Chapter 439: Determined to Get Two Bugs

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Whether corn grass insects or rubber insects evolve into spirit bugs, the smoke mission must be completed. Bookmark this site [website code].

Liszt didn’t have time to go to Black Horse Island to observe the fruit variant rubber trees. He delegated the task to Captain Kosto to handle—if mature rubber fruit trees are found, great; otherwise, they must have just sprouted near the new insect grass.

In any case, these newly sprouted rubber fruit trees are worth aggressively promoting.

"Levis is getting married on September 12th, with just a week to go. I need to go to Tulip Castle to help, otherwise people will gossip." He instructed the servants to pack his luggage, preparing to leave for Tulip Castle early the next morning.

Night.

Flower Harbor finally received two old two-masted cargo ships, and Gort also returned with them.

"Sir, the two cargo ships were purchased, one retired from the Tulip fleet and the other from the Beer Castle fleet. However, they are heavily damaged and require repairs. The two old ships cost a total of 652 gold coins. Here is the remaining money."

He handed the gold coins to housekeeper Carter to count. Liszt said, "I’m also entrusting you with the task of repairing the ships. With rubber and thorn ironwood, the repairs shouldn’t be too difficult. Try to restore them to the best condition. Also, one will be called Red Tree, and the other... Pearl."

The ship names are just simple codes; he didn’t put much thought into them.

Then, he began to inquire, "Advisor Gort, while purchasing the ships, did you hear any interesting news?"

Gort suddenly remembered, "Sir, I almost forgot—there’s some good news you’ll definitely like!"

The details of the smoke mission have come in.

Liszt smiled and asked, "What good news?"

"Viscount Eunas Stonebreaker of Stonebreaker Castle has discovered two newly born spirit bugs in his territory, one is a nightshade spirit bug, and the other is a flytrap spirit bug. He plans to sell them to offset the losses from the Iron Horse Island campaign," Gort excitedly said. "These two spirit bugs cost fifteen hundred and twelve hundred gold coins respectively. Sir, do you need them?"

Nightshade bug?

Flytrap bug?

Liszt’s eyebrows twitched; he was determined to get the nightshade bug—the recent batch of auxiliary magic herb nightshade is nearing maturity. Although its efficacy is still unclear, it is a magic herb, and its value won’t be too low. The territory only has one nightshade bug, which cultivates just over a hundred acres.

Another nightshade bug could cultivate another hundred acres.

No matter how much magic herb is planted, it never feels like enough. So, the greatest value of spirit bugs is reflected in whether there is magic herb to cultivate.

"Fifteen hundred gold coins for a nightshade bug is a bit steep. Teacher Gort, set aside the repairs for Red Tree and Pearl and focus entirely on this nightshade bug. I want to buy it! My bottom line is twelve hundred gold coins. After reaching the bottom line, for every ten gold coins you save, you can keep one as commission!"

Upon hearing this, Gort’s eyes lit up. "Sir, rest assured, I am most skilled at this kind of thing. Twelve hundred gold coins can definitely secure the nightshade bug!"

"I look forward to you bringing back the nightshade bug."

"By the way, sir, do you need the flytrap bug?"

"If it can be bought for eight hundred gold coins, I’ll take it. If not, forget it. Similarly, for every ten gold coins you save, you can keep one as commission," Liszt said after some thought. He knew what a flytrap was—some nobles would place one or two pots of flytraps in their bedrooms to catch mosquitoes.

But in fact, the efficiency of flytraps in catching mosquitoes has no real effect on clearing them. At best, it’s just a novelty.

Though spirit bugs are beautiful little creatures, spending over eight hundred gold coins on such a useless one still feels like a waste.

For the completion of the smoke mission, he is willing to spend gold coins to buy this flytrap bug as well.

However, after making the decision, he soon rubbed his temples: "The Dragonberry spirit bug costs 1,200 gold coins, and the Flycatcher spirit bug costs 800 gold coins, which totals 2,000 gold coins... Where can I get so much gold? Do I really have to borrow money from my grandmother?"

Asking for a loan is never easy.

If it weren’t for Lvera offering to lend him money, he would have decided to sell the Crimson Blood Sword. Although Tulip Castle is affluent, he only uses the income from his properties as collateral to withdraw gold coins in advance, not to borrow money. In his heart, he is unaccustomed to borrowing from others.

But the Dragonberry and Flycatcher spirit bugs cannot be missed.

Sighing, he exhaled a breath of turbid air and instructed his housekeeper Carter, "Mr. Carter, prepare some Pink Conch meat for me, one portion for the Count and Countess, and one for my grandmother."

"Master, what amount do you think is appropriate?"

"Five pounds... forget it, make it ten pounds per portion." Ten pounds is almost equivalent to the entire meat of a Pink Conch the size of a washbasin, and parting with a washbasin-sized Pink Conch all at once is quite a blow.

But he couldn’t bring himself to repeat his previous approach, where he sent only five pounds of a several-ton Six-Headed Royal Sea Serpent to the Count.

This infuriated the Count, who never missed a chance to taunt him about it.

"Also, pick out the smallest black pearls and string them into a necklace as a gift for my grandmother, thanking her for providing me with the Fig spirit bug."

Carter bowed and departed, saying, "As you command, Master."

...

The task of finding rubber plants was assigned to Kosto; the negotiation for the Dragonberry and Flycatcher spirit bugs was assigned to Gort; the repair work for the Red Tree and Pearl ships was assigned to Isaiah.

Liszt set out early the next morning.

With two gifts, he headed to Tulip Castle.

After meeting the Count in the study, the Count teased in a joking tone: "How many pounds of blizzard beasts meat are you giving me this time?"

"Ten pounds... but it's not blizzard beasts meat, it's sea monster meat, a low-level sea monster called Pink Conch. These ten pounds are the entire meat of the largest Pink Conch among them." This was, of course, a white lie, as the largest were three Pink Conches the size of bathtubs.

The Count has no shortage of low-level blizzard beasts meat; he merely wishes to sample it.

"It appears you've made several acquisitions lately." The Count was somewhat satisfied with the ten pounds of Pink Conch meat.

"Recently, I haven't had any gains, not a single spirit bug, and I even borrowed 800 gold coins from my sister."

"Do you believe spirit bugs are as plentiful as wheat, strewn across the fields?"

"In truth, I find spirit bugs not to be as scarce as that, Father. Based on my observations over the past year or so, I've found that the likelihood of spirit bugs emerging can be influenced." Liszt decided to reveal some information to his father to add more spirit bugs to the family.

The family's expansion would afford him greater security, so his mindset has been changing.

He recognizes the value of sharing less vital insights to aid the family's growth.

"How can it be influenced?" The Count was indeed intrigued, sitting up straight and adopting a posture of eager listening. The importance of spirit bugs to the territory is deeply understood by every lord.

Liszt spoke without preamble.

He directly said, "I don't know the exact probability of spirit bugs being conceived, but I know that most spirit bugs actually die from miscarriage. Our task is to identify plant anomalies as soon as possible and enhance nutrient provision."