During the farming off-season, Liszt summoned farmers from the Dairy Farm to reclaim the wasteland around the castle and plant alfalfa.
Gortai's original opinion was that, as the lord's serfs, the farmers had to come work without conditions.
Liszt wasn't about to exploit them that much. He decided to provide the farmers with three meals a day. Commoners usually ate only twice a day, so they eagerly came to work.
He set aside some of the castle's excess wheat bran to distribute among the workers. Wheat bran was the husk removed from wheat. He ate only refined wheat flour, so the bran was mostly used to feed horses, while commoners ate it themselves. The bran cakes he'd fed his horses before were food that many farming families ate.
"Come to think of it, wheat bran has more nutritional value than wheat flour." Liszt remembered buying bran cakes in his previous life. The seller had claimed that wheat bran was rich in dietary fiber and B vitamins, and could relieve constipation and lower cholesterol. "But bran is really hard to eat, and hard to digest, too."
As a noble, he wasn't short on nutrition, so there was no need to force himself to eat coarse bran.
Naturally, nobles ate white bread.
Bread was the absolute staple here. Depending on the ingredients and texture, it could be divided into nine grades: four grades of white bread and five grades of black bread.
The finest white bread was made from refined wheat flour that had been sifted repeatedly and carefully selected. Only great nobles had the money, resources, and manpower to make it. This kind of white bread was astonishingly expensive; a single loaf cost at least several silver coins.
The next grade of white bread was made from sifted refined wheat flour. With the coarse particles removed, it had a very smooth texture. A loaf usually sold for one silver coin.
The grade below that was made from unsifted refined wheat flour. It had a slightly worse texture, and one silver coin could buy two or three loaves.
The lowest grade of white bread was made from coarse wheat flour, simply processed. Its texture was even worse, and one Copper Coin bought a loaf. The white bread Liszt ate at the moment was this grade, while the white bread served at Tulip Castle was the grade above it.
Commoners all ate black bread.
The "whole-wheat bread with the bran removed," which cost several Copper Coins, was affordable only to wealthy free commoners. Ordinary free commoners could probably afford "whole-wheat bread with the bran left in," which cost one Copper Coin. Serfs mostly ate "mixed black bread," made from unbranched wheat flour mixed with other flours; one Copper Coin bought four large loaves.
Even poorer serfs either ate "grain black bread," made from flour ground from grains such as peas, or bran cakes made entirely from wheat bran.
Liszt also knew of another kind of black bread, which commoners made very frequently.
After fermenting, this kind of black bread became incredibly hard. Commoners sliced it and used the pieces as plates or to prop up table legs.
It was said that some bread plates could be used for several months.
"What a wicked feudal society." Liszt gave a perfunctory sigh, pulled himself out of his thoughts, and had no intention of overthrowing the nobility. One's position determined one's perspective. As a noble, he could enjoy the status his era had granted him; he wasn't about to pull himself down from his own noble's chair.
Besides, overthrowing it would be difficult. With no dragons or sprites, what could he use to tear it down?
"My lord, should I bring the Fire Dragon Horse over?" Thomas asked cautiously. He was always so careful in Liszt's presence.
"No need. By the way, Thomas, how's the Li Dragon Horse doing in the stable? Has it been acting up?"
"Your newly tamed big fellow bullied the Fire Dragon Horse all last night, but this morning, the Fire Dragon Horse was able to graze beside it."
Liszt nodded, unsurprised.
There could be no two tigers on one mountain—unless one was male and the other female.
The Li Dragon Horse was male and the Fire Dragon Horse female, so it was only natural that they got along. What's more, there was a good chance the Fire Dragon Horse would bear the first offspring of the Li Dragon Horse. Liszt didn't object. The Fire Dragon Horse was a fine breed, too, with the bloodline of the low-level magical beast Fire-Fierce Horse. Only a strong pairing could produce better offspring.
He gave the matter no further thought.
Liszt began practicing the moves from Flame Wave.
Ordinary Earth Knights didn't practice another battle aura manual until they had mastered the one that suited them best. Liszt was gifted, and he was already proficient in Fire Dragon Drill, so he could practice Flame Wave at the same time. Unlike Fire Dragon Drill, which was suited to duels, Flame Wave focused on group combat.
Its moves often swept a broad area with the sword or pierced through a crowd with the spear.
Before he knew it, he was absorbed in training. Fire-attributed battle aura poured out continuously, heating the air around him until it was scorching. He couldn't say how powerful it was, but at least it looked imposing.
"Great Fire Wave!"
He slashed with his sword, sending flames flying once more.
He saw Carter, the butler, hurrying toward him.
Liszt stopped releasing his battle aura and asked, "Mr. Carter, what is it?"
"My lord, Jesse just returned from outside after cutting grass for the horses and said he saw a caravan. I suspect the Earl's and Baron's parties may have arrived."
Liszt's spirits lifted. "At last! Please notify my two teachers and ask them to come meet the caravan with me. I'll take a bath and change first."
He hurried upstairs to bathe.
Before long, Marcus and Gortai had arrived.
The castle stood on a rise, giving them a good view. They could already see a slow-moving caravan in the distance, coming from the direction of Thorn Ridge.
"Teacher Gortai, remind me to reorganize the patrol. A caravan has arrived, and no one gave me any warning. I only found out because one of my servants spotted it."
"The patrol's a bunch of bastards. You'll have to lend me some Retainer Knights so I can train them."
"No problem." Liszt swung onto his horse. He didn't ride the Fire Dragon Horse, but instead mounted his newly tamed Li Dragon Horse, showing it off as he said, "Come meet the caravan with me. Father probably won't come in person. The one accompanying the Tulip Great Sprite may be my brother."
The three of them rode out to meet the caravan.
Carter, meanwhile, busied himself directing all the servants. "Everyone, look sharp! Make sure your clothes are tidy. Don't look filthy and bring shame on my lord! Jesse, I mean you. Good heavens, you've still got mud on your trousers. Are you trying to make us all lose face? Go change them at once!"
"Yes, yes, yes, Mr. Carter." The assistant manservant, Jesse Rice-Wash, with his flaxen hair, hurried back to his room to change his trousers.
Carter called out again, "Mrs. Morson, tell Mrs. Abby to prepare the desserts, tea, and refreshments. Also, make sure the ingredients are ready. Prepare a feast as lavish as possible. Someone whom my lord will need to entertain personally is coming."
"Do you mean a noble is coming?"
"Of course. You know how important the Black Tulip is. The family's sprites are coming to assimilate it. Perhaps Young Master Levis is escorting them, perhaps Young Master Lytton. Either way, they're important people. We can't bring shame on my lord—and the same goes for Thomas's colleagues."
Thomas's colleagues were the personal manservants of the various nobles.
After a flurry of activity, the male and female servants soon lined up on either side of the castle gate under Butler Carter's direction, men on the left and women on the right, waiting for the honored guests to arrive.