Ties, shirts, vests, undershirts, boxers, suits, trousers, gentleman's hats, leather shoes—Liszt had a whole range of clothes he wanted to produce.
But he couldn't afford to be so unconventional. After all, he was only a rural baron. If one day he became the ruler of a country, then he could reform things as he pleased and set the trends.
For now, he could only endure the cumbersome clothes to maintain the so-called dignity of the nobility.
"My lord, I gave the servants half a day off. Starting tomorrow, they'll devote themselves wholeheartedly to working for the castle."
"Mm. Make the arrangements as you see fit."
"Yes."
Sweating from the heat, Liszt had little interest in chatting. "Mr. Carter, have someone prepare bathwater for me. This weather isn't very kind to people."
"As you wish." Carter hurried off to tell the maids to prepare the bathwater.
The little castle now kept bathwater ready at all times. The servants all knew their lord was an exceptionally cleanly nobleman. Bathing once a day was normal, twice a day was commonplace, and even three times a day wasn't unheard of. The only truly abnormal thing was going a day without bathing.
After bathing, he changed into comfortable clothes: a loose robe.
This kind of robe was a type of nightclothes. The nobles here knew that wearing tight formal clothes all the time was uncomfortable, so they had altered their nightclothes and made them into loungewear.
Liszt still found them cumbersome and uncomfortable.
In summer, he liked short-sleeved shirts and T-shirts best, so he rolled up the robe's sleeves, exposing his forearms. It wasn't proper noble etiquette, but who in the little castle would dare criticize him for such a minor breach? Rural life had its advantages, too.
"My lord, it's a pity we don't have any ice. Otherwise, I could make you a cup of iced sugar water to beat the heat."
"Even at Tulip Castle, there isn't much ice to spare in summer. I can put up with that, but it's a shame I can't have iced beer anymore." He didn't particularly like drinking. He drank at banquets now because his predecessor had enjoyed alcohol and because socializing required it.
But he did love drinking ice-cold beer on the hottest days of summer. It was refreshingly cold, right down to the bone.
Midsummer was almost here, and it grew hotter by the day. Liszt remembered that at the hottest time of year on Coral Island, an egg dropped on the ground could cook. It must have reached forty degrees.
Every year, quite a few serfs died from the heat.
"I've heard saltpeter can be used to make ice, but it's hard to come by. Coral Island doesn't seem to have any saltpeter mines, and even if it did, I wouldn't know one if I saw it... I remember reading that saltpeter accumulates on the walls of earthen houses, stables, and latrines in the countryside, but Flower Town's houses are all made of wood, and there aren't any latrines..."
Liszt had no way of reproducing the technology for making ice with saltpeter.
Like the other nobles, he could only store ice in an ice cellar during winter and bring it out for use in summer. "Mr. Carter, remind me this winter to build an ice cellar."
"Of course, my lord."
Dinner.
As usual, he invited Gortai, Marcus, Isaiah, and Blair. They were the only four people in Flower Town qualified to dine at the same table as Liszt.
"Liszt, we've finished planning Oyster Hamlet. Tomorrow, the first group of Oyster Hamlet's fishermen will put on the new gear you prepared for them and head to the East Coast to fish. They're mostly old people, women, and children—foolish and impulsive. They've already been picking up shells along the shore these past few days."
Once word spread that the lord had hosted a seafood feast, the commoners began following his example and preparing to gather seafood for themselves.
They always followed their lord's lead.
Liszt said solemnly, "Teacher Gortai, make sure they receive proper safety guidance. I don't want a single commoner getting into danger because of seafood. As officials of the town, you must take this seriously. The population is Flower Town's most important productive force."
They might not have been entirely convinced in their hearts.
But Gortai and the others already understood Liszt's attitude, so they nodded without hesitation to show they understood.
"Then tomorrow, if you have time, come with me to Oyster Hamlet and see how the fishermen fare on their first trip gathering seafood. You should also actively teach them which kinds of seafood they can collect and which they must leave alone. And you need to teach them how to preserve it."
"Baron, we've already organized the clerks to emphasize this repeatedly. We also had every clerk try the seafood in the castle. They're very enthusiastic about it."
"Good."
The next day, after calculating the time of low tide, Liszt brought his Retainer Knights to Oyster Hamlet. Construction hadn't begun yet. They had only leveled a patch of wasteland not far from the shore, where wooden houses would be built in the future.
About two hundred elderly people, women, and children were carrying baskets or wooden buckets as they searched every rock and dug through every patch of sand along the flat beach of the East Coast.
Many of them still didn't have gloves, shovels, hammers, or other tools. They had to rely on their bare hands—the town's tailor shop and blacksmith's shop couldn't keep up with demand.
"My lord!"
The fishermen greeted Liszt when they saw him.
Liszt nodded in response, then rode his Fire Dragon Horse around to take a look. Gathering seafood was hard work, with the wind, sun, and water beating down on them, but the workload wasn't very heavy. So the fishermen, who had often felt as if they were "eating without working" in the past, were now full of enthusiasm. Experienced or not, they all worked with gusto.
After watching for only a little while, Liszt was already too hot and hurried back to the shade of a coconut tree.
He looked up at the tall tree, feeling that something was off. After a moment, he realized, "There are no coconuts!"
He turned and asked the clerk beside him, "Doesn't this kind of tree bear fruit?"
"It does, my lord. This is a Fragrant Coconut Tree, and its fruit is called a Fragrant Coconut. But the monkeys from Thorn Ridge take the fruit while it's still small."
"Monkeys?"
"They're grayish-yellow monkeys. We call them Fruit-Stealing Monkeys. They're vicious, and sometimes they even come in groups to ravage the crops in the fields."
"Fruit-Stealing Monkeys..." Liszt nodded without saying anything.
He suddenly remembered a news story he'd read. Apparently, in some Southeast Asian countries, people had a tradition of training monkeys to pick coconuts. Coconut trees were so tall that it was difficult for humans to climb them, but monkeys could scamper up with ease and pluck the fruit. If the town trained a group of Fruit-Stealing Monkeys, perhaps they could develop the coconut business.
Of course, he wasn't yet sure if these Fragrant Coconut Trees were really coconut trees. Flower Town was buried under snow for more than two months in winter. If they were actual coconut trees, they should have frozen to death long ago.
"What do the Fragrant Coconuts taste like?"
"Once, I found a Fragrant Coconut that a Fruit-Stealing Monkey had dropped. It was full of juice that looked like milk. It tasted sweet and sour, and it was delicious."
Liszt's appetite was piqued.
There were many Fragrant Coconut Trees along the East Coast. If they could protect them, they should be able to harvest quite a few Fragrant Coconuts. They could easily be used as a drink, and might even become a local specialty.
He turned his gaze toward Thorn Ridge, farther in the distance. "Sooner or later, I'll take Thorn Ridge and eliminate every threat to Flower Town!"
The Fruit-Stealing Monkeys would be perfect for training to pick fruit.