Chapter 847: Cousin Rolly

... the great dragon is slain.

The future of the Sapphire Duchy is known only to the Sapphire Duke and his heir, Anthony.

Over 7,000 kilometers away, Liszt remains unaware. He is far too busy to spare any attention for matters beyond the Flame Archipelago.

Yet, a steady stream of intelligence still reaches him—Xavier Dung’s rat network and Mary Dawnbreak’s blood servants serve as his hidden eyes in the shadows.

The rats primarily gather intelligence within the Sapphire Duchy, focusing on safeguarding his territories from external infiltration. The blood servants, meanwhile, operate in the Kingdom of the Eagle and the Kingdom of Steel Ridge, lying low until major movements occur, providing early warnings.

For now, the Sapphire Duchy remains stable, the Kingdom of the Eagle is preoccupied with internal consolidation, and the Kingdom of Steel Ridge is embroiled in fierce warfare with the Blastfurnace Kingdom.

No one has the bandwidth to pay attention to the Flame Archipelago.

"Has the Pinecone family's fleet reached the estuary of the Whirlpool River? I should go personally and oversee their settlement arrangements." After receiving the report from a knight, Liszt made quick arrangements. "Have Viscount Vernal lead a knight order and five thousand serfs to the Whirlpool Estuary."

From Ember Town to the Whirlpool River estuary, the knights could board the newly launched single-masted ships from the shipyard.

Though the journey downstream wasn’t particularly fast, it conserved energy. Estimating that Vernal had likely arrived with the knights by now, Liszt rode the invisible dragon, Bard, and set off to meet the Pinecone family, who had pledged their loyalty to him.

With a boom!

Arriving above the camp, Liszt leaped directly from the invisible dragon’s back, his figure gradually materializing upon landing—his trademark entrance.

He always enjoyed such low-key but flashy theatrics.

"Your Highness!" The knights guarding the camp saluted as Liszt emerged from the dust, long used to his grand arrivals.

Brushing the dust off his cloak, Liszt saw Vernal and Roland Pinecone approaching to greet him.

"Your Highness!"

"Liszt!"

"Uncle, how was the voyage?" Liszt gestured for them to skip formalities and warmly inquired after Roland—now officially his vassal, as the Pinecone family had sworn fealty to him.

"Thanks to the navigators you sent and those wind- and water-calming pearls, we survived four storms without major losses," Roland replied, still shaken by the ordeal.

Ever since dispatching exploratory fleets to search for new islands, Liszt had commissioned the Magic Guild to mass-produce wind-calming and water-stabilizing pearls to ensure safe voyages. The sea showed no mercy—even the largest Fast Royal Yacht could not defy its waves.

Yet, these enchanted pearls could tame the ocean’s rage. In a world steeped in magic, there was always a miraculous solution.

"I’m glad you arrived safely," Liszt reassured him.

Only then did he notice the young, stocky knight standing behind Roland—his cousin, Rolly Pinecone. Roland’s other son, Russell, had stayed behind to handle the family’s land transfer and hadn’t joined them.

The Pinecone women had stayed behind too.

"Liszt..." Rolly tried to greet him but hesitated, his voice wavering.

Back when Liszt was still the Baron of Flower Town, they had joked and laughed together, with Rolly even showing off the yellow gem pendant gifted by their grandfather.

But as Liszt became a dragonrider, Rolly grew increasingly distant, his admiration tinged with fear—especially after constant warnings from his parents on how to conduct himself around a dragonrider.

The unbending knightly hierarchy deepened Rolly’s insecurity. The cousin he once mocked—who had received only a tattered notebook from their grandfather—had now risen to become a titan of power in the world.

No longer the "overlooked younger cousin" he remembered.

"Rolly." Liszt stepped forward, smiling as he patted Rolly’s shoulder. "Not bad—you made Earth Knight!"

Although he wasn't particularly close to this branch of relatives, Aunt Melinda's family, and had little interaction with them, he still made sure to be welcoming, especially since they had now thrown their lot in with him.

Rolly gave an awkward smile: "I haven't even reached the elite level yet, still got ways to go."

"Keep at it, becoming an elite Earth Knight won't be a problem." Seeing how nervous Rolly was, Liszt didn’t force further small talk and turned back to continue his conversation with Viscount Roland. "I’d had everything mapped out for the Pinecone family. Uncle, you’ll develop here at the Whirlpool River estuary and be responsible for trade with Tulip Island in the future."

"Me, in charge of trade with Tulip Island?"

"Yes, mainly for resource sharing between the two islands. The Tulip family will fully develop Tulip Island, but they’ll definitely lack labor. I’ll provide them with some serfs."

"But don’t you lack serfs yourself?"

"Haha, in the past, yes—but now, I actually have more than enough... Flame Island is crawling with numerous native tribes, all excellent sources of serfs. The numbers are so large that my current knight retinue can’t fully handle them all."

"That’s truly exciting news." Viscount Roland hesitated slightly before asking, "Can the Pinecone family also buy a batch of serfs?"

"No need to buy. You can capture them yourselves—just try to minimize costs and unnecessary killings. Flame Island is vast, and fully developing it will require an enormous number of serfs. Even capturing all the native tribes won’t be enough."

At this stage, the native tribes are too large to fully utilize, but once the knight ranks expand, their numbers will become scarce.

So every native killed is a loss of resources.

Furnell added from the side: "With His Highness’s approval, our knight order has largely stopped capturing serfs directly. Instead, we mainly recruit them by luring the Ancient Wizards. Once most tribes are drawn to serfdom, even those Ancient Wizards can’t resist assimilation and end up working for us."

Centuries of forest life have severely left the Ancient Wizards slow-witted, making them unable to recognize the knights’ blatant strategy of gradual encroachment.

They get swindled and even help the knights count the money.

Though these Ancient Wizards aren’t highly skilled in spellcasting, their magic is still effective. After being centrally managed and continuously indoctrinated, they can serve as pioneers in forest development—way better than those African workers, at least the Moon Killers aren’t lazy and work diligently.

After all, their ancestors’ bloodline traces back to the Moon Empire, not gorillas.

...

For now, the Pinecone family has settled at the Whirlpool River estuary.

As an old viscount family with ties to the Longtaro family, their accumulated wealth is considerable. The willing knight followers, along with temporarily recruited Earth Knights, number over 300. There are also more than 800 squires and the first batch of 1,000 relocated serfs.

For Flame Island’s development, this is a solid start.

Combined with the knight order and Moon Killer serfs brought by Furnell, they will focus on building the future "Estuary City" and Flame Island’s first port—Estuary Harbor.