Chapter 637: Spirit Bug Quarrel

This chapter is an extra update sponsored by the "Minotaur Berserker bounty."

Neither the siren nor Rainbow Whale Rosi were on Black Horse Island, so Liszt couldn’t quickly travel to Flower Town or immediately head to Dodo Island to meet Fire Drake Leo.

Thus, he spent the afternoon inspecting his Bramble Fortress.

After over a month of construction, the outer facilities of Bramble Fortress were mostly completed, and the foundation of the main structure was already underway.

In front of the castle was a canal nearly a kilometer long leading to the sea.

Along the riverbanks, Yevich’s spirit bug, the foxtail grass spirit bug, had just been placed. Foxtail grass wasn’t particularly useful—it could serve as feed for cattle, sheep, rabbits, geese, fish, and other animals, while its mature stems could be woven into straw goods. Additionally, it helped stabilize the riverbanks.

The section of the canal near the castle was reserved for the apple spirit bug Liszt had recently acquired, creating a larger apple orchard within Bramble Fortress.

This way, the apple orchard at Flower Town Castle wouldn’t need to be transplanted.

Under the spirit bug tree in the apple orchard, a round apple table was still built, along with a few chairs. This would serve as the meeting place for Liszt and his knights—his future elite knight group, already named the Knights of the Apple Table. Though the name might lack grandeur, it held sentimental value.

To the left of the apple orchard, a shell-paved gallery was constructed, purely decorative and paved with various shells produced in the territory.

To the right was the Fish Fountain, along with a Fish Fountain corridor built above it, mainly intended for future outdoor barbecue parties.

Additionally, the apple orchard had a well and a roost—the latter being a home for the chocobo Loki, Liszt’s primary mount before he began riding dragons.

On the right side of the castle, a large ice cellar had already been built. Originally, flower beds were planned around it, but Liszt decided to turn them into a daisy field instead—Yevich had a daisy spirit bug, perfect for cultivating the field. In this world, daisies were ornamental flowers, but Liszt believed they had potential for tea.

Since he hadn’t found chrysanthemums, daisies would have to substitute for the cooling chrysanthemum tea.

On the left side of the castle, there was another well and a flytrap worm grass garden under construction, meant to house the flytrap worm grass he had purchased from Viscount Younas.

Behind the castle lay the equestrian grounds.

On the right side of the grounds were stables and a well for housing the castle’s horses and storing mounts for noble guests. In the center was a practice yard, reserved solely for Liszt’s personal practice. To the left were several doghouses, mainly for the Blizzard Beasts.

These were essentially the main auxiliary structures of the castle.

"By the end of this year, I should be able to move into this castle, right?" Liszt asked Architect Joamaya Hammer, who was accompanying him on the inspection.

Joamaya replied, "Lord, if everything goes smoothly, construction will definitely be completed before the snow falls. However, we’ll need your Blizzard Beast team to cooperate more, providing building stone and columns for the builders."

"That won’t be a problem."

After all, Hiddleston and the eight little ones had nothing better to do than carelessly cast magic, creating many rock spikes. With these mid-tier magical beasts producing stones daily, the territory would never lack materials. Sometimes, seeing the growing piles of stone, Liszt even considered land expansion projects—mainly around Black Horse Port, to turn it into a large sheltered harbor.

Black Horse Island was his independent fief.

It was also where his career began.

Perhaps one day he would leave Blue Gemstone to found his own kingdom, or even leave Black Horse Island, but the efforts invested in the island wouldn’t be wasted. For one, all infrastructure could be sold at reduced value to the new lord—otherwise, he had the right to demolish it. Secondly, the talents cultivated during construction would become the foundation for the future.

Just like this Bramble Fortress—its construction would train a group of outstanding builders, paving the way for more structures in the future.

If the day came to sell the castle,

and the new lord couldn’t afford the sky-high price of a few dragon coins,

Liszt would rather have it demolished himself.

...

Night.

The banquet was held in Porttown, with all the town's officials, new knights, and mages invited to attend. They commemorated the brave sacrifices of the knights and raised glasses in honor of glory with fine wine. The endless flow of delicacies and continuous laughter filled the banquet with triumphant grins.

"This expedition has brought tremendous rewards, and the merits of all you warriors who followed me into battle are being tallied. Gold coins, titles, and fiefs—if you fought bravely, they shall be yours!" Liszt raised his glass, his tone solemn. "The families of the fallen will also receive their due rewards and compensation—I give you my word!"

"Praise the Lord!"

"Praise the Lord!"

"Praise the Lord!"

The waves of praise were unending. Liszt looked at the excited faces around him, a smirk playing on his lips, refusing to fade.

Why had they fought so desperately in the expedition?

Wasn't it precisely for this moment?

The increasingly rich and mellow *Flower Brew* lingered on his palate, and soon Liszt was wasted. Without using Dragon Aura to recover, he simply let the servants tend to him as he passed out.

Yet even so.

Early the next morning, Liszt woke up refreshed, with not a trace of hangover discomfort. No matter how drunk he had been, his formidable Dragon Aura instinctively and swiftly restored his body to peak condition.

After washing up, he enjoyed a hearty breakfast, restocked his supplies from the gemstone pocket dimension, and gathered his spirit bugs—including Yevich's—before boarding the *Flower Vessel* and swiftly heading back to Flower Town. By afternoon, he arrived at his original fief, Flower Town, as lively as ever.

Administrator Isaiah greeted him at the port, and even butler Carter had come to wait for him.

"My lord, welcome home!"

"Good afternoon, Carter."

Sending the officials off to return to their duties, Liszt made his way back to the castle with Carter leading the way. The castle was just as he had left it before the expedition. From afar, a psychic tug made him look up—there was Thorn Fairy Jie La, flying toward him with excited cries of "Wah! Wah!"

She landed right on Liszt's head in an instant.

"Wah!"

She chirped mournfully.

Liszt lifted her onto his palm, gently stroking the tiny leaves on her head, equally wistful. "Little one, have you been getting into trouble while I was away?"

"Wah!" Jie La quickly denied it.

But seeing the resigned look in Butler Carter's eyes, Liszt knew she had been up to mischief in his absence. He didn’t press the matter, instead gesturing for Jie La to meet the new companions. The nine spirit bugs he had summoned with a mental call now stared at each other, curiously wide-eyed.

"Jigu."

"Gulu."

"Wula."

"Kaka."

A chorus of chirps and squawks erupted—clearly, the atmosphere among these spirit bugs was far from friendly. The usually domineering Jie La, hands on her hips, furiously scolded the newcomers: "Wah! Wah! Wah!"

And so, the spirit bugs fired back.

The place instantly went wild.

It wasn’t until Liszt glared and barked, "Cut it out, all of you!"

that they reluctantly closed their mouths, unable to defy the power of their contracts.

Carter discreetly wiped his sweat beside him. "Boss, just Jie La alone nearly turned the castle upside down. Now that you’ve made such a huge haul and caught so many spirit bugs... I fear the spirit bug quarters in the castle won’t be enough."

"Convert the other spare rooms into spirit bug quarters as well. Keep the well-behaved ones together and isolate the unruly ones separately... For now, we’ll make do. Once Thorn Fort is completed, there will be brand-new spirit bug quarters where each one can have its own dedicated space."

For now, they’ll just have to cram in, with stricter discipline enforced—no fighting allowed.