Taking a calm, objective look at the situation, Liszt freed himself from his unrealistic fantasies about dragons and decided that the so-called information about an Invisible Dragon probably wasn't a good reward.
Based on his earlier deductions:
First, the Smoke Mission was teaching him something—but there was no point to that at all. As a cheat, it shouldn't be this boring.
Second, an Invisible Dragon nearby could be captured. If true, that would be explosive news. But Liszt had no power to capture a dragon. Countries that had dragons usually captured them when they were still young; adult dragons were simply too much to handle. Even so, all the knights on Coral Island combined couldn't defeat a single young dragon.
Third, an Invisible Dragon had traveled a thousand miles to deliver equipment. Liszt didn't think he was that lucky with dragons.
Fourth, an Invisible Dragon was probably about to attack Flower Town.
The fourth deduction was undoubtedly the most likely. Dragons attacking human villages and towns was nothing new; otherwise, there wouldn't be a profession known as "dragon slayer." In all the major knight novels, dragon slayers were wildly popular protagonists, second only to dragon knights.
Basically, in any decent knight novel, the protagonist would become a dragon knight or slay a dragon, and then marry a beautiful princess.
"So the rewards for these two missions are telling me to fight off a dragon and try to become the protagonist of a knight novel: Liszt the dragon slayer?"
Liszt looked at himself in the mirror and chuckled. "So, the Great Dragon has been slain. Where's the princess?"
He felt conflicted. He was worried his deduction might prove true, yet he also thought something like that couldn't possibly happen. After turning it over in his mind, he decided there was no point borrowing trouble. He would finish the mission first, see what clues the final reward provided, and then decide what to do.
If an Invisible Dragon really did invade, his inability to resist it didn't mean he couldn't call for help.
Once he sent this news to the Sapphire Family, he was sure it wouldn't be difficult to get a Marquis title in return—the highest title the duchy could bestow.
He called Gortai over and immediately assigned him the task. "This Corn Grass didn't appear out of nowhere. Some bird or the wind must have brought the seeds here. Teacher Gortai, mobilize every farmer who isn't busy with farm work to search between all the hamlets. Make sure we find as much Corn Grass as possible."
Gortai didn't quite understand the task. "Liszt, is this Corn Grass that important?"
"Of course. It's a highly nutritious pasture grass, even more suitable than Alfalfa for feeding horses and dairy cows... In any case, the more different kinds of pasture grass we grow, the faster our livestock will grow."
"If it's that valuable, I'll immediately arrange for people to look for it. We won't leave a single corner unchecked."
As they spoke, Liszt suddenly spotted a group of men marching in orderly formation past the castle gates, heading south toward Thorn Ridge.
"Teacher Gortai, is that the new patrol?"
"Yes. Your Retainer Knights have been a great help. At first, those patrol troublemakers refused to obey my orders as steward, but after a few fights, they quickly learned to rein in their tempers."
"Well done. Discipline is the patrol's first priority. Teacher Gortai, we need to keep tightening our management of them. I have a few ideas I want to put into practice... The patrol should take responsibility for public order in the town and the hamlets, be paid by the town, and have standardized uniforms and rules of conduct."
Liszt outlined some general plans. He intended to turn the patrol into a police force, initially responsible only for public order. In time, it would also handle household registration.
Only then could he keep a close watch on everything in town and ensure that no one with a suspicious identity could gain a foothold in Flower Town.
"But there are hardly any Nardas in town. Isaiah has complained to me more than once that without Nardas, he can't get anything done."
Liszt didn't have many gold coins in his castle either. His steward had reported that there were about a hundred and fifty left.
But the castle was "flush" with assets now. Liszt's Red Blood Sword alone was worth one or two thousand gold coins, and there were also the annual profits from the Black Tulip industry and the large quantities of supplies he had acquired through assimilation.
"I'll take fifty gold coins from the castle to support the town's development. That amount will be deducted from the town's share of its annual taxes."
"Fifty Nardas? That's far too much, Liszt. I looked into it—the town's annual tax revenue is only a pitiful fifteen Nardas."
"Fifty isn't much. Teacher Gortai, tell Isaiah and Blair that Flower Town is about to enter a busy period. They need to be ready."
"As you wish!"
Liszt wasn't just talking about developing Flower Town. He had already begun drawing a map of the town—a very rough sketch of the terrain. Basically, Flower Town was shaped like a right triangle.
Thorn Ridge formed the two sides of the right angle, while the East Coast formed the hypotenuse.
The town lay at the center of the triangle, the castle near the right angle, and the Dairy Farm and Barley Hamlet occupied the other two corners.
"To get rich, build roads first." Holding his quill, he marked the dirt road from Thorn Ridge to the town. "I need to turn this main road into a gravel road. We don't have cement, but we have plenty of sand. There's a lot of sea sand on the East Coast, so we can easily haul it here to lay the road."
Then there were the dirt roads between the hamlets. Those could all be covered with sand, too.
But using sand alone wasn't a good choice. Water would drain poorly, and sand would get into people's shoes and end up everywhere. Unfortunately, there weren't many stones around Flower Town, so he couldn't mix sand and gravel. They would have to make do with sandy roads; they were still more convenient than muddy roads that became impassable whenever it rained.
Road construction was one major undertaking. Farming was another.
Elves could influence the growth of crops, but they couldn't be relied on for everything. Before there were any elves in Flower Town, the farmers had still needed to grow their crops.
"Scientific farming has only completed the first step so far: teaching the people to fertilize their crops. But that's not enough. We also need to make a batch of farm tools to improve the farmers' productivity so they can clear more wasteland and plant crops. We traded for a pile of iron from Tulip Castle and Falcon Town. We can get in touch with the blacksmith's shop."
These two things needed to be done urgently, but their results wouldn't show immediately.
Another activity, however, would yield results at once: combing the shore.
Mounted on his Fire Dragon Horse, Liszt gazed out at the boundless sea. The seawater's distinctive salty, fishy smell rushed into his nostrils. Waves washed over the beach, shimmering in the sunlight until the whole view sparkled with tiny stars.
Thomas led Dousen along the beach, letting him run around to his heart's content.
Dousen was growing fast; it seemed like he got bigger every day. He was already about the size of a country dog. Perhaps because he ate so well, traces of magic were already flowing through him. He might be able to cast spells before he even reached adulthood.
Liszt planned to start training him soon, to keep his wildness from getting out of hand and hurting someone.
"My lord, is there anything worth paying attention to on the East Coast? There's no deep-water bay here, so it isn't suitable for a harbor." Marcus watched the waves, still unconvinced that the sea held any wealth.
Liszt pointed at the reefs that could be seen now and then beneath the waves. "Teacher Marcus, do you see those reefs? They're covered in food. When the tide goes out, we can have the farmers gather it... Unlike the freshwater fish we usually eat, this is seafood."