Chapter 171: Ambition Continues to Grow

"Secretary..."

Liszt was quite disappointed; he did not have a secretary.

He could not achieve the carefree lifestyle of the aristocracy where "the secretary handles all matters, and when there's nothing to do, one occupies oneself with the secretary."

In fact, he did not even have a personal maid—under the social system that strictly enforced monogamy, even though nobles had numerous mistresses and illegitimate children, this institution was still adhered to.

This was not an official law.

It was a social convention.

To ensure the continuation of monogamy, female nobles could only have personal maids, while male nobles could only have personal male servants, preventing the misuse of personal servants to undermine monogamy.

He had investigated the formation of this custom and ultimately deduced that it probably originated from the queen system of the Moon Empire.

This empire, long vanished, was akin to ancient Rome in Europe. Despite being conquered by barbarians, Roman culture profoundly influenced the entire European continent. The Moon Empire was similar; as the strongest empire at its time, its cultural influence persisted.

Currently, most countries' languages incorporated elements of Lunarian.

The knight rankings, the relationship between lords and vassals, all stemmed from the Moon Empire, and the queen system was also preserved. Many countries once had women as rulers. Although the Sapphire Duchy had never had a queen, the institution of monogamy was inherited.

"The Moon Empire... I wonder what it was like."

As the lord of a small town, Liszt had plenty of leisure time and enjoyed reading knightly novels, often hearing about the Moon Empire—knights would always encounter relics of the Moon Empire somewhere, gain treasures, and become incredibly powerful, challenging everything and everyone.

Due to the lack of historical records,

most information about the Moon Empire was passed down orally.

This method of transmission led to a 99% distortion rate, making the Moon Empire a legendary empire, full of beauty and prosperity. It was much like ancient Greece in European mouths or the idealized ancient kings in Confucius' teachings—idealized and embellished until they replaced reality as the accepted history.

"It's frustrating without historical books... I fear that reading too many knightly novels might make me believe their exaggerated content." Liszt shook his head.

He stopped thinking about these random things.

His study of history, beyond satisfying curiosity, was more about learning political strategies and analyzing the world's trends... but fictional history was not worth it.

Returning to his regret over lacking a secretary,

he felt he needed to accelerate the training of female retainer knights for his close protection. Otherwise, future speeches and grand plans would lack atmosphere and passion.

After inspecting the town's buildings, he returned to the castle.

Entering the study, he took out thick parchment and a quill pen, preparing to reorganize his thoughts on Flower Town's development plan.

"If we want to transform Flower Town into an economy focused on primary agricultural processing, the current layout needs to be redesigned, and trade routes must be modified. Land transport is far less efficient than sea transport; sailing directly to Coral City would save significant effort."

First, he drew a rough map of Coral Island.

In the study of the Tulip Castle, a map of Coral Island hung, showing the island in a distorted figure-eight shape.

The northeast corner was Flower Town, and the narrow part of the "8" was the deep-water port, with Coral City built beside it.

From Flower Town to Coral City, due to terrain constraints, a straight route was impossible, requiring detours through North Valley and Yulin cities, wasting much time.

"Flower Town's location is remote; a dock must be quickly constructed to open up sea transport. Land transport can supplement this, with a checkpoint built at the entrance of Thorns Ridge. This way, Flower Town's main areas will be divided into the dock, the town, and Thorns Ridge, each handling trade and processing tasks."

He wrote several words in the town's Workshop Area.

These were planned workshops—sugar workshop, spice workshop, textile workshop, leather workshop, paper workshop, tofu workshop, and tulip dried flower workshop, along with shoemakers and bonecraft shops.

At the dock, he listed planned workshops—brick factory, cement factory, pottery kiln, salt evaporation pans, glass workshop, etc.

Near the Thorns Ridge checkpoint, similar workshops were planned—carpentry workshop, slaughterhouse, horse market, etc.

Some of these workshops lacked sufficient craftsmen, while others required further technological development, but in Liszt's vision, they should all be achievable with effort.

However, soon,

he lost interest in writing.

"Kosto has reported that the Flower is ready to set sail, waiting only for Glanny to finish the Pearl of the Sea before exploring Black Horse Island."

Once Black Horse Island is secured, his future focus will shift there.

The importance of Flower Town would undoubtedly diminish significantly. Especially if he achieves military success and turns Black Horse Island into his fief, he would likely transfer Flower Town, just as the Tulip family abandoned their old fief and moved to Coral Island, establishing roots in new lands.

"When I have sufficient resources, I'll solve the technological challenges of papermaking, cement, tofu, and glass. By then, I might already be the Viscount of Black Horse Island."

The Thorns Ridge pixie could appear at any moment; once there is a pixie, continuous financial support would be available, making it easy to equip a Knight Squad.

With such support, achieving military success and glory would not be difficult.

Rather than painstakingly researching technology, it would be better to focus on accumulating pixies.

The Hops family and the Gravel family both earned viscount titles through their pixies. As the son of an earl, with achievements, there is no reason why the earl would not grant him a viscount title. At that point, he could claim Black Horse Island as his fief—nobles could earn uninhabited islands through merit.

If he achieves significant success and catches the Duke's attention, direct enfeoffment by the Duke is not impossible.

Becoming a direct vassal of the Duke would be more prestigious than being a vassal of a marquis or earl, leading to faster promotion—rulers prefer elevating new nobles to balance old ones.

"However, if I become a vassal of the Duke, I'd need to separate from the Tulip family, becoming Viscount Liszt Thorn of Black Horse Island?"

Of course, this possibility is relatively small—a mere baron with limited achievements would hardly catch the Duke's attention. Moreover, his background as the vassal of an earl means the Duke would not usually interfere, especially since the earl and duke have a good relationship.

"Regardless, Black Horse Island is mine, and the Black Dragon herd cannot fall into anyone else's hands!"

To claim Black Horse Island, he must achieve success and earn a title.

Liszt put down the quill and looked out the window. In the distance, at the horse field, several horses were grazing leisurely. "Going to the battlefield means risking one's life... when the time comes, I'll see if I can find a position similar to Levis's, serving as a liaison, handling logistics, and earning some military merit."

He paused.

Then, in a low voice, he muttered to himself, "But the Knight Squad must be cultivated as soon as possible. I also need to accelerate my cultivation of Aura, and Hiddleston's training needs to be intensified!"

Once a person has ambition, many thoughts change unconsciously.