Chapter 593: Bloody Mary

This chapter is an additional update sponsored by the guild leader "Dusk’s Battle Song," with one update for now and the remaining ten to be completed later. By the way, Battle Song has three accounts, all of which have become guild leaders...

——

The task failed.

The smooth-running serpentine smoke task encountered its first failure. From the moment he discovered the serpentine smoke task, Liszt had wondered what changes might occur if the task failed.

However, fearing unpredictable consequences, he had always strived to complete or alter the tasks. Moreover, the rewards for those tasks were so lucrative that he couldn’t bear to let them fail. Even this time, with the evolution of the Tulip Spirit Bug, Liszt still hoped to avoid failure.

Yet, it still failed. He stared unblinkingly at the shifting serpentine smoke, awaiting the latest changes.

Slowly.

The twisting smoke began to form new serpent script: "Task: When good luck runs out, misfortune will take its place. You can’t walk by the river without getting your feet wet, but you must learn to grow in adversity. Like a seagull facing the tempest, vanquish the bat of the night. Reward: *Bloody Mary*."

He frowned. “Hmm?”

“Still a task?”

“Good luck runs out, misfortune takes its place?” Liszt felt baffled. He had considered the possibility that the serpentine smoke task might abandon him or inflict retaliation such as severe injuries. Instead, it merely stated that "good luck" had turned to "misfortune," followed by a demand to defeat the bat of the night.

Completing the task still yielded a reward, with barely any difference overall.

He felt somewhat disappointed yet oddly relieved—he was satisfied with the current form of the serpentine smoke task and didn’t wish for any drastic alterations.

Soon.

His attention shifted to the task itself: “What is the bat of the night, and what is *Bloody Mary*? I think I’ve heard of *Bloody Mary*—isn’t it a cocktail? I recall seeing it in many movies. Is this about giving me a new cocktail recipe?”

*Bloody Mary* already had an interpretation—it was a cocktail.

As for the bat of the night, Liszt wasn’t entirely sure. He suspected it might refer to some bat-like magical beast or perhaps a vampire?

In chivalric legends, there were stories about vampires—supernatural humans who could transform into bats. Ghosts, liches, and sea demons had already been proven to exist, so he believed vampires must exist too. In Curtis Truth’s notes, "vampires" were even mentioned alongside mages.

They seemed to be a type of special spellcaster, much like druids.

“So, is there a vampire carrying the recipe for a Bloody Mary cocktail, and I’m supposed to kill them to obtain it?” Liszt wasn’t nervous. He was no greenhorn anymore. As a quasi-dragon knight, he feared no challenge—unless a full dragon knight came for him.

“When will the bat of the night appear?”

He waited until late into the night, but spotted nothing. Using his Magic Eye, he scanned the surroundings and even rode Land Bird Loki for a patrol, yet found no trace of the elusive nocturnal bat.

His sleep that night was restless.

But even as he led the knights toward Tulip Castle at dawn the next day, the bat of the night still hadn’t appeared. He decided to stop waiting—perhaps the bat would ambush him on the road. As for an attack on his territory, Liszt could only hope that Parris, Cris, and Acheronides could hold their ground.

He had already instructed the butler, Carter, that if the territory faced any danger, he should immediately escort the spirit bugs to the seaside castle and sound the horn repeatedly. Upon hearing the horn, Acheronides would protect these spirit bugs, keeping them safe underwater.

Protecting the spirit bugs meant protecting most of the territory.

...

At Coral City’s harbor, the fleet set sail.

Liszt no longer traveled with the Earl aboard the Tulip family’s largest three-masted frigate, the Tulip. Instead, he stayed on his own Sunset, enjoying the comfort of its temperature-regulated cabin. Even upon arriving at Hoof City, the smoke task stayed dormant—the bat of the night had yet to reveal itself.

"I've talked to Acheronides. If vampires or the like attack the territory, she will quickly come to inform me while ensuring the safety of the Spirit Bugs... Given Acheronides' speed and strength, there should be no danger in the sea. If anything happened, she would have come to tell me by now... It should be fine."

The journey from Black Horse Island to Hoof City takes four days by ship, but Acheronides could arrive in half a day at her speed.

Even traveling from Black Horse Island to the mainland wouldn’t take more than a day.

So, since Acheronides hadn’t appeared, he wasn’t worried about the territory.

The port of Ironhoof City was bustling, with almost all the nobles of the Duchy participating in this expedition. The fleets of the great nobles were densely packed, clogging the entire harbor. His father, the Count, had to attend a meeting, and Liszt wasn’t familiar with many nobles, so he simply wandered around the outskirts of Hoof City.

Not long after, he heard that the trading market in Hoof City had Spirit Bugs for sale—a rare opportunity with so many nobles gathered in one place, naturally not to be wasted.

Liszt, feeling rather bored, wouldn’t miss it either.

He put on a mask and pinned a specially crafted dried tulip flower to his chest to ward off the overwhelming stench of Hoof City, then led his servants into the market.

"Viscount Liszt, it really is you." While strolling through the market, Liszt suddenly heard someone greet him. Turning around, he saw it was Jobus Moonbloom, the son of Count Jonas Moonbloom of Moonlight City.

"Sir Jobus, you’re also browsing the market?"

"Yes, hoping to see if there are any Spirit Bugs for trade." Jobus, ever sociable, immediately introduced Liszt to the young nobles accompanying him, all heirs of the Blue Blood Alliance.

Unlike landed nobles, the heirs of the Blue Blood Alliance typically went to the battlefield for training upon coming of age. Though the death rate was high, their advancement in rank was much faster than that of landed nobles. Most of their resources came either from the Grand Duke’s rewards or battlefield plunder.

Income from managing their fiefs played a minor role.

The Blue Blood Alliance and landed nobles rarely mixed, and young nobles seldom interacted. But Liszt, being the youngest sky knight in the country, had an impressive reputation. The young nobles accompanying Jobus greeted him politely.

Liszt returned the courtesy, neither aloof nor overly friendly.

After exchanging greetings, they chatted briefly before parting ways without further conversation. Liszt continued searching the market for Spirit Bugs, but few were worth buying. He did spot an uncontracted barley Spirit Bug, but the seller demanded 4,500 gold coins and refused to budge.

Spending that much on a barley Spirit Bug was foolish—even a Spirit Bug capable of cultivating magical herbs might not be worth such a price.

Liszt didn’t push it.

He had no magical barley herbs, so buying it would be a severe loss. Moreover, the death of the Tulip-spirit bug had warned him—just because he had smoke-related tasks didn’t mean his Spirit Bugs were immune to failed evolutions. He even scrapped his plans to stimulate Jie La.

The evolution from a Spirit Bug to a Grand Sprite also carried a high risk of failure—though it wouldn’t die like the Tulip-spirit bug, crippling exhaustion and a reduced lifespan were inevitable.

So he chose to let nature take its course.

No longer would he interfere with the evolution of Spirit Bugs, only providing pheromones or similar aids to help increase their chances of successful natural evolution.

...

That night, he accompanied the Count to a banquet hosted by the Crown Prince.

At the feast, as the youngest sky knight in the country, he was heaped with praise once again. Despite his best efforts to avoid it, he ended up completely drunk and had to be carried back to the Sunset by his servants, passing out as soon as he boarded.