dragon Drill today."