Chapter 266: Personal involvement and high-level planning

"It's about to give birth, Lord." Old Defoe carefully avoided the cage and pointed to the area under Tupo's tail, saying.

Liszt, of course, knew that Tupo was going to give birth. His task and the rewards for it were about to come to fruition.

Looking at the very simple shack in the dog prison and then outside at the swirling snowflakes and the freezing weather, he couldn't help but say to the male servant, "Thomas, go get two quilts."

"Yes, Master."

Tupo lay on the wooden board, staring blankly at the servants cleaning around it. It was no longer as lively as before and had become lazy and dull.

Any beast locked up for too long would probably end up like this.

Hiddleston, circling around it, occasionally licked its fur. It was unclear whether it was due to the low winter temperatures or if it had completely undergone its bloodline transformation. Hiddleston no longer needed to release its urges frequently and had returned to a calm state. After many days of abstinence, it hadn't felt the need to wander around the dog field.

"Will it give birth to Hiddleston's offspring?" asked Parris, who had become much plumper, standing outside the cage curiously.

"Of course, there's no third Dust Dog here."

In the vast Flower Town, you couldn't find a Dust Dog to cuckold Hiddleston even if you tried.

Parris rolled her eyes. "No, Lord Baron, I mean, will it give birth to a mid-level magical beast like Hiddleston?"

"Maybe it will, maybe it won't, but I hope that the offspring of Hiddleston and Tupo will all become mid-level magical beasts. That way, I'll have a large group of mid-level magical beasts to form a Dust Dog Knights squad." Liszt's heart burned with ambition. "They will become the cornerstone of my achievements and bring me countless honors!"

"Sigh."

Parris sighed. "Why is it that every noble lord thinks of war?"

"Because the world is not yet at peace." He directed the servants to spread the quilts in the cage and then drove Tupo onto the quilts before turning around to respond, "Someone needs to step up, to turn the tide, and create a world without hunger, harm, or oppression."

"Will you step up?"

"The goal is too big. Even I feel fear." As a transmigrator, who didn't have the ideal of changing the world? However, the reality was that he could only change the small Flower Town. "So, it's better to start with small goals around me and achieve them one by one."

"So, Lord Baron, what is your first small goal?" Parris asked curiously.

"To ride a dragon." Liszt drew a nice arc and looked up at the gloomy sky. Suddenly, he thought of the morning at Longtaro Castle when Duniko made a promise to him. His teasing tone became serious. "I want to ride a dragon while I'm still young."

At first, Parris thought he was joking, but when she heard him say it so solemnly, she suddenly felt that this tall and handsome rural lord might really have such ambition.

She found it amusing.

She had seen a Light Dragon and the evil dragon that gave her the status of a Black Dragon Thrall. The incredible figure filled her with a despair-inducing terror.

A mortal could never control a dragon.

Yet, she found herself looking forward to the possibility that one day, Liszt might really ride a dragon and become a Dragon Knight that would make many women orgasm uncontrollably just at the mention of his name!

Perhaps because she had seen the incredible nature of dragons, Dragon Knights became even more unfathomable and unimaginable in her heart.

"Don't just stand there foolishly. Let's go." After boasting, Liszt had already walked out of the iron cage. Tupo was expected to give birth in the next two days.

Parris came to her senses. "Oh, okay."

She seemed a bit silly and cute.

This left Liszt speechless. Indeed, a life of comfort eroded one's fighting spirit. The thief mercenary maid who used to shout about killing nobles and dared to cross the sea to rescue her sister alone had now become a gluttonous, overweight, and not-so-smart female follower. He doubted how much her combat effectiveness had dropped.

……

"Wah!"

"Wah!"

Sensing Liszt's return, the little thorn sprite Jie La, who lived in the castle, flew out from the bug room and landed precisely on Liszt's head as he entered the castle gate.

It missed Liszt very much.

Feeling the sprite's emotions, Liszt found it warm and allowed Jie La to sit on his head, its hands grabbing his hair.

"Master, would you like to bathe first or receive the town officials?" Butler Carter came over to ask.

"I'll meet the officials first, deal with the accumulated affairs for some time, and then bathe."

"Yes, Master."

Earlier, when Liszt returned to Flower Town, he went directly to the dog prison to visit Tupo and its Dust Dog pups without even entering the castle.

The town officials, having been notified, quickly arrived.

After the pleasantries, they began reporting. It turned out that even without Liszt's personal supervision, Flower Town continued to function.

New fields were being reclaimed every day, not just in Thorns Ridge but also in various areas. The bone craft shop's bone tools were produced daily and distributed to the serfs, making them eager for this year's planting and wishing to take on more acres of new fields.

Stones were being quarried daily. Large complete stones, after simple polishing, were stacked for future large-scale construction projects, such as Liszt's new castle on Black Horse Island. Smaller stones were crushed into gravel for road construction and paving.

The Knight Square had been completed, providing children with a warm training venue. Two bathhouses had become Flower Town's signature attractions, with even nobles from North Valley City visiting several times just to bathe in the hot springs-like pools. The ice cellar had begun storing ice blocks, filling an entire ice room.

In short, Flower Town was now peaceful for both people and livestock.

This brought great comfort to Liszt. His domain was on track, and his team of officials was gradually taking shape. However, there was also a sense of loss. It turned out that not everything would fall apart without him. From the victory banquet to the Red Crab Island's New Year celebration, the town had operated smoothly for about half a month without his oversight.

"Should I be glad that not everything requires my personal attention, or should I feel that I only need to focus on high-level strategies?"

Either way, it was a good thing. The lord enjoyed while his subordinates ran errands—this was the mainstream rhythm of daily life. Of course, there were still many things he needed to be concerned about, the most important being that the Smoke Task couldn't stop. It was his greatest help in riding a dragon.

"Advisor Gort, has the cultivation of the Snow Flame Mushroom ingredients been successful?"

"It's close to success. Several serf households have successfully grown Snow Flame Mushrooms in their greenhouses, but the yield is unstable, and the growth results are still poor."

"Tell them to keep up the good work."

"Yes, my lord."

"The cultivation of regular Fire Mushrooms shouldn't be delayed either. By the way, has Mr. Elkson come by?"

"He came once, but after hearing that you were heading to Longtaro Castle to celebrate the annual festival, he just took a bath at the public bathhouse and then left."

"Contact him and ask him to come over as soon as possible," said Liszt. The Fire Mushroom mana potion in his hand was running low, and Elkson needed to make a new batch. Additionally, the rapidly growing Magic Thorns that had been harvested and stored in the castle's warehouse could also be made into mana potions for combined use.

Since the town's construction no longer required his personal involvement, he could use the free time to train.

With smoke missions, dragon-cow hybrids, numerous potions, the Sword Saint's notes, the experience of an Earl, and a scientific mind, he hoped to advance to Sky Knight soon, preferably breaking the record of Marquis Merlin at the age of twenty-two.