Chapter 409: High-profile appearance

Taking the magic notes that Cris had solved to Acheronides, who was studying diligently, the smoke mission was immediately completed: "Mission accomplished, reward: Acheronides of Truth, a great magician specializing in water magic."

"Indeed, Acheronides is about to break through to become a great magician... But then again, how exactly is a great magician defined compared to a magician?"

Liszt was puzzled by this. Unlike mana, which is categorized into low, medium, high, and dragon levels, the distinction between a great magician and a magician, apart from the types of magic they master, was unclear to him. No one could enlighten him on this matter.

So far, the only great magician he had met was the court great magician, Grimandan of Truth, who set off fireworks for Marquis Merlin at Red Crab Island.

They had shared a drink at a banquet, but their conversation had not gone beyond a few sentences.

Cris had obviously been in contact with great magicians; her teacher was one. However, her teacher had not explained the meaning of a great magician to her early on—likely treating her as expendable for the Goat Assembly, not intending to teach her further magical knowledge.

"Once Acheronides breaks through to become a great magician, I will study it thoroughly. Perhaps I can compile some materials that can benefit Cris, helping her to also break through to a great magician... This way, I will have two great magicians... Magicians are indeed dangerous, but these two should not harm me."

Liszt's impression of magicians was not very good. Although the cultivation of knights relies on magicians for supplying potions and crafting magical equipment.

But the magicians' obsession with truth makes them fearless, often doing terrifying things—frequent explosions are one thing, but even daring to meddle with dragons—the great magician of the Maple Leaf Duchy used a light dragon to create a white dragon wraith; the great magician of the Goat Assembly even used a sapphire dragon to transform into a lich.

As a noble knight and a member of the ruling class.

Liszt naturally disparaged magicians: "Lawless!" And he decided in his heart that if magicians could not be firmly controlled by him, they would not be allowed to live on his territory.

In the seaside villa.

Acheronides was engrossed in reading, her face showing expressions of confusion and surprise, completely immersed in the solutions of the magic notes. Liszt sat beside her, pondering a new smoke mission.

"Mission: There are not many glorious moments worth remembering in a person's life, and the promotion to a noble rank is definitely one for a knight. Please face this knighting ceremony with your fullest demeanor to enhance your noble prestige. Reward: Exploding spirit bug."

"What does 'exploding spirit bug' mean?" he wondered. "Does it mean another spirit bug is about to evolve? Or that the territory is about to breed a new batch of spirit bugs?"

Either way, it was an exciting reward for him.

Currently, he had two small spirits and nineteen spirit bugs, a considerable fortune for a baron, and even for a viscount, it was quite a substantial asset. But Liszt was still not satisfied; his life goal was not just a small viscountcy, so he needed to keep accumulating spirit bugs.

"Facing the knighting ceremony with a full demeanor to enhance noble prestige... I originally planned to keep a low profile, but now it seems I must act high-profile."

His high-profile action was to lead a luxurious team the next day when he set off for Tulip Castle.

The six-legged bird Loki was his mount, with mithril armor, Zankong Great Sword, Swift Shadow Bow, and a bright red cloak embroidered with black tulips; Hiddleston the blizzard beast led the eight little ones, who had been disciplined and returned to their trembling days,

Following closely behind was his personal guard, the black dragon wraith, Parris, on the Black Dragon horse. Behind them were ten Earth Knights from Flower Town, along with a group of squire knights and officials waiting to witness his knighting.

It was as if he had brought out all his followers—only missing Jie La and Nami on his shoulders, and selecting nineteen servants to carry the spirit bugs.

Such a striking appearance, galloping towards Tulip Castle, attracted countless eyes.

Passing through Coral City on purpose, it caused countless citizens to flock to the streets, discussing: "This is the most outstanding son of the Earl, the new Viscount!"

"Blizzard beasts, so many blizzard beasts! That blizzard beast dog just looked at me, scared me so much I almost wet my pants, such a terrifying gaze!"

"The one riding the big bird is the Viscount, his noble presence is as commanding as the Earl's."

"The bloodline of the Tulip family is too noble, the glory never ends."

Liszt did not hear the admiration and envy of the commoners as he roared out of Coral City, heading towards Tulip Castle. Under the escort of the guard knights, he arrived directly at the castle gate. The nobles who came to attend the knighting ceremony came out of Tulip Castle to welcome Liszt's arrival.

"Viscount Liszt, congratulations, tonight will be your solo show," said Trick Hops.

"The glory belongs to all the knights receiving their titles tonight," Liszt responded with a smile.

Apart from him, several Earth Knights were also being ennobled tonight, all of whom were veteran Earth Knights who had accumulated military merits several times, thus earning their noble titles.

For these Earth Knights of commoner origin, this was a transformative day, a long-cherished moment of glory.

The ten Earth Knights from Flower Town had not been ennobled because their accumulated military merits were insufficient, and they lacked Liszt's ability and background.

"Lord Liszt, Aubrey sends his greetings," said the once chubby man who used to be on equal footing with Liszt, now standing respectfully beside his father, bowing and greeting.

Liszt felt a mix of emotions, but mostly pride.

However, his demeanor remained as warm as a spring breeze, with a standard noble smile: "Aubrey, you've gained quite a bit of weight. You're welcome to visit Flower Town or Black Horse Island anytime."

"As long as you're not too busy, I'm always looking forward to visiting Black Horse Island."

Eunas Stonebreaker and his son also came to greet him, though they were not very enthusiastic—the Iron Horse Island campaign had left Eunas with losses that did not balance his gains, leaving him bitter.

Just after the greetings, Levis appeared, putting an arm around Liszt and loudly saying, "Liszt, welcome the true master of Tulip Castle tonight!"

This was mostly polite, but there was genuine pride for Liszt.

After the pleasantries, he quickly changed the subject: "Liszt, are these your blizzard beasts?"

"Yes, they have grown up, and it's a good opportunity to bring them out for a walk, preparing them for future battlefield training," Liszt said, with a snap of his fingers, and Hiddleston immediately led the eight young ones to gather around him. "I’m planning to form a blizzard beast siege unit."

"I regret it now," Levis said with envy and complaint, "I really should have snatched a few blizzard beasts back then; Hiddleston was too impressive on the battlefield! By the way, has that female blizzard beast gotten pregnant again? Don’t forget, you promised me half of the next litter!"

"I said I would give you a few, but not half. Of course, as long as they keep reproducing, I'm happy to share with the family... but unfortunately, that female blizzard beast hasn’t gotten pregnant," Liszt expressed genuine regret.

Reproductive isolation dashed his dream of building a blizzard beast army.