The Defeated Dragon

After the Flowers was filled with goods, Liszt boarded the Flowers to its trip back to Black Horse Island.

So far, the Flowers has sailed more than ten times between Coral Island and Black Horse Island. It has not encountered any storms in those trips, and so the Calm Pearl has not been used.

Since the said Calm Pearl was on board, the crew was confident on its trips and so was Liszt.

“When I come back, I will have Elkson make more Calm Pearls … Forget it,I’ll  just look for Glanny instead. Glanny has more experience. Although he has a little temper, he should make the new Calm Pearls the same quality as last time.” Liszt stood at the bow of the ship and started looking around.

Liszt was very much looking  forward to meeting his singing demon during the voyage.

It was a pity that when the Flowers sailed to the pier named Black Horse Port, there was no trace of the singing monster.

“What the hell is going on here, has my singing demon been swallowed up by the smoke missions?” He has been unable to calm down and put aside those puzzling feelings about the singing demon. Its value is absolutely huge.

With the singing demon, ships will never get lost in sea again.

After unloading the goods, it was too late to patrol the waters around Black Horse Island. Liszt went directly to find Lightning, the King of the Black Blood Dragon Horses. Lightning saw him, bowed its head very affectionately and rubbed his arm. He did not forget the master that conquered him and it then carried Liszt through the snow.

Black Horse Island was also covered with ice and snow. Only the part near the valley of the  grassland between the four hills seemed to have geothermal heat and hence there was  no snow, revealing the grass that was still growing.

The Black Blood Dragon Horses were quietly eating grass there.

Even though there were too many people watching, the dragon horses no longer feared the humans and so they were behaving like they did not see them.

The burial ground between Needle Grass Hill and Ice Grass Hill was also covered with snow, However, there were still some potholes where volcanic glass and keel fragments have been mined, as well as the five tall dragon bones. These five bones have not completely decayed and will certainly have some important value.

However, Liszt couldn’t get rid of them, nor could he save them. He could only let them be exposed to wind and rain.

“When the existence of Black Horse Island comes to light, I must invite magicians to help me study these five dragon bones … However, I must first recruit followers of magicians, and the secrets of dragon bones can be kept as secret as possible.” Any secret about dragons should be treated with extreme caution.

The people here can never be underestimated for their great desire for dragons.

Even he, a traverser, could not resist the charm of the dragon.

Marcus has already drawn a rough topographic map of Black Horse Island. He is not a professional cartographer, so the map was very simple, as he only knows the approximate topography. Sheep Grass Hill, Needle Grass Hill, Alfalfa Hill, and Ice Grass Hill form the damaged crater ring mountain terrain, with the grassland and bone burial site inside and the rocky and weed land outside.

The dock and port towns were located just south of Black Horse Island.

There are some islands and reefs around Black Horse Island. Among them, the waters in the southwest corner are distributed with three small islands measuring in area to hundreds of acres. Liszt named them Mangrove Island, Rocky Island and Sandy Beach Island.

They were named so since Mangrove Island is densely covered with mangrove forests; Rocky Island is all weathered basalt columns; and Sandy Beach Island is very flat and full of sand, with only a few fragrant coconut trees.

Outside the three larger islands are scattered reefs, most of which are exposed when the tide is low and submerged when the tide is high.

Liszt looked at the crudely drawn map and thought, “The song demon I am looking for is probably on the banks of Black Horse Island and between these islands and reefs.” 

It was still around dawn the next day.

Liszt led Captain Kosto and others and began to sail around Black Horse Island.

“Sir Baron, in addition to the Black Horse Port, there is another area suitable as a pier in the northwest corner of the Black Horse Island. The water depth may not be as good as the Black Horse Port, but the breadth of the water is quite suitable for the mooring of ships.” Captain Costo commanded the voyage while also being a guide.

Liszt nodded, “We will develop the new wharf later. At present, Black Horse Port is sufficient.”

The group would stop and go and admire the islands and reefs they spotted along the way. After a whole day, Liszt finally toured around the Black Horse Island. All the coastlines and surrounding islands and reefs have been checked.

Still no singing demon!

After resting at night in the newly built house in Port Town, Liszt could not sleep. He was getting upset and impatient. “Is it because I am going in the wrong direction? Why is there no singing demon? Where is my singing demon!?”

He didn’t sleep well that night.

But he was not discouraged and continued to lead the Flowers to search in the waters of Black Horse Island. This time, they went looking further into deeper waters, the first spot being the location of the three triangle-shaped islands.

It was a difficult spot to dock and so they all took wooden boats and paddled ashore.

The trees on Mangrove Island are dense. It was the kind of mangroves that can grow in sea water. Mangrove is a general term used to refer to not only bushes with thorns, but also some other small shrubs. Mangroves are not only limited to mangrove plants, but can also refer to many other types of plants.

Mangroves cover a wide variety of trees. Mangrove plants alone have many varieties.

However, Liszt didn’t know it, and even the well-informed Costo only knew a few of them. They were all called in the local dialect  as red bark, autumn eggplant, sea lotus, and chicken claws.

Mangroves that grow in seawater seem to be structured with well-developed roots thus completely shielding the islands inside.

Unable to reach the shore, Liszt cast Magic Eyes, paddled in a wooden boat, and circled the island. No signs of magic were found. In this mangrove forest, there were no singing monsters, potions or sprites.

Rocky Island could be inspected clearly with a single glance. There was nothing there.

And then there was Sandy Beach island, which was filled with snow and white sand. The group successfully landed in a canoe and  stepped on the white sand. It was just as beautiful as the blue sea. The white sand and the tall coconut trees made it look like a paradise.

However, Liszt didn’t appreciate it. He turned around and left with a cold face.

“My Lord, do you want to keep looking?” Captain Costo looked at Liszt’s face and asked cautiously. Throughout the day today, their Sir Baron, who is usually very gentle and noble, has never had such a horrible face as he was showing today.

“We keep looking!”

Liszt, depressed and agitated, said sullenly, “We won’t go back until we find it!. We will stay until the  night!” Maybe it can’t be found during the day, because the singing demon likes to sleep at night.

Sure enough.

Nothing was found during the day. The Flowers went back to the dock to gather some lights and other supplies, and went out again to continue the search. That night, the weather was clear, a bright moon rose from the sea, dispersing light into the night while scattering light flashing with the waves.

Liszt was standing in the bow of the boat, not feeling sleepy at all.

Every time he passed by the island reef, he cast his Magic Eyes, observing the magic signs around the island reef, and trying to find the existence of the singing demon. The first half of the night passed by, and by the second half of the night, the moon was about to fall.

Seeing nothing, Liszt was getting anxious and was about to give up.

It was at this time.

His ear moved.

A wisp of inaudible singing reached his ears. When he was refreshed his senses and listened carefully, he could not hear the sound again, as if he had just heard voices. But he didn’t think so, because the slight singing voice was triggering grief and sorrow, as if it was crying. Liszt felt the sadness in his heart stirring.

It was no ordinary auditory hallucination.

He took a deep breath of relief and tried not to shout aloud, fearing to disturb the one singing. “It’s my singing demon!”