The Resentment of Five Pounds of Snake Meat (First Update)

The six newly pledged Earth Knights had, after a period of adjustment, shown little that dissatisfied Liszt.

But Liszt intended to wait until three full months had passed before considering taking them on as followers.

Now that the smoke mission had issued a task ahead of schedule, with a high-value item like a battle qi secret technique as the reward, he had no reason not to complete it.

"Once I return, I'll let those six follow me."

The rising sun had yet to crest the east, and the early summer morning still held a lingering chill. Liszt's thoughts raced. "No one can predict whether the road ahead is bristling with thorns or broad and smooth... Does this mean the smoke mission cannot tug at the thread of fate that belongs to the Sapphire Dragon?"

But on further thought, that did not seem right. Even the Invisible Dragon had been affected; there was no way a gemstone dragon's thread of fate could be thicker and stronger than a Holy Dragon's.

"Perhaps it's a matter of distance?"

The realization struck him. "So far, I've received sixty smoke missions and completed fifty-seven. Only three missions changed... the old tanner's collection of books, the thief spying on the lord, and the establishment of Fire Dragon Brickworks... Fifty-nine of all those missions concerned Flower Town and Black Horse Island. Only one concerned Dunico Hyacinth."

In other words, the range within which smoke missions could tug at threads of fate was Liszt's territory.

The sole exception, Dunico, was also a woman who had rolled in bed with him. There was no denying it—perhaps it was only because of that unhealthy relationship between man and woman that her thread had been tugged ever so slightly.

Since Liszt had given up going to Red Crab Island to find