Chapter 520: The Lord’s Name

"What is this?"

"Corn."

"What is the spirit bug associated with corn?"

"Mickey."

On the boundary stones between the fields, a group of serfs in patched clothes gathered together, drinking water, eating bread, and spreading peanut butter.

Mark, a clerk whose clothes were free of patches, held a stick, pointing at the corn seeds on the ground as he questioned the serfs.

This was teaching time in the fields.

Since most of the new serfs were from the Kingdom of the Eagle, they only spoke the wind language and not the serpent tongue. To increase a sense of belonging and facilitate communication, the Lord mandated that the official language of the territory be the serpent tongue, and everyone must learn it for daily communication—only the knight class needed to learn both the serpent tongue and the wind language.

Mark's wind language was poor; he only knew a few words, which he had learned from Mr. Grandet.

In fact, his serpent tongue was also subpar—he could only read and speak, not write. But to teach the serfs daily phrases, his level was barely sufficient.

It was the spring plowing season.

Serfs couldn’t set aside fixed times to learn the serpent tongue, so Mr. Grandet proposed to the Lord to arrange teaching during the serfs' rest time. The Lord agreed, and the clerks tasked with teaching had to travel daily to the fields, working alongside the serfs.

Many clerks sighed, having finally secured office work, yet they still couldn’t escape the muddy fields.

But Mark did not complain.

Because he was ambitious.

"You must remember, Mickey, the Lord’s third spirit bug, is the corn spirit bug!" Mark shouted loudly, otherwise the serfs wouldn’t pay attention to what he was saying. "Now, tell me the Lord’s name!"

"Tulip!"

"Black Horse Island!"

"Sky Knight!"

"The great descendant of the Tulip family, the ruler of all, the Viscount of Black Horse Island, and the Sky Knight, Liszt Tulip!" The serfs skillfully shouted the standard serpent tongue.

This was the serpent tongue they had been taught upon arriving at Black Horse Island.

Originally, the phrase didn’t include "Sky Knight," but after learning of Liszt's promotion, the officials immediately added this title to the Lord's name.

Undoubtedly, this teaching method was crude, simplistic, and awkwardly brainwashing. Daily, the teaching clerks drilled these slogans into the serfs. Once or twice, it might not have any effect, and might even cause resentment.

But after thousands of repetitions, these phrases would be deeply ingrained in everyone’s mind, unquestionable.

In truth, Liszt wasn’t particularly fond of this propaganda method. He knew that strength was the key to ensuring territorial loyalty. But if the officials chose to flatter and brainwash the people this way, he saw no reason to stop them—after all, he couldn’t undermine his own rule.

As a modern man, he understood the importance of public opinion—what’s often called spiritual civilization construction.

Seeing the serfs' uniform slogans, Mark was very satisfied; this was the fruit of his teaching efforts during this period. He was assigned to a field area in Grain Town, tasked with teaching the serpent tongue to the serfs working there. Unlike other clerks who shirked their duties, he took every teaching session seriously.

He didn’t even spare meal times.

At this moment, seeing that the serfs he taught had more accurate serpent tongue pronunciation and a larger vocabulary than those taught by others, he was filled with anticipation.

"The Lord will commend the officials who work hard during spring plowing... I’ve been so diligent; I’m sure to be rewarded. After the spring plowing, I’ll surely be promoted from an ordinary clerk to a cultural clerk... maybe even noticed by some supervisor, directly chosen as an assistant!"

The administrative system of Black Horse Island is a new system overhauled by Liszt, which largely follows the previous administrative structure but is more detailed and clear.

Compared to the previous crude system with only a few supervisors and a group of clerks, the current official system is very clear.

Taking the town office as an example, the lowest level is the "clerk" similar to a civil service position, responsible for various errands and miscellaneous work; the next level up is the "department scribe" with a formal establishment, mainly responsible for the specific affairs of each department; and the next level up is the "assistant supervisor" equivalent to the official candidate. These three levels belong to the "clerical tier."

The real "official" is the "department head" of the town, also known as the "executive officer." Depending on the development direction of each town, the number and functions of executive officers vary.

Executive officers generally include the Administrator, Financial Officer, Defense Officer, Legal Officer, Cultural Officer, and Diplomatic Officer, which are the regular executive officers in other lords' territories.

On Black Horse Island, there are additional executive officers such as the Entomology Officer, Maritime Affairs Officer, Transportation Officer, Construction Officer, and Fisheries Officer.

All executive officers are accountable to the town's Advisor.

However, when the port town is upgraded to a port city in the future, a set of municipal officials will be established to manage all towns. The city's executive officers and the town's Advisors will jointly lead the town's executive officers to avoid the Advisor's unilateral control and balance the officials' power.

Mark does not dare to aspire to become an executive officer, as the requirement for an executive officer is to be an apprentice knight, and he is just a civilian who has not practiced mana.

His greatest wish is to become an executive officer's assistant and then marry a beautiful wife.

While he fantasizes about his success and teaches Serpent Tongue, a group of people suddenly rides along the field path from a distance. When they get closer, Mark suddenly realizes that it is Mr. Grandet, the Cultural Officer from the port town, who is highly valued by the Lord and leads all Serpent Tongue and wind language teaching in the territory.

He hurriedly steps forward to salute: "Clerk Mark, pays respects to the Cultural Officer!"

"Mark, I remember you, you were very attentive in my class." Grandet dismounts from his horse and carefully recognizes, seemingly recalling Mark.

Mark trembles with excitement: "It is my great honor to be remembered by the Cultural Officer!"

Grandet nods, but in fact, he does not remember who Mark is. When Black Horse Island was being built, the office urgently recruited a large number of clerks for onboarding training, numbering in the hundreds: "I am here to check the teaching progress of you clerks, Mark, ensure all the civilians are prepared."

"Yes, Cultural Officer!"

...

The spring plowing tasks are delegated.

Liszt does not pay much attention to it.

He returns to Tulip Town the next day, as all the magical elixirs have been eaten by the Fire Drake, and he has to rely on the channels of Tulip Castle to purchase a new batch.

This will cost an additional thousand gold coins.

What's more frustrating is that the Fire Drake obviously won't be satisfied so easily. It wakes up from its chest, demanding food and drink. Its growth requires more resources, and magical elixirs are just one of them. The cost of magical elixirs, probably thousands of gold coins monthly, may not be enough.

Then, as a sky knight, Liszt's daily expenditures on elixirs and meat are also considerable.

"Relying solely on the output of Black Horse Island is too strenuous. If it weren't for the sudden profits from white wine and glass, I might not even be able to afford my own cultivation... I really hope the expansion mandate comes sooner, so I can quickly earn military honors, seize more loot, and subsidize the consumption."

At this stage, we can only tighten our belts.

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