The Sloop on the Sea

Cities are not worth looking forward to, but castles are—nobles still value hygiene, so there are bathrooms and toilets, and servants to haul waste and trash outside the castle walls.

Because no one knows to use waste as fertilizer for the fields, it is all discarded in the wilderness to weather away naturally.

Effectively utilizing waste as fertilizer could definitely reduce reliance on elves—though only reduce, as elves also possess the ability to improve crop traits.

A two-masted square-rigged ship sailed across the azure sea. Coral City had gradually vanished from view, and Tulip Castle, perched atop the towering mountain, began to sink below the horizon.

This seemed to prove that this world was also a sphere.

Liszt occasionally pondered what kind of situation this world he had transmigrated into really was, but there was no information from which to infer any conclusions.

"My Lord, what are you looking at?" Marcus walked over.

"Looking at the sea. The azure sea, hiding countless treasures."

"I grew up by the sea and don't have such beautiful fantasies about it. There are sea monsters in the sea, and perhaps some fish, but there are fish in rivers and lakes, too, and they aren't dangerous. The wealth on the continent is what is truly abundant and inexhaustible. The glory of knights and nobles is also fought for on the continent."

The Sapphire Grand Duchy was an archipelago nation, but it had never abandoned its conquest of the continent. Every few years, it would organize a knighthood to head to the continent to fight for mineral resources.

This had forged batch after batch of nobles.

The Tulip Family had also made its fortune this way. Marcus often dreamed and fantasized about heading to the continent to participate in the war, earning a title as a Baronet Knight through his merits.

Now that he was determined to serve Liszt, he would naturally try to entice Liszt from time to time.

Liszt continued to gaze at the deep, vast sea, paying no mind to the "continental wealth theory." The battlefield was so dangerous, why go there? It was much better to quietly be a rural lord, complete tasks, and farm, moving forward steadily step by step. If it were a simple transmigration, he didn't think he could stand out among the natives, but with the help of the Smoke Serpent Script tasks, becoming strong was just a matter of time.

As for what the Smoke Serpent Script tasks were, one day he would uncover their secrets.

"Teacher Marcus, I hear that beyond the Grand Duchy's archipelago, there are vast, undeveloped wild islands?"

"Yes, I have chatted with some old sailors. There are indeed vast islands beyond the archipelago, but those islands lie in the deep sea, where storms frequently brew and reefs are numerous. Ships find it difficult to travel there, so they have no development value."

"Perhaps."

Liszt said noncommittally.

Setting other things aside, as long as deep-sea fishing was developed, the wealth of the sea would reveal a corner of its veil. By then, the struggle for islands would likely be no less intense than the struggle for land.

He couldn't do that yet; he was just a lord of a rural town, so he would focus on developing for now.

"Hoist the sails! Sail on a side wind!"

"Hoist the sails! Sail on a side wind!"

The roar of the crew came from beneath the masts. A south wind was blowing from the stern, snapping the sails loudly. The captain decisively ordered the sailors to hoist the sails to catch more wind.

The appearance of sailing ships allowed humanity to enter larger sea areas. The Sapphire Grand Duchy's fleet consisted basically of sailing ships, though they were all square-rigged; there were no fore-and-aft rigged ships yet. The advantage of square sails was their speed when sailing downwind, while the disadvantage was that they were almost useless when sailing upwind, requiring oars.

With the wind at their backs, the ships in the fleet all hoisted their sails, forming a triangular formation on the sea—a magnificent sight.

They departed in the morning and arrived at Red Crab Island by evening.

Red Crab Island was ten times the size of Coral Island. Long-Yam Castle was not by the sea, but halfway up the mountain range in the center of the island. Therefore, after disembarking, Liszt and his party had to spend a night in the port city, Sea Crab City, then switch to a carriage for a day's travel, arriving at Long-Yam Castle on the third day.

Training pigeons to send and receive letters had not yet been established, and the pigeons likely couldn't carry the weight of thick parchment anyway.

However, because arrangements had been made previously with knights sending word that a scion of the Tulip Family would be visiting soon, servants had been specifically assigned to wait at the Tulip Family's villa in Sea Crab City. Upon receiving Liszt's party, they immediately arranged for them to stay at the villa, so they did not have to lodge in the filthy city.

After dining in the evening, Liszt took a bath and lay down on the bed.

He was a bit seasick.

Back home, he was used to planes and trains, and he truly couldn't get used to ships. Fortunately, his predecessor was an islander with decent swimming skills, which helped him overcome it enough to avoid being completely incapacitated by seasickness.

"As an islander, to be seasick—Liszt, I must say you are a disgrace to the Tulip Family. I thought you had matured, but I didn't expect you to be so pathetic. Thinking back on your previous cowardly behavior, you really are my foolish younger brother." Lvera appeared in Liszt's room without warning.

She hadn't knocked.

This startled Liszt, as he had been observing his Smoke Serpent Script—he often brought it out to see if there were any new discoveries.

But he quickly calmed down, as Lvera seemed unable to see the Smoke Serpent Script; it was something only Liszt could see, so there was no need to worry about the secret leaking.

"You forgot to knock."

"Did I not knock? That is unimportant." Lvera crossed her arms, staring at Liszt, expressing her disdain.

"It is important to me. You did not respect my privacy, and doing so is not very ladylike. Nobles like ladies, dear sister."

"I don't need to change myself to please any noble! Besides, Liszt, when did I ever need you to give me advice? If we weren't on Red Crab Island, I would really teach you a lesson and let you understand that being an Earth Knight is nothing!"

Liszt had been bullied by Lvera since he was a child.

He believed the fundamental reason was that Lvera was jealous of his appearance—a handsomeness that would make most women feel ashamed.

"You didn't come here just to tell me that I'm still weak, did you?"

"I just wanted to see your pathetic state of seasickness."

"Well, you've seen it. Can you please leave now?"

Lvera glared at him fiercely and turned to walk away. Liszt got up and locked the door. She was nineteen, still a young girl, and her behavior was truly unpredictable.

He didn't care much, though. In his memories, Lvera was always this brash, or rather, reckless and frivolous.

The Count often lamented that he and Lvera should have swapped personalities.

One was more delicate than a girl, and the other was more boisterous than a boy.

Lying back down, Liszt found it hard to fall asleep, so he had no choice but to dwell on trivial matters: "Five months ago, I visited Long-Yam Castle for the New Year's greetings. At that time, Marquis Merlin was not on the island; he was still serving as a captain in the Royal Fleet. It has probably been four or five years since we last met formally."

Given the aristocratic practice of monogamy, noble families were often not particularly flourishing.

Marquis Merlin had one son and two daughters. His third daughter, Melissa, had already passed away, and his second daughter, Melinda, had married the Marquis's follower, Viscount Roland Pinecone of Long-Enclosure Island. There was only one heir, the eldest son Messiro Long-Yam, and Messiro himself had only one son, Meopel Long-Yam.

"Cousin Meopel... he must be nearly twenty-five, yet he hasn't married? It seems he's doing it to pursue the daughter of the Grand Duke of the Sapphire Grand Duchy? I've heard that this princess of a small nation is quite the social butterfly."

A Grand Duchy is a vassal state of an empire or kingdom, and the title of its supreme ruler is Grand Duke. Strictly speaking, he is not a king, so his daughter cannot be called a princess. Moreover, the newly enthroned Grand Duke of Sapphire had been demoted to a Duke because he failed to become a Dragon Knight.

In the aristocratic system, Prince, Grand Duke, and Duke are titles of the same tier, but one is only enfeoffed as a Prince or Grand Duke upon becoming a Dragon Knight; otherwise, one can only be a Duke.

However, rules are rigid while people are flexible. Within the Sapphire Grand Duchy, all nobles addressed their ruler as Grand Duke, and his daughter was naturally treated as a princess, sought after by many.

Liszt thought maliciously: "If Meopel were to marry the princess, he might very well discover the child isn't his... Heh."