Chapter 340: The Establishment of the Knight Squad

Take potions, train in combat techniques, practice archery, and engage in live combat drills with Parris; train dogs, play the piano, inspect the territory; communicate with mermaids, play with the red mangrove spirit bug Nami, and reply to letters from nobles on the island declining banquet invitations; host banquets, listen to flattery, consume large amounts of food, and watch Jie La cause a scene at the feast.

Ride horses, sail the seas, and travel between Flower Town and Black Horse Island.

Life in May had started off uneventfully, but Liss didn’t find it monotonous. Despite the lack of television, computers, and phones, every day here was fulfilling. From morning to night, there was always a pile of things waiting for him if he wanted to stay busy.

Just like now.

Hiding in the castle’s flower garden, he used the blood of a mid-level sea monster to water a single pot of snakeblood fruit plant. After more than a week, there was still no feedback of magic power. If the initial attempts to nurture a spirit bug using snake blood failed, further efforts would be futile.

He decided not to waste the snake blood anymore and instead focus on the smoke mission.

After receiving the reward of dragon milk cows, the smoke mission had started to update, but it wasn’t a simple task and was quite challenging to complete.

"Task: As an elite Earth Knight, possessing a mid-level magical beast pet and capable of hunting mid-level sea monsters, aside from lacking followers, what else could stop you from going to the battlefield to earn military honors? Please form a squad of Knights composed of Earth Knights. Reward: New variety of dragonberry."

The reward was a new variety of dragonberry.

This made Liss very tempted, as it was highly likely to be a magic potion dragonberry.

Currently, it was the peak period for his potion use, relying on fire mushrooms, fast-growing magic thorns, intercepted black tulips, and the winter-limited cultivation of ice and snow flame mushrooms, which barely met his potion needs. But he could never have too many new potions.

So forming a knight squad was a must.

He needed to act fast; he didn’t want to delay the new smoke mission by dragging his feet.

"Currently, there are six members, and another six members need to be recruited to form a twelve-man knight squad. As for me, I certainly don’t count as part of the knight squad." Liss was very clear in his mind that with Hiddleston by his side, he wasn’t suited to charge into battle with the knights; he was better suited for behind-the-scenes command.

He picked up the crystal teacup from the apple table, blew on the tea leaves floating on the surface, and leisurely took a sip.

This was the new tea harvested just this month. The three green tea trees were much more productive than expected, and with frequent fertilization, they could be harvested two or three times a month.

This allowed Liss to drink tea to his heart’s content, cutting through the grease to eat more magical beast meat.

In terms of luxury, he had far surpassed Levis, who relied on the resources of Tulip Castle. Levis at most ate magical rabbit meat raised by Tulip Castle, while Liss dined on mid-level sea monsters—the count who had returned from a meeting on Blue Dragon Island and successfully made a name for Flower Brew was envious and wrote a letter.

The count hoped to taste snake soup. After much consideration, Liss painfully parted with five pounds of snake meat and had it sent to Tulip Castle.

The five pounds of snake meat would likely suffice for a banquet at Tulip Castle.

Shaking off his wandering thoughts, he continued to focus on forming the knight squad. Currently, he had six Earth Knights among his followers.

Two elite Earth Knights: wind-elemental Marcus·Wheel and lightning-elemental Charles Trapp; four regular Earth Knights: earth-elemental Rondo Kettle, Rick·Footprint, fire-elemental Russ Thump, and lightning-elemental Griffin·Haystack.

"Currently, there are ten Earth Knights in negotiations with Flower Town. I should quickly select six outstanding ones to form the knight squad."

After slaying the snake, Liss’s reputation grew, and more knights were eager to join him.

However, he wouldn’t accept everyone who wanted to join; virtues, personality, age, and status were all criteria to be carefully weighed.

Putting down the teacup, his eyes scanned around the apple table, and he asked, "Advisor Gort, Teacher Marcus, Charles, Zanbuluota, which six of these ten Earth Knights do you think we should recruit to form the knight squad?"

Gort and Marcus were his teachers and most trusted individuals.

Charles was a veteran elite Earth Knight, and his outsider status allowed him to provide better insights; Zanbuluota was a noble who had been stripped of his title but still had his own perspective.

He called them in to provide him with advice.

Gort shook his wooden cup. "Green tea leaves are truly magical. They taste bitter at first, but the more you drink, the more fragrant they become... My lord, I don’t have a firsthand sense of the Earth Knights' strength, so I can’t offer much opinion, but Henry is not suitable. He has committed theft."

"Then exclude Henry," decided Liszt. Although Henry was strong and fought bravely, he had committed theft, which was a stain on his record.

"Solon and Paul are too old; there’s no need to continue cultivating them. I suggest we give up on them," said Marcus solemnly.

Both were already over forty and remained ordinary Earth Knights. Even without Marcus's suggestion, Liszt didn’t want to recruit them. "They can be excluded."

Charles downed a cup of good tea and hesitated before speaking. "My lord, I have a personal matter I must share. Victor once humiliated me, and I would be ashamed to stand with him... This is merely a personal matter between us. If you still wish to recruit Victor, I will follow your orders!"

Victor was only twenty-six and was on the verge of challenging to become an elite Earth Knight.

Liszt had been keen on him but hadn’t expected this personal issue with Charles. After a moment’s thought, he said, "Then exclude Victor."

"Thank you, my lord!" Charles bowed solemnly.

Next, Zanbuluota gave his opinion, and after several rounds of discussion, argument, and compromise, they formally determined which knights to recruit.

Simon·Plate, water attribute, freeborn, twenty-eight years old, graduated from the Knights Academy.

Norman·Twine, water attribute, noble by birth, twenty-three years old, second son of a knight, graduated from the Knights Academy.

Leslie·Leafpile, ice attribute, freeborn, thirty years old, graduated from the Knights Academy.

Eric·Firewood, earth attribute, freeborn, thirty-two years old, graduated from the Knights Academy.

Daniel, fire attribute, was a serf from a foreign island, with no surname. He is twenty-nine, and his last lord, a knight, died in battle.

David·BigYellowTeeth, wind attribute, freeborn, twenty-four years old, graduated from the Knights Academy.

The Knights Academy at Tulip Castle has trained most of the Earth Knights on Coral Island, including Liszt himself.

"Marcus, once all the knights are in place, I will announce the establishment of the Flower Town Knight Squad, with you as the first squad captain, responsible for leading the squad’s charge drills, and Charles assisting from the side."

The two stood up. "As you command, my lord!"

Liszt continued to arrange, "Gort and Zanbuluota, you must also stay vigilant and continue to communicate with knights who intend to join Flower Town, ensuring that if any knights prove unfit for the squad, we can replace them with new members at any time."

The two also stood up. "Of course, my lord!"