Chapter 407: Looking for Ducks in the Mangroves

Igniting the Fire Dragon bones appears to be a monumental task, and Liszt even doubts whether collecting all the Fire Dragon's magic power from Black Horse Island would suffice to complete the ignition.

"I hope the smoke mission can help us ignite it to the fullest extent possible!"

However, extracting the Fire Dragon's magic power must be delayed. At this stage, he doesn’t have enough serf laborers to arrange for production. When Black Horse Island begins construction, there will undoubtedly be a significant labor shortage.

After one last glance at the Fire Dragon bones, Liszt heads back to the port town.

Since he needs to attend the knighting ceremony the day after tomorrow, he doesn’t have time to stay longer on Black Horse Island and must return to Flower Town tomorrow. That evening in the port town, he convenes a brief meeting.

"Surveying the island merely involves a perimeter check, but the court envoys and the envoys from Tulip Castle will undoubtedly board Black Horse Island and stay in the port town for a few days. So confidentiality must be strictly maintained. Advisor Gort, how have you arranged it?" Liszt inquires.

"My lord, there are four areas on Black Horse Island worth noting. First, the Black Blood horses on the pasture must be strictly guarded to prevent discovery."

Advisor Gort reports: "Second, the bones in the burial site. Regardless of what creature they are remnants of, discovery would inevitably attract prying eyes. Third, the Fire Dragon brick factory—the formulas for stone slabs, culverts, and pottery must be closely guarded. Finally, the rubber plantation, as rubber is of utmost importance."

Liszt turns to Carl Ironhammer.

Carl immediately stands and reports: "The patrol team is fully trained and has established patrol routes for the port town and Black Horse Port. When the envoys are stationed on Black Horse Island, I will deploy the patrol team to monitor them around the clock, ensuring they do not venture beyond the port town and Black Horse Port area."

"Excellent, precisely what is required. Black Horse Island is my territory. They may measure the area, but they must not set foot inside an inch!"

Advisor Gort asks: "My lord, what if they wish to hunt or admire the scenery here?"

"Tell them to hunt on Coral Island. Black Horse Island has no prey and no scenery," Liszt replies after a moment’s thought. "You may discreetly offer some gold coins to the court envoys to ensure they measure the island’s area as small as possible."

The size of the island on paper is tied to military achievements. A larger area naturally demands greater military accomplishments, while a smaller area would reduce the required achievements.

In reality, whether Black Horse Island is large or small makes no difference, as it is Liszt’s fief.

Thus, he hopes it can be measured smaller—much like a house worth 1 million can be recorded as 800,000 through a size contract. The house remains the same, and the payment to the owner is unchanged, but the taxes paid would be significantly less.

Once the confidentiality measures are settled, Liszt asks: "Apart from the Wheat Bug I recently contracted, have no other spirit bugs been born?" After returning to Flower Town, he promptly contracted the already plump Wheat Bug and then placed the Barley Bug in Barley Village.

All nineteen spirit bugs under his care have comfortably settled in their new homes.

Based on the frequency of spirit bug rewards from the smoke mission before, after more than a month of campaigning, at least one or two more spirit bugs should have been born.

Advisor Gort shrugs: "My lord, The Glory of Knighthood! has infinitely blessed Flower Town and Black Horse Island. The number of spirit bugs we’ve discovered far exceeds that of any location on Coral Island... In this past month, there has been no sign of new spirit bugs being born."

...

The next morning, just as the eastern sky begins to lighten.

Liszt takes the rubber bug triplets to the rubber plantation, applies Three Phase Power, and restores the rubber trees that have been heavily tapped.

After several applications of Three Phase Power, the rubber bugs exhibit no noticeable growth deficiencies. On the contrary, after each recovery from fatigue, they appear even more vigorous—this seems to prove that releasing the unique magic of the spirit bugs does not hinder their growth and evolution.

Then, before the sun rises.

He boards the Flower and sets off for Red Tree Island.

He heads to the red mangrove forest to investigate green caterpillars and green-headed ducks in their natural habitat. The boat swiftly sails to the edge of Red Tree Island. The summer heat marks the zenith of the plant growth season.

The mangrove forest is even denser than before. Many seabirds can be seen flying around Red Tree Island or nesting in the canopy of the mangroves. "Lower the boats!" Captain Kosto shouted loudly.

The sailors immediately lowered one dinghy after another, also dropping ropes to slide down to the dinghies. These dinghies are small wooden boats, made by bonding thorny ironwood with rubber. They are very sturdy, suitable for fishing near the shore, and are products Liszt plans to promote.

The first step towards the sea is to conquer the near-shore waters and develop the fishing industry.

Combining the keel-setting technology and the yet-to-be-developed fore-and-aft sail technology, he will eventually establish a deep-sea fishing fleet capable of whaling, even hunting sea monsters.

At this moment.

Sliding down the ropes to the dinghies, they quickly rowed towards the mangroves, startling a large flock of seabirds.

Liszt kept an eye on the depths of the mangroves, and soon he saw the green caterpillars obtained from the smoke mission—indeed, they were plump, finger-length, green worms covered with curly hair, resembling animal fur at first glance.

"Put on gloves, catch this green caterpillar, and feel its hair," Liszt instructed the rowing sailor.

The sailor immediately stretched out his arm and caught a green caterpillar from a mangrove branch: "Lord, it feels very soft, the green hair is very comfortable to touch." He even took off his gloves to touch it with his bare skin, saying it felt as soft as a kitten's or puppy's fur.

Liszt nodded, then ordered: "Gather a batch of green caterpillars; we'll study their nutritional value and the quality of their hair."

Then they continued rowing deeper into the mangroves.

The mangroves have extensive root systems, tangled and complex, but there are some waterways left. By lying flat in the dinghy, they could barely pass through.

After many twists and turns, as the sun rose, Liszt finally set foot on Red Tree Island.

The ground was soft mud, obviously often washed by the waves, and many newly grown mangrove seedlings could be seen—not just mangroves, but also many other tree species. Although they belong to different families, they grow together in similar conditions, forming this mangrove forest.

"These trees are truly peculiar, not just their roots but their flowers as well," Marcus broke off a branch and handed it to Liszt. "Lord, look, its flowers actually grow like this, like little sticks."

Liszt took the branch and quickly recalled some knowledge about mangroves: "These are not its flowers, but its seedlings. The seeds have already developed into seedlings, and once they fall, they can immediately grow into new mangroves."

"Seedlings? Seedlings growing on the tree?" Marcus was a bit skeptical.

"Mangroves live by the sea; if their seeds don't sprout on the tree, they'll quickly be washed away by the waves. But once they grow into seedlings on the tree, as long as they land and touch the mud, they will quickly take root, preventing them from being washed away... This might be the reason why mangroves can continuously propagate."

After a brief explanation.

Liszt threw away the branch; he was primarily here to gather duck eggs and watch the green-headed ducks.

He also wanted to look for the red mangrove spirit bug's insect grass, and perhaps see Nami. Now that he is confirmed as the Viscount of Black Horse Island, revealing another spirit bug could spark another round of flattery, such as "The glory of knighthood shines upon us"—although the current Nami seems to be of little use.

Just then.

A duck's quack was heard.