Chapter 45 The friendship between tobacco grass and cow harvest

Fortunately, after more than five hundred words of reminiscence, Griff finally returned to the main storyline of slaying dragons.

"I must assure you that when I swore to quit smoking, I meant it sincerely. However, I later forgot due to the astonishment caused by the Invisible Dragon's actions. Heaven above, it snatched the smoky herb from my hand and consumed it. Perhaps, after years without a bath, its sense of taste had become distorted."

"Please forgive me for speaking ill of the Invisible Dragon. In truth, we eventually became friends. It ate my smoky herb without killing me, and I, in turn, managed to forge a friendship with the dragon using a bundle of smoky herbs and two cows. To be honest, the Invisible Dragon wasn't very large, just slightly bigger than a house."

"I have seen Duke Mapleleaf's bronze dragon, a magnificent metallic beast nearly thirty meters long. The Invisible Dragon seemed like its child, oh, if dragons even have children."

"We spent a pleasant afternoon together, and as evening approached, it came before me, shook its body, and a gem landed in my hand. It flew away but left behind its gem, a jewel the size of a fingernail which I've worn on my finger ever since."

"Haha, now you know where my space ring came from. Numerous noble knights once offered everything to obtain this ring, but I would never trade it, for it symbolizes the unspoken bond of friendship between me and the Invisible Dragon!"

With that, the tale of the Invisible Dragon concluded.

Griff swiftly moved on to the next story – a battle of wits against a headless knight.

After Liszt rapidly flipped through the novel, which was roughly fifty thousand words long, no further information about the Invisible Dragon appeared. Even the space ring made only a single appearance.

It was as if Griff had simply mentioned the Invisible Dragon on a whim and then promptly forgot all about it.

"It seems that the reward for this time is the intangible dragon knowledge recorded in the Travels of the Earthly Ranger Griff... Only brave and righteous people can see intangible dragons, right? Well, I don't have any chance then, being neither brave nor righteous," he assessed himself realistically.

However, he seriously doubted the authenticity of this information. How could one's courage and integrity, which were intangible and hard to define, determine whether one could see an intangible dragon?

"This story feels like a replica of 'Only a pure maiden can see a unicorn.'"

Many heroines in knight novels rode unicorns, and Liszt had read a few. They all swore that only pure, beautiful, innocent, and kind virgins could be accepted by unicorns. As for whether such mythical creatures as unicorns existed, Liszt was skeptical.

He was uncertain about unicorns, just as he was about intangible dragons, especially with this bizarre setup where only courageous and righteous knights could see them.

Nonetheless, he swiftly picked up a useful piece of information: "Griff used smoky grass to fend off the intangible dragon's slaughter. Later, it mentioned that he traded a bundle of grass and two cows for the intangible dragon's gem... My current fog mission rewards me with smoky grass. It appears that this is still part of a chain quest."

First came the information about the intangible dragon.

Then came new information about the intangible dragon.

Now, it was rewarding him with smoky grass, the intangible dragon's favorite.

All these interconnected rewards hinted at a grand quest chain. The objective was not difficult to deduce—there might truly be an invisible dragon preparing to invade Flower Town.

"Ah, cows?" Liszt thought of another possibility. "The dairy farm has two old, non-producing cows. Since the castle is well-stocked with food, they haven't been served to guests yet. Perhaps these two elderly cows are the dinner I need to prepare for the invisible dragon?"

The information was still too vague, and his preparations were insufficient.

Liszt believed that his immediate priority was to continue completing tasks to gain more details about the invisible dragon's quest chain. This would help him devise a suitable strategy.

Knock, knock.

"Come in."

Butler Carter entered with a lantern in hand. "My lord, it's late. You should get some rest."

"I was just about to go to bed." Liszt closed the book, placed it back on the shelf, and frowned slightly due to the unpleasant smell on his hands. "Mr. Carter, please light another box of air freshener in the study. I can't stand the strange odor of this thick parchment."

The carriage of books gifted by the earl had brought along a pungent stench. Despite lighting air fresheners, the smell persisted.

There were no pristine white pages to be found.

Instead, there were only yellowed and stiff parchment papers that reeked of an indelible stench. These papers were made from the inner layer of animal hides, which had been thoroughly tanned after being completely peeled off. They were expensive to produce, yet difficult to preserve and inconvenient to write on. Liszt genuinely wished to develop white paper as soon as possible to replace this parchment, but he knew that now was not the right time.

Firstly, white paper was not an urgent necessity.

Secondly, without copyright laws, the high nobles could snatch the papermaking technology at any moment.

Just as he had refrained from researching horseshoes, saddles, or cement, he also possessed a rough understanding of the structure of a square-rigged ship in his mind. Once invented, it would undoubtedly propel the Age of Sail forward.

In fact, the most crucial issue was the lack of manpower.

The entire town had a population of 1990 people—no, 1991. Recently, two elders had passed away, while four newborns were born, one of whom had tragically died.

Out of these 1991 inhabitants, excluding the elderly and infants who were unable to work, it was already impressive to have a thousand and five hundred able-bodied individuals. They needed to farm, build roads, construct Oyster Village, and soon, a portion of them would have to be assigned to sewing gloves, casting hammers and shovels, and producing fishing equipment for the fishermen.

As for Liszt himself, he was also busy with constant cultivation.

Having mastered both the "Flame Dragon Thrust" and the "Fiery Wave," he needed time to hone his skills. With the Red Blood Sword in hand, he grew even more diligent in his practice, hoping to break free from the constraints of the earth and soar into the sky.

Carter lit the fragrant incense.

Blowing out a candle, he asked, "Sir, shouldn't we hire more servants for the castle?"

"Is the manpower insufficient?" Liszt was surprised. Ten servants attending to him alone should be ample, he thought.

But Carter replied solemnly, "Wheat Worm, Peanut Worm, Tulip Worm, Alfalfa Worm – they're all well-behaved little ones. But their worm grass needs daily attention from male servants. Jesse has been assigned these tasks. Now that millet planting has begun, and soon the Thistle Worms will need settlement, Jesse won't be able to manage it all."

Pausing for a moment, he continued, "Hiddleston, the Black Dragon Mare, the Fire Dragon Horse, and several other steeds require skilled handlers. Before Oyster Village is established, the castle's seafood supply also needs to be fetched by the servants. And with the increasing variety of dishes, Mrs. Abby has been complaining that she can't manage it all alone."

Castles and cities, in many respects, overlap with towns.

However, the castle leans more towards self-cultivation and self-sufficiency, while the town governs the entire territory and collects taxes. Liszt is dissatisfied with this system, believing that it hinders the development of productivity. The greatest obstacle is the castle itself, a twisted monster that controls all the elves and tightly binds the greatest productive force.

After all, the primary purpose of a castle is to provide a luxurious lifestyle for nobles, not to liberate productive forces.

Aware of this, he didn't have much intention to change—after all, he was a noble himself!

"Given the shortage of hands, Mr. Carter, it shall be your task to engage new servants."

"As you wish, Master."