Chapter 296: Chapter 0294: Thorn of Rise Civilization Stick (Fifth update, additional chapter for 3400 monthly votes)
The sun shone on their faces as the serfs working in the fields took off their heavy cotton-padded jackets, shouted slogans, and raised their axes to slowly chop down the Rapid Growth Iron Thorns.

The Rapid Growth Iron Thorns, with the quality of ironwood lumber, would immediately sink when placed in water, which is why ordinary bone utensils couldn’t cut through them, and metal tools had to be used.

However, the Bone Craftsman Shop in Fresh Flower Town had extremely hard bone utensils—crafted from decayed, ancient Fire Dragon bone fragments.

The Bone Craftsman Shop’s bone tools were not for sale to the public, and they were distributed for free to the serfs using a numbering system.

Even though they had long decayed and lost the dragon’s magical powers, they were still dragon bones, and Liszt did not wish for them to end up outside the town.

The Dragon Bone Cleaver, used to hack at the Rapid Growth Iron Thorns, was almost as effective as a fine steel axe and was a bit more wear-resistant.

With a Dragon Bone Cleaver in the hand of each serf, it took about half an hour to chop down an Iron Wood Thorn as thick as an adult’s arm.

Unfortunately, dragon bones could not be polished finer to create dragon bone saws.

Metal saws were still the most effective for cutting wood; working in pairs, it only took five minutes to saw through an Iron Wood Thorn. However, due to the scarcity of iron, which was needed for many purposes, not many iron saws could be made.

Regardless.

The scene was bustling.

Liszt stood at a distance outside Thorn Garden, scanning the area as if conducting an inspection of the lumbering site. The Fresh Flower Town’s Serf Lumberjack Team was definitely a force to be reckoned with; they had cleared the vast Thorn Ridge under crude tools and the threat of magical beasts.

Let alone the mere Thorn Garden.

The officials led by Goltai were also very capable, organizing the serfs methodically through the various lumbering tasks.

Some were chopping down trees, others cutting branches, carrying timber, gathering foliage, and there were those who supplied hot water and bandaged wounds, replenishing and replacing damaged tools; teams worked in an orderly and efficient manner.

“The Rapid Growth Iron Thorns are high-quality iron wood thorns that have grown under Jela’s influence. Though thorns are low shrubs and can’t grow into towering rocks or stone trees, they can grow quickly. Once they reach the thickness of an arm, they can be harvested for making furniture and wooden implements,”

Liszt said to the person beside him.

The person next to him was none other than the son of Viscount Trick Lygrass, Aubrey Lycra, a big fat man: “I’ve experienced the allure of the Rapid Growth Iron Thorns at the Carpenter’s Shop. The high quality is astonishing, especially how their growth rate is even faster than wild grass.”

“Of course, it can’t compare to wild grass, but a three-month maturation cycle is indeed remarkable. It’s just that cultivating it is not so simple. Without Jela, its growth cycle might slow down by more than a dozen times. Based on what we’ve seen at Thorn Ridge, it would probably take about three years to mature.”

“Even three years is quite impressive,” Aubrey said enviously, “among nobles, it’s said that Jela’s magic potions will bring you glory, and these ironwood thorns are no less a mass of glory.”

“If Beer Island plans to introduce them, I can provide the roots and shoots of the Rapid Growth Iron Thorns,” Liszt said smiling, remembering that the final kind of thorn Jela needed was provided by Beer Island—a favor he had not forgotten.

“Really? Then I must properly thank you.”

“Just offer me a bit more hop flowers.”

“I’ll give you a third of what I can control, how about that?”

“You’re very generous, Aubrey.”

Aubrey patted his stomach: “I’ve also enjoyed your generosity, the delicacies in your castle are about to burst me.”

“You’re so fat, can you even make it onto the battlefield?”

“I’m not planning on going to battle anymore; I might just follow the Knight Order to skim some merits, but trading suits me better. By the way, Liszt, about the furniture you make from ironwood quality, let me handle the sales. It might not compare to the channels of Tulip Castle, but Beer Castle’s fleet is bolder and travels farther.”

According to the information Liszt had,

it seemed that Beer Castle’s fleet had joined with several small to medium-sized nobility fleets from the outer islands, managing a smuggling route to sell goods in certain areas of the Eagle Kingdom.

Of course, as long as they weren’t smuggling weapons, the Earl turned a blind eye to it.

After thinking it over, Liszt replied, “As long as the profit is right, why shouldn’t we let Beer Island handle the sales?”

Today, Aubrey had come to Fresh Flower Town to talk business. Firstly, he wanted to order more Fresh Flower Soap, secondly, he was interested in sharing the profits from Fresh Flower Brew. Fortunately, this coincided with Fresh Flower Town starting to cut down the Rapid Growth Iron Thorns, so the sales partnership for ironwood furniture was also brought up.

Aubrey wanted to cooperate.

Liszt did not always want to rely on Tulip Castle’s channels either, so the two of them quickly struck a deal.

The luncheon was very lively, and by the evening, when the specific details of the cooperation had been settled, the atmosphere was even more cheerful. Goltai, representing Liszt, got Aubrey and his party utterly drunk on the fragrant and potent Fresh Flower Brew. In the end, he dumped everyone into the public baths for a hot bath.

As it was in any era.

When the privileged class arrived, the public baths temporarily closed to the common people.

Liszt did not invite Aubrey and his entourage to stay at the Castle as he did not like hosting people other than family members, and besides, there was the matter of the Sea Sprite Ake on the second floor.

With Aubrey’s entourage being quite large, the Castle could not accommodate them all, so he arranged for them to stay in the noble residential area.

“Given the current state of development in Fresh Flower Town, there will be more Nobles visiting in the future, should I consider building a guesthouse?”

There were no guesthouses in the Duchy of Sapphire.

All the Nobles accommodated visiting noble guests in their own Castles, but Liszt decided to set a precedent. After all, he had good reason—the Castle was small and couldn’t fit many people.

Not only would it not violate noble etiquette, but it could also be praised for being warm and attentive.

However, with the development of his territory and when he became a great Noble, he definitely could not use a guesthouse to entertain guests anymore. Otherwise, guests might feel undervalued and could ridicule the Castle for being poor.

He rubbed his forehead.

Have a few more drinks with Aubrey.

Liszt was slightly tipsy, the intoxication lingering; he was not very inclined to sleep, nor was he in the mood to write history. His ambitious project, “Dragons Fight in the Wild,” hadn’t been touched in a whole week. Given the choice, he’d rather bask in the Sun than write.

In a corner of his study, he rifled through some items and found a stick carved with exquisite patterns.

“Is this my ‘Sdeke’?”

The Sdeke, like the Flack Abbieye, was standard equipment for a Noble, representing noble grace and identity.

In the hands of a King, it was called the scepter.

In the hands of Nobles, it was called the civilization stick.

The civilization stick could be carved with patterns or inlaid with gemstones. It could be made of wood or forged with metal. Liszt’s Sdeke was a wooden civilization stick, carved with a Tulip pattern—he had been presented with it during his investiture ceremony by an Earl.

However, since arriving in Fresh Flower Town, he had never picked it up again, let alone used it to attend noble gatherings.

Young Nobles rarely fancied walking around with a civilization stick.

“I have several thorn canes for training dogs; should I ask the carpenter to carve me a high-quality Rapid Growth Iron Thorns civilization stick?”

Liszt stroked his chin, struck by a sudden inspiration.

The civilization stick in his hand was made from rock wood over a hundred years old and was quite fine, but with the Rapid Growth Iron Thorns now available in Fresh Flower Town, using a rock wood civilization stick didn’t quite fit his status.

He immediately ordered someone to call the Carpenter’s Shop’s manager: “Carve a civilization stick for me, use this stick as a model, and carve the name Jela on it.”

Jela, a name that meant—Thorn of Rise.