Chapter 361: New Tribes on Mangrove Island

He pulled out the soul storage container and tipped it like a teapot, but no smoke emerged. Clearly, Virginia Truth hadn’t awakened yet.

Not thinking much about it, he continued sleeping.

The next day.

He spent the entire day preparing logistics for the upcoming battle. In addition to the knight squad, Liszt also planned to bring Parris, Hiddleston, and eight squire knights to assist him on the battlefield. Tasks like laundry and cooking would fall to the squire knights, as Liszt couldn’t handle them himself.

Furthermore, he needed to bring a few town officials for a special task—the relocation of serfs.

Once they began the encirclement and capture of Iron Horse Island, they would take each castle in turn, and the serfs from those castles would become war spoils. Liszt didn’t want these serfs to scatter and end up under the control of the Sapphire Duchy, where they could be redistributed to other nobles.

He had already discussed this with the count and his brother. They would charter the family’s sea vessels to transport the serfs.

If he had the chance, Liszt would not hesitate to transport the serfs to the port and ship them to Black Horse Island, where there was plenty of uncultivated land, as well as in Flower Town.

Serfs were extremely scarce.

Unlike the serfs in the Kingdom of the Eagle, these serfs spoke the same language and could be put to work immediately without needing time to adapt.

“Make sure to bring plenty of supplies, especially flatbreads, breadsticks, and dried meat,” Liszt checked the supplies on the carriages.

When a lord called on minor lords to join the fight, he wouldn’t provide supplies for them. Instead, he would only equip his own squire knights. Marcus, Charles, and the others were still considered Liszt’s squire knights until they received noble titles and fiefdoms.

“My lord, we’ve brought 1,500 flatbreads, 1,000 breadsticks, and 800 pieces of dried meat. It should be enough to feed everyone for a month,” Marcus replied.

The flatbreads were a creation guided by Mrs. Abby, easy to carry and store, making them ideal for military campaigns. Compared to the traditional breadsticks used in this world for marching, the flatbreads saved more space. Flatbreads, breadsticks, and dried meat would form the main staple during the war.

Of course, the knights wouldn’t subsist solely on these. Once they captured a castle, they could eat whatever they wanted. The flatbreads, breadsticks, and dried meat would serve as emergency rations, just in case.

Living off the land was the key to successful knightly campaigns.

After carefully checking the supplies to ensure nothing was missing, Liszt reorganized his gem space. He took out some items he wouldn’t need and stored them in the castle’s warehouse, such as mithril, jade, and crystals.

Then he refilled it with food.

Together with the six pieces of meat from the Six-Headed King Sea Serpent, these supplies would last him a year. He definitely wouldn’t starve.

Afterward, Liszt visited the magic workshop in Mushroom Village, formerly known as the Flame Mushroom Processing Workshop, where Elkson used to make potions. Now, Cris had taken over, and the workshop had been renamed the Magic Workshop. All potions produced in Flower Town were processed here.

“Cris, are my potions ready?” he asked.

Cris brought out a prepared box. “Lord Baron, I managed to finish preparing this batch of potions before your departure. But I have to say, the method Mr. Elkson used was quite crude, wasting a lot of magic power.”

“Is his potion-making skill lacking?”

“Not exactly poor, just less efficient. He likely had less experience with potion-making, leading to a waste of at least 20% of the magic power,” Cris explained. She was a fairly talented magician, advancing at seventeen, while Elkson only advanced in his twenties.

Moreover, Cris specialized in potion-making. It was normal for her to increase potion efficiency by 20%.

Liszt smiled. “Fortunately, I have you to help now. Otherwise, it would be frustrating to think about all the potions wasted during production, or worse, embezzled.”

“If I ever advance to the rank of great magician, potion-making efficiency will improve even further. For now, I’ve already reached the peak of what a magician can achieve.”

“Just do your best. While I’m away, feel free to make requests to the castle if you need anything.”

“I understand, Lord Baron.”

All the potions were stored in the gem space.

Even during the war, he still didn’t want to interrupt his potion-assisted cultivation. Mana cultivation is like swimming upstream—if you don’t keep moving forward, you fall back. Now, with the mana secret technique "Qi Decay" in conjunction with the potions, their effects would be greatly enhanced. Breaking Merlin’s record of becoming a sky knight at twenty-two should be within reach.

"Perhaps, I can become a sky knight at eighteen and ride a dragon by twenty!" Liszt was ambitious.

In the evening.

He went to the seaside villa again to say goodbye to Acheronides.

However, he unexpectedly received news about the green caterpillars and green-headed ducks from her: "Brother, a group of ducks and caterpillars have appeared at Nami's home."

"What do the ducks and caterpillars look like?"

"The caterpillars are a bit like spirit bug babies, about as long as a finger, covered in soft, fuzzy fur that looks more like an animal’s than an insect’s. The ducks have gray bodies and green heads, as big as swans, and can shoot water jets. They are low-level magical beasts that love to eat caterpillars."

Obviously.

The reward for the smoke mission fell on Red Tree Island.

The green caterpillars were breeding on Red Tree Island, attracting these green-headed ducks, low-level magical beasts that fed on the green caterpillars. It wasn’t entirely clear what the green caterpillars were useful for; perhaps their fur could be used to make clothes like animal pelts, but the green-headed ducks were definitely an excellent food source.

Liszt’s eyes lit up. Hunting these low-level magical beasts would be easy pickings for him.

Acheronides then added, "Brother, those ducks love laying eggs everywhere. There are already many duck eggs on the island. But they don’t seem to incubate their eggs; I haven’t seen a single green-headed duckling."

"Duck eggs?"

The green-headed ducks were laying eggs on the island.

This meant that if he collected the eggs, he could hatch and raise green-headed ducks, then raise them artificially, just like the fire rabbits raised in Tulip Castle for their meat. Even if the eggs couldn’t be hatched, they would still be a delicious delicacy.

He thought for a moment and said, "Acheronides, can you and Nami collect these duck eggs and place them in the seaside villa? ...No, never mind, wait until I return."

It was summer, and these duck eggs probably wouldn’t last long. By the time I get back from Iron Horse Island, they’ll probably have spoiled.

It would be better to let the green-headed ducks reproduce naturally on the island. If the eggs didn’t need incubation and green-headed ducklings could hatch on their own, wouldn’t that increase their numbers?

As he left the seaside villa, Liszt was in high spirits.

Now, with the blizzard beasts, green-headed ducks, and the black pearl giant clam, which wasn’t a sea monster, he had three valuable magical beast resources.

This left him feeling confident and ready for the challenges ahead. "I hope to earn merits as soon as possible in this war and earn the title of Baron of Black Horse Island!"