Chapter 45: The Friendship Harvested from Smoked Grass and Cows

Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

Fortunately, after a recollection of more than five hundred words, Griffe finally got back to the main storyline of dragon slaying.

“I had to ensure that I truly meant it when I initially swore to quit smoking. It’s just that later on, I forgot because I was astonished by the actions of the Formless Dragon. My God, it actually snatched the Smoked Grass out of my hands, devoured it, and I think it must have mistaken the taste due to not having bathed in years.”

“Sorry, I spoke ill of the Formless Dragon. In fact, we became friends later on. Because it ate my Smoked Grass and didn’t kill me, and I, in exchange for a bundle of Smoked Grass and two cows, gained the friendship of the Formless Dragon. Honestly, the Formless Dragon isn’t that big, only slightly larger than a house.”

“I’ve seen the Bronze Dragon of the Duke of Maple Leaf, which is a beautiful Metal Dragon nearly thirty meters in length. The Formless Dragon looked like its child, oh, but dragons don’t have children.”

“We had a pleasant afternoon together. In the evening, it came up to me, shook its body, and then a gemstone just fell into my hands. It flew away, but it left behind its gemstone—a gem no larger than a fingernail, which I’ve since worn on my finger.”

“Haha, now you know where my Space Ring came from. Countless noble Sirs were willing to give up everything for this ring, but I wouldn’t trade it because it’s a testament to the heartfelt friendship between me and the Formless Dragon!”

With that, the Formless Dragon chapter came to an end.

Griffe quickly moved on to the next story—the battle of wits with the Headless Knight.

When Li Si Te (Liszt) quickly flipped through the novel, which was only about fifty thousand words long, no further information about the Formless Dragon appeared, not even the Space Ring, which was only mentioned that one time.

It was as if Griffe only wrote about the Formless Dragon when he remembered it, and after finishing, he forgot all about it.

“It seems that this reward is just the knowledge of the Formless Dragon recorded in ‘The Adventure of Ranger Griffe’… Only the brave and upright can see the Formless Dragon, so there’s probably no chance for me, being neither brave nor upright.” He was very self-aware.

However, he seriously doubted the truth of this information. How could one rely on intangible and vague virtues like courage and integrity to determine whether one can see a Formless Dragon?

“This story always feels like a spin-off of ‘only pure-hearted maidens can see unicorns’.”

Many female protagonists in knight’s novels are noble daughters who ride unicorns. Li Si Te (Liszt) had read a few, all of which staunchly claimed—only the pure, beautiful, naive, and kind virgin girls could be accepted by unicorns. As for whether unicorns, these legendary creatures, exist, Li Si Te (Liszt) was skeptical.

He was skeptical about unicorns and the same went for the Formless Dragon.

Especially the bizarre setting that only knights with courage and integrity can see the Formless Dragon.

Still, he quickly caught a piece of useful information: “Griffe used Smoked Grass to fend off the Formless Dragon’s slaughter. Later, he mentioned exchanging a bundle of grass and two cows for the Formless Dragon’s gemstone. My current Smoke Mission rewards me with Smoked Grass. It seems it’s still part of the chained missions.”

First, the reward was information about the Formless Dragon.

Then new information about the Formless Dragon was rewarded.

Now, they want to reward me with Smoked Grass that the Formless Dragon loves to eat.

All are interconnected rewards, like unlocking a large chain mission, so the target of the mission can easily be inferred—there may truly be a Formless Dragon that will invade Fresh Flower Town.

“Cows?” Li Si Te (Liszt) thought of another link, “The dairy farm seems to have two old cows that can no longer produce milk, but the castle has plenty of food, and they haven’t been used to entertain guests yet. Perhaps, these two old dairy cows are what I need to prepare for the Formless Dragon’s dinner?”

The information is still not clear enough, preparations remain insufficient.

Li Si Te (Liszt) felt that the most urgent task was to continue completing missions to gain more details about the Formless Dragon chain mission, making it easier to devise a response strategy.

Ding dong.

A knock on the door.

“Please come in.”

Butler Old Carter came in carrying an oil lamp, “My lord, it’s getting late. You should rest early.”

“I was just about to go to bed.” Liszt closed the book and put it back on the shelf, frowning slightly due to the unpleasant smell on his hands, “Mr. Carter, by the way, light another box of air freshener in the study. I really can’t stand the strange smell of these thick parchment papers.”

The carriage of books given by the Earl this time brought a large amount of fishy smell, although Liszt had already lighted air fresheners, it still couldn’t be masked.

There was no such thing as the snow-white and clean paper.

There was only yellowed, hardened parchment with a long-lasting stench.

This type of paper was made from the inner layer of animal hides, peeled off whole and specially tanned. It was expensive to produce, difficult to preserve, and inconvenient for writing. Liszt truly wanted to hurry up and produce white paper to replace this thick parchment, but he also understood now was not the right time.

For one thing, white paper wasn’t an urgent necessity.

Secondly, there were no copyright laws, and nobles could seize paper-making technology at any time.

Just as he hadn’t started researching horseshoes, saddles, or cement, similarly, he had the rough structure of a longitudinal sailboat in his mind. Once invented, it would definitely promote the development of the Age of Exploration.

The most important reason was—they had no people.

The entire town had 1,990 people, no, 1,991 people—to be precise. Recently two elderly had died in the town, and four babies were born, with one succumbing early on.

Of these 1,991 people, excluding the elderly and children without labor capabilities, only about 1,500 were capable of working, which was already quite fortunate. They needed to farm, repair roads, and now they had to build Oyster Village. Soon, a group of people would also need to be allocated to sew gloves, cast hammers and spades, and produce fishing gear for fishermen.

As for Liszt himself, he was also very busy. He must continually practice his magic.

“Fire Dragon Drill” and “Flaming Wave” had already been mastered, but required time to become proficient. After obtaining the Crimson Blood Sword, he became even more diligent in his cultivation, hoping to break free from the earth’s bonds and soar into the skies.

Carter lit the air freshener.

He blew out a candle and said, “My lord, should the castle hire a few more servants?”

“Is there a shortage of manpower?” Liszt asked in surprise. Ten servants to attend to his needs should be enough.

However, Carter spoke solemnly, “Little Wheat Bug, Peanut Bug, Tulip Bug, Alfalfa Bug—they are all good critters, but their cordyceps need a man-servant to inspect and care for them daily. These tasks were assigned to Jessie. Now that corn planting has begun, and soon Thorn Bugs will also need to be settled, Jessie is overwhelmed with work.”

After a pause, he continued, “Douson, Li Dragon Horses, Fire Dragon Horses, and the other horses all require people to care for them. The seafood in the castle, before Oyster Village is constructed, also needs to be gathered by the servants. Moreover, the kitchen with the increased variety of dishes, Mrs. Abbie has already complained about being unable to cope.”

The castle, the city, and the towns had many overlapping functions.

However, the castle leaned more towards self-sufficiency in agriculture, while the town managed the entire territory and collected taxes. Liszt was not satisfied with this system, feeling it hindered the development of productivity, with the biggest obstacle being the castle—a distorted monster controlling all elves and firmly bounding the greatest productive forces.

After all, the castle’s primary function was to provide a luxurious life for nobles, not to liberate productivity.

Understanding this, yet without much desire to change it—after all, he was a noble himself!

“Since there is a lack of manpower, Mr. Carter, you’ll be responsible for recruiting new servants.”

“Very well, my lord.”