Chapter 280 1 Gate 3 Sky

..The great dragon is dead.

"So, wines aged for ten or a hundred years are just a lie?"

"It’s not a lie, it’s a marketing strategy."

"But flower wine is just freshly brewed and hasn’t been aged."

"How much do you think the taste of flower wine differs from juniper wine?"

"Because it is genuinely aged vintage wine."

"Um..." Liszt suddenly found Levis to be quite naive. "The quality of juniper wine is a result of its aging, and the quality of flower wine is no inferior to it. There’s no contradiction. Moreover, our positioning is very clear. The three grades clearly distinguish the difference in status and cater to all levels of nobility."

"Do you really think this is better?"

"Of course, no one knows how we brew it. If we say it’s a hundred-year aged wine, then it is!"

"Wooden and ceramic bottles are simple, but aren’t jade bottles a bit too valuable?"

"You can produce fewer jade bottle flower wines, factoring the value of the jade into the price, or you can use crystal bottles for packaging. Anyway, it’s to reflect the grade of the flower wine. You could even use gem-carved bottles and have Father present them to the Grand Duke for promotion."

"Present it to the Grand Duke?"

"Yes, if the Grand Duke drinks flower wine, how can other nobles have the guts to refuse it?"

"The Grand Duke already has a liquor industry, so he doesn’t need to be offered more liquor."

"We’re simply asking the Grand Duke to taste it. As long as the flower wine isn’t sold on Blue Dragon Island and doesn’t threaten the Grand Duke’s liquor industry, wouldn’t the Grand Duke give our father some face?"

As the sword saint who founded the earldom family, Lee William Tulip is definitely a high-ranking figure in the Sapphire Grand Duchy. The Grand Duke would definitely try to win over such a new noble family to balance the influence of the old marquis families. As long as Lee William clarifies the sales scope of the flower wine to the Grand Duke, there won’t be any conflict.

If the Grand Duke is greedy and doesn’t want the Tulip family to take over the liquor market in the Sapphire Grand Duchy, we can just sell the flower wine to the Steel Ridge Kingdom or even the Eagle Kingdom. Smuggling liquor is already a business for many fleets and caravans.

The difference lies only in how much is sold.

Levis was still thinking.

At this moment, the family teacher, Frank, reminded, "Levis, offering it to the Grand Duke won’t harm our interests, whether it succeeds or not; implementing Lord Liszt's suggestion to grade the packaging is only a minor expense. If it fails, we can always return to selling juniper wine, which is acceptable."

"Since that’s the case, let’s try it then."

The flower wine business had been thoroughly discussed between Liszt and Levis, and what remained was how their subordinates would manage and execute it.

The lord didn’t need to personally get involved.

"I heard that Hiddleston had offspring when I came. Eight baby blizzard beasts?" Levis quickly shifted his attention. "Let me see them; they are the offspring of mid-level magical creatures!"

"I'm sorry, brother, they haven’t opened their eyes yet and aren’t ready to meet people."

"They haven’t opened their eyes yet!" Levis exclaimed. "They haven’t opened their eyes? Liszt, are we really brothers? I’ve never wronged you!"

Without needing to say much, Liszt already understood what Levis meant; he wanted the baby blizzard beasts. But he absolutely wouldn’t give them, even if Levis offered to buy them.

"Brother, although these are the offspring of mid-level magical beasts, their mother is just an ordinary blizzard beast, and Hiddleston hadn’t fully evolved at that time. So, there’s a high chance that these offspring will be low-level magical beasts. When the next batch is born, I’ll definitely sell them to you."

After several rounds of excuses, seeing that Lister's attitude was firm, Levis was very dissatisfied.

But for the next batch of puppies, he could only endure: "So it's settled then, the next batch of puppies of the Blizzard Dog breed, you must sell me a few!"

"Consider it done," Lister nodded, agreeing.

Mostly, it was just empty promises.

Not to mention how they would sell them or how many, it was even questionable whether Tu Po could become pregnant again—the higher a beast's pedigree, the harder it is for them to reproduce. It was debatable whether Tu Po could become pregnant again now that Doushen, a fully matured intermediate-grade beast, had undergone a bloodline transformation.

Perhaps these eight baby Blizzard Beasts would be the only offspring Doushen could leave behind in his form as a Blizzard Dog.

…

A luncheon was held.

The drink served was Flower Wine.

Whether it was because Levis was too excited about the prospect of making money from the liquor business, or because he was upset and feeling disgruntled about not getting the Blizzard Beasts, he drank too much and became so drunk he couldn't tell east from west.

With his arm around Lister's shoulder, spewing alcohol with every word, he said, "Lister, I'm starting to envy you... uh... after leaving Tulip Castle, you're favored by the grace of knighthood! Everyone's calling you the Son of Glory... I'm always tied down in the castle, Lytton, that guy..."

Lister felt helpless as Levis vented his drunken complaints. To avoid revealing family disgrace, he dismissed everyone from the banquet.

Levis babbled on about how the Earl favored Lytton, how his resources were being taken away, how the pressure of being a Sky Knight was too much, how his luck wasn't as good as Lister's, and how he had to end a pregnancy for Loria even though Taiyana was pregnant...

Then.

He dropped his head on the table with a thud.

Lister called for the servants to help Levis onto the carriage, without inviting him to stay the night at the castle: "Mr. Frank, take good care of Levis."

"Rest assured."

At that moment, Levis's guard captain, Leiden, approached and, after glancing at Rondo standing under the apple tree, sighed: "Baron Lister, I'm entrusting Rondo to your care in Flower Town."

Rondo Waterpot, his illegitimate son, even though recognized by the family, was still unable to receive much support.

"Captain Leiden, wouldn't you like to talk to Rondo?"

"There is no need," Leiden Waterpot bowed slightly, "I'll escort Sir Levis back to Tulip Castle first. If you have time, I hope you'll visit Flower Town."

"You're always welcome."

The convoy set off. Levis had come excited and left drunk, but it was a successful trip—the Flower Wine business was a huge benefit for both him and Lister.

Standing by the window of the castle.

Lister drank the last cup of dragon's milk.

The lingering alcohol stirred his emotions: "With the liquor business, Levis should be able to advance to Sky Knight status. As for me, I'll definitely become a Sky Knight, and by then, with three Sky Knights in the Tulip family, it would be difficult for the Earl not to be promoted to Marquis."

With father and two sons going into battle together, as long as they didn't encounter Dragon Knights, they would certainly achieve victory.

With outstanding military achievements, a promotion to Marquis was just a matter of time.

"But the family of Marquises is not my goal, just a pit stop on my journey to become a Dragon Rider. With my talent and insight, along with the wealth brought by the territory's development, it's very possible to be promoted to Sky Knight before the age of twenty-two, and then spend five or six more years to perfect Sky Knight skills before setting off to find clues about dragons."

Find the dragon and ride it!

A small life milestone is achieved.

——

All overdue updates have been cleared, and Old Bai is now unburdened.

🙂