Three days later, Liszt returned to Flower Town on Coral Island.
A squad of knights from Tulip Castle escorted him back to Flower Town. Along with Liszt and Marcus, two down-on-their-luck nobles had also come to the town. They were both descendants of noble families, but neither had inherited a title, so they could only be called knights.
They were friends introduced by Gortai.
Lured by the promise of double pay, they had come to Flower Town to serve as officials.
"Liszt, welcome back. You've only been gone a little over a week, and I was already starting to miss you." Gortai greeted the town's lord in an exaggeratedly warm tone.
His enthusiasm was over the top, but thoughtful.
"And Marcus, the Baron's loyal knight. Seeing you both so neatly dressed tells me the trip went smoothly."
"Haha, look who it is—Isaiah and Blair, my old friends! Seeing you arrive with the Baron makes me so happy. Clearly, you've chosen Flower Town."
A banquet was to be held at the small castle to entertain the knights who had escorted Liszt and his party.
Before the banquet began,
Liszt didn't even pause to brush off the dust of the road. He hurriedly carried the jade box holding the Alfalfa Bug to the pasture in front of the newly completed castle. The ground was already lush and green. The alfalfa had sprouted remarkably quickly, and with summer approaching, the rising temperatures would spur its growth even more.
"Come out, little one."
The chubby Alfalfa Bug had pretty purple markings on its body.
Unlike the lazy Tulip Bug, it was full of energy. It opened its mouth and spat out Bug Grass. In almost no time at all, a single alfalfa plant sprouted and grew in the middle of the pasture. Bigger and sturdier than ordinary alfalfa, the Bug Grass quickly bloomed with purple flowers.
"Don't forget to put up a fence around it, so the horses don't damage the Bug Grass." Liszt instructed his personal attendant, Thomas.
The castle handled everything related to the elves; the town officials and serfs had no need to look after them.
"Rest assured, my lord. I'll get started on the fence right away."
When Liszt returned to the castle,
the old steward, Carter, came forward. "My lord, the banquet is ready. You may take your seat."
"Then let's begin."
The banquet at Flower Town Castle was worlds apart from the ones Liszt had attended in the past few days. But he preferred the atmosphere here, because he was the most important person at the table.
"First, I'd like to thank Lord Raiden and all the knights for escorting me here. I raise my glass to you."
"You're too kind, Baron." The knights all raised their glasses.
After finishing his beer, Liszt's glass was immediately refilled by a servant. He raised it again. "This second toast is to wish Isaiah and Blair a happy life in Flower Town."
"Thank you for your good wishes, Baron. We hope to contribute to Flower Town's development."
"Finally, I'd like to toast my teacher, Gortai. While I was away, he managed all my affairs for me."
"It was only right, Liszt. As long as I can drink good wine every day, I'd gladly stay drunk in Flower Town forever." Gortai laughed heartily.
"Stay sober while governing Flower Town, and there'll be plenty of wine at mealtimes," Liszt said.
"Of course. Work and wine go hand in hand."
"Haha."
The atmosphere remained cordial as they enjoyed their lunch.
After seeing off the knights, Liszt returned to the castle for an afternoon nap. As soon as he lay down and focused his mind, the familiar Smoke Mission appeared. The Snake Script had finally changed: "Complete the mission. Reward: three wild corn plants."
A moment later, the smoke shifted and issued a new mission.
"Mission: As a lord, it is your duty to care for the elves. Have you forgotten the Wheat Elf Bug? Its ability can help the territory produce more grain. Please provide the Wheat Bug with Bug Grass. Reward: information on the Invisible Dragon."
"Information on the Invisible Dragon? What kind of reward is that?"
A daring thought suddenly surfaced in Liszt's mind. "Could the Smoke Mission be planning to reward me with a dragon? That can't be right. That would be incredible—a dragon! A being capable of anchoring a nation's fortune. But what does 'Invisible Dragon' mean? Invisible? A dragon without a shape?"
According to the memories of his predecessor, there were three major types of dragons.
The first type was Gem Dragons. The Sapphire Dragon of the Sapphire Grand Duchy was one of them, and it could produce sapphires. The red gem set into the Red Blood Sword gifted to Liszt by Marquis Merlin had also been produced by a Gem Dragon, and possessed mysterious powers.
The second type was Metal Dragons. The White Cast Iron Dragon that fought the Sapphire Dragon in the knightly novels was a Metal Dragon, capable of producing iron ore. Metal Dragons were more numerous than Gem Dragons, especially Iron Dragons. Liszt had heard of quite a few through various knightly novels.
The third type was Elemental Dragons, such as Fire Dragons and Water Dragons. They were extremely difficult to tame. Their potent magical elements also gave them tremendous destructive power; they could easily destroy towns and kill countless people. They were often the targets of dragon-slaying heroes in knightly novels. People were strange creatures: they worshipped dragons, yet still wanted to kill them.
"Gem, Metal, Elemental... Which of these types could the Invisible Dragon be?" Liszt couldn't figure it out.
He decided to ask someone else.
He called for the steward, Carter. "Mr. Carter, have you ever heard of an Invisible Dragon?"
Carter thought for a moment. "I haven't, my lord."
That afternoon,
he headed into town with his Retainer Knight to look for Gortai and his two friends. He also hoped to stumble across a clue about where to find the three wild corn plants he'd been promised as a reward.
"An Invisible Dragon?"
Gortai rubbed his chin. "I think I've heard of one somewhere. Isaiah, Blair, do you remember?"
Isaiah and Blair thought hard, then shook their heads.
After half an hour of trying to remember, Gortai still couldn't recall whether he'd ever heard of an Invisible Dragon. "I'm getting old, so I'm apt to get muddled. I'm sorry, Liszt. Perhaps I'm mistaken. I've wasted your time; maybe I've never heard of an Invisible Dragon at all."
"It's all right. By the way, Teacher Gortai, how have you assigned Isaiah and Blair?"
"I'm in charge of government affairs, Isaiah is in charge of finance, and Blair is in charge of law and diplomacy."
"Now that you've all been assigned, I'll leave Flower Town's development in your hands." Liszt didn't stay in town for long. He was confident he could make Flower Town prosper, but his role was limited to sharing his ideas with Gortai and the others, who would then put them into practice.
Doing the work himself would first of all run counter to the aristocratic order—a noble who worked in the fields wasn't a noble, and a noble who ate with serfs was even less of one. Second, handling the details himself might not even get the best results, and would only waste his energy.
For instance, if servants could conduct a census, why do it himself?
He'd finally been reincarnated as a noble. If he didn't enjoy the life and instead wore himself out working, he'd only have himself to blame.
Back at the castle, Liszt mused, "If the reward is information on the Invisible Dragon, then I probably won't get it until I complete the mission. That means no one knows what an Invisible Dragon is yet. Once I finish the mission, someone will probably come and tell me?"
Without delay, he hurried out of the castle and raced toward Wheat Hamlet—the Wheat Bug the Earl had rewarded him with was waiting for him to provide it with Bug Grass.