The Defeated Dragon

Gold coins.

Liszt doesn't have much of them. He has just a little over a hundred gold coins in possession. The territory is in real need of the Flower Caravan. It generates money more and more everyday, however, the town spendings also continues to grow day by day.

Liszt's own appet.i.te alone costs no more than a dozen gold coins a month.

Those strange dishes he had were worthless and the materials and labor were cheap. What was most expensive in value was the meat that Tremblingwoods consumed — it has become a meat eater entirely and would not eat anything else. If Flower Town cannot produce meat in its own territory then the growth of expenses would just be horrifying.

Also, the construction projects in the territory were costly.

If Black Horse Island would undergo major development, it would be a huge hole in the town's treasury. Also, it would take two years to see gains from doing so. The development of Flower  Town has entered the regular pattern, but the amount of money involved was absolutely not small.

The development has been going on for nearly nine months, and Liszt has put in thousands of gold coins, at the very least.

If there was no smoke task, he could not imagine anything else that would force him to do those projects.

And so.

Due to the gap of 500 gold coins at this time, Liszt thought of going back to earning the rewards of the smoke task. After thinking about it, he decided he would meet with the Count tomorrow and exchange Mithril for more gold coins.

———-

The day after next.

The sun didn't get up in time, so the sky looked rather gloomy.

The Count has risen and was in the middle of a book.

“Liszt, you're up early. “The count motioned to Liszt to find his own chair .” Did Levis pull you to for a story-telling session all in one night? “

"It is true that my brother's rhetoric still needed to be cultivated. It is far from being able to talk continuously all day and night.”

“Well, he really doesn't have the gift of a diplomat. Want something to drink? Wine or coffee?” Chatting with his son and not drinking would only make the atmosphere stiffer.

The degree of interaction between father-son could never come close to that of a mother and daughter.

“Have you got any milk? I don't want to drink in the morning and I don't like coffee. ” Liszt has been inseparable from the milk of his own dragon-type cows back in Flower Town. If there was nothing else, ordinary milk would do.

After the servant brought the fresh milk, Liszt could clearly notice that the milk quality of the Tulip Castle cows was far from that of Flower Town's.

The cows on the dairy farm, even if they have not become dragon-type cows, have definitely experienced some mutation.

“I have been taking a bath with Flower Soap for the past two days now, and it is actually very easy to use. This industry should bring you a lot of income.”, the Count said.

“A profit of two or three gold coins a day is almost the same as my original seafood business. But now that business is about to stop as the profit is not as good as before. On the other hand, the Flower Soap sales are hindered by the limited production thus causing us to be temporarily unable to reach the whole island. As a result, my funds have been tight. Stretched, even. “

“The development of Flower Town has surprised many people, including me, so don't put too much pressure on yourself.”

Pressure.

There was no pressure.

Liszt felt that his daily life was nothing but unstressful. Just eating, drinking, practicing martial arts writing, riding a horse, walking a dog, teasing a sprite and touring the town again. Occasionally, inspiration would come in the form of the smoke mission, but he would just let the serfs do the task.

Of course, this sedentary life should not be highlighted, instead, he joked about it. “There is still pressure to ride a dragon before the age of thirty. I need to work hard for that. “

"Yes."

The Count did not adapt to the joke. “Don't aim too high.”

Liszt nodded. “I actually want to be a Sky Knight soon,thus, I was very excited to hear my brother talking about your battle with Count Figo.”

This idea was a lot more solid, and the Count could easily accept it. “I hope that your brothers and sister would also aim to be a Sky Knight, and that every generation of the Tulips would always pursue evolution. A knight's ambition should never stop, for he must strive to turn pressure into power.”

“I understand that now that I am an adult, everything I was confused about before is now clear in my mind.” Liszt said and he suddenly thought of something. “Yes, my father, aside from bringing Flower Town food and specialties , I have a gift for you and Levis. “

“Oh, what gift?”

“A telescope.”

From the pocket of his clothes, Liszt took out a pair of fine-looking telescopes, handed them to the Count, and instructed him how to use it. “This is a stretchable monocular. You put this tiny eyepiece in front of your eyes…. Yes, that's it, then aim the large lens out of the window. “

When the Count did it, he was taken aback at first glance. “Oh my G.o.d! The Tulip Sea seemed to come to my eyes!”

“You can pull out the tube of the telescope….Yes, it can be extended longer.”

“It's getting closer…will they move? Is this magic?” The Count held the telescope and kept looking at things in the distance full of excitement. “I see Silva… he is holding a cigarette in his hand, thinking … looking for a place to smoke-he has handmade paper cigarettes, he is using fire gra.s.s, not fire folds. “

Holding the binoculars, the Count started to peep more. Silva, the deputy housekeeper, was outside the castle, unaware that his little act of smoking was being watched by the count.

The excited Count will not stop for a while.

Liszt was very satisfied with the effect of the telescope, but Silva's smoking made him think-should he invent a match?

The ignition tools in this world are the “fire gra.s.s” that will produce fire when rubbed together, and the “fire folds” which were used as raw materials. However, these were far less convenient than matches.

Lighters are more advanced and more convenient.

But Liszt didn't think he could invent a lighter in this world for the details were too technical. 

As for matches, there is no technical content required. The only problem is that the match head uses phosphorus as the trigger. If he remembers it right, it's red phosphorus, the substance that when rubbed will produce fire on the match head. It should be present on the match head and matchbox.

Friction would put things in motion, hence if not in use, should be stored separately, thus the name safety matches.

“Phosphorus … I still know quite a lot about Phosphorus.” Liszt thought silently.

First, there is no fertilizer that uses phosphate in the rural areas; Secondly, it is said that the discovery of phosphorus was due to alchemy, a mage who accidentally smelt phosphorus from his urine; But then gain, there was a geography textbook saying that a country called Nauru was where bird manure is acc.u.mulating and phosphorus is produced.

Finally, the legendary ghost fire is said to be formed by phosphorus in human bones burning in the air.

“So, if you want to get phosphorus, you have to deal with excrement?” Liszt felt helpless.

He didn't want to be a 'TFBoys'. [1] “The best ways to find bird manure… find an island with many seabirds, maybe there's a phosphate mine……Even if I don't get phosphorus, I could make use of the fertilizer."

Liszt had gone about thoughts about phosphorus twice when the Count finally put down the telescope and said, "Liszt.. this telescope, where did you get it?” 

[1] also known as The Fighting Boys, a popular Chinese idol group. (does this mean the group is s.h.i.t?)