Chapter 412: Thinking about the Uses of Smoky Grass

Upon returning to Flower Town, Liszt was constantly busy. He first placed the fig spirit bug grass in the castle garden, instructing the servants to fertilize and water it.

At the luncheon, he gathered all the town officials and announced a census: "Inspect all crops in the territory. It's been over a month without any spirit bugs emerging; there might have been some oversight."

The census was just a pretense to cover up his prior knowledge of the spirit bugs' existence.

In the afternoon, he joined the census team to inspect Flower Town. Of course, he chose his inspection spots carefully and soon arrived at the smoke grass fields. He used his Magic Eye to search for spirit bug grass. Not long after, he quickly spotted the spirit bug grass in a corner of a farmland.

To be precise, he also saw a spirit bug.

The spirit bug grass wasn't very conspicuous, but its leaves were lush, with a chubby gray spirit bug crawling on it: "It has already emerged, likely during my absence... Perhaps the increased fertilization in the farmland has significantly increased the likelihood of spirit bugs emerging in Flower Town."

Normally, a town producing one spirit bug a year is considered a good harvest.

Due to the existence of the smoke mission, Flower Town has greatly increased the survival rate of spirit bugs, almost eliminating failures.

As for why a plant can produce a spirit bug, there isn't enough data to analyze and make a judgment—it could be related to nutrients. But the most nutrient-rich plants don't necessarily produce spirit bugs, and nutrient-deficient plants might also produce spirit bugs.

"My four snake blood spirit bugs were born from the blood of sea monsters, which could be a clue... Unfortunately, I still don't understand what conditions trigger the birth of spirit bugs... Magic radiation? Nutritional stimulation? Or genetic mutation?"

The thought passed quickly.

He had already taken out Jade Powder and sprinkled it on the leaves of the smoke grass spirit bug grass, attracting the smoke grass spirit bug. Watching the smoke grass spirit bug eagerly lick the Jade Powder, he extended his Jade-Powdered finger. Then, it bit him, not very painful, and there was no bleeding.

The next moment, a mental contract was formed, and he could already feel the small creature's faint emotions.

It was happy from eating the Jade Powder.

"Secure it." Liszt picked up the smoke grass spirit bug and handed it to the squire knight to be placed in a jade box. "Rom, protect this smoke grass spirit bug grass."

"Yes, my lord!" Rom responded, looking very excited. "Flower Town is truly a land favored by the glory of knighthood! My lord is naturally favored by the glory of knighthood!"

Liszt was almost tired of hearing about the glory of knighthood. However, he still felt pleased every time he heard it, without any annoyance.

After contracting the smoke grass spirit bug.

The blackberry spirit bug and pea spirit bug had to wait for now. The potential distribution range of spirit bug grass was too vast to search thoroughly, so they could only patiently wait for reports from the commoners.

He planned to set sail for Black Horse Island tomorrow to complete the smoke mission and, in the meantime, contract the green tea spirit bug.

Before leaving the smoke grass fields.

Upon hearing about the new spirit bug contract, Gort quickly arrived, lavishing Liszt with praise.

Liszt did not get lost in the flattery and remained clear-headed, casually asking, "Advisor Gort, how is the town's smoke grass typically managed?"

"Mainly dried and piled in open spaces, then wrapped in wheat straw. It's usually not very useful."

The smoke grass has an extremely foul smell, which might be effective in driving away blizzard beasts and wild animals. Now that Flower Town has leveled Thorns Ridge, not only are blizzard beasts nowhere to be seen, but even wild cats are scarce, so the smoke grass is basically useless. The harvested hay is piled in open spaces, left to decay.

But.

Even if the smoke grass is truly useless, Liszt would not cut it down—because it is the only good thing that can attract the invisible dragon.

Rationally, the chance of the invisible dragon visiting Flower Town again is very small, but in his heart, he still hopes that one day, the invisible dragon will remember the smell of smoke grass and return.

At that time...

"The value of smoke grass still exists; do not slack off in planting it. Now that we have the smoke grass spirit bug, maintain an area of one hundred acres."

Also, assign some people to look into the uses of smoke grass. Don't dismiss it just because it stinks," Liszt pondered for a moment and then added, "Let me give you a lead." "What do you suggest, my lord?"

"Smoke grass can drive away blizzard beasts, so have you thought about watering down and toning down its smell so that humans can't smell it, but it can still repel mosquitoes?" He thought of a plant back on Earth—mugwort.

During the Dragon Boat Festival, people hang mugwort over their doors.

In everyday life, lots of folks burn mugwort to keep mosquitoes away or grind it into powder to stuff pillows and sachets. Even the moxa sticks for acupuncture are made from mugwort.

This world likely doesn’t have mugwort, so Liszt wondered if smoke grass might work the same way: "You can start looking into this angle... Anyway, use your heads and think more about what these plants can do."

Gort buttered him up, "My lord, you always come up with genius ideas! I’ll get the serfs on it right away to see if smoke grass can keep mosquitoes away."

Liszt gave a lead, but Gort just stuck to that and didn’t even bother to brainstorm.

Without the shake-up of the industrial revolution, people’s thinking stays boxed in, which really bugged him.

...

The Fire Dragon mare is about to foal.

Barton, who’s already down a leg and an eye, was really worried. He limped from his sickbed to the stable on crutches to personally handle the Fire Dragon mare’s foaling.

Liszt checked out Flower Town and dropped by to see his old buddy in the evening—the Fire Dragon mare meant a lot to his predecessor. It was his birthday present, the symbol of his knightly dreams, and even had some father-son emotional baggage.

The transmigrated Liszt also had a soft spot for this gentle mare.

But since taming the Black Dragon horse, the Fire Dragon mare has been seen less and less, slowly turning into just a breeding tool. Petting its fiery red mane, Liszt couldn’t help but murmur, "Once you’ve foaled, I’ll ride you again."

The Fire Dragon mare seemed to get it, nuzzling Liszt’s arm and letting out a soft snort: "Hmph."

After a moment of bonding with the Fire Dragon mare.

Liszt looked at Barton, who was leaning on crutches: "Barton, how is your leg injury?"

"Thank you for your concern, my lord. Although my leg is crippled, my body has recovered. I hope you won't disdain me, Barton can still continue to raise horses and drive carriages for you."

"Of course, you can continue to raise horses for me. In a while, I will build a castle on Black Horse Island. By then, you will have more horses to care for, and it might be very tiring."

"I'm not afraid of hard work, please rest assured, my lord. Barton will definitely raise the castle's horses to be strong and healthy!" Barton said excitedly.

For him, being able to work in the castle was the best outcome.

Everyone would envy working in the castle—of course, it would be even better if those blizzard beasts could stay farther away. Thinking of those crazy big dogs, Barton felt a faint pain in his calf, where a crazed blizzard beast had pierced him with rock spikes.

"Take good care of your injury, leave the heavy and tiring work to the five footmen learning to raise horses." Whether out of compensation or valuing Barton's talent in horse-raising, Liszt would continue to employ Barton.

He is a sentimental person and has no intention of dismissing any servants as long as they don't make mistakes.