Chapter 352: The Resentment of 5 Jin of Snake Meat

The six new Earth Knights who had recently pledged themselves to him had, after a period of adjustment, not shown too many things that dissatisfied Liszt.

However, Liszt intended to wait for three months before considering the matter of followers.

Now, with the smoke mission offering a reward as valuable as a mana secret manual ahead of schedule, he had no reason not to complete it.

"These six will follow me once they arrive."

The sun had not yet risen in the east, and the early summer morning still held some residual coolness. Liszt's thoughts flickered rapidly: "No one can predict whether the road ahead will be filled with thorns or lead to a smooth path. Does this mean that the smoke mission cannot influence the fate thread of the Sapphire Dragon?"

Then he reconsidered—that couldn't be right. If the invisible dragon could be affected, it was impossible for a gem dragon's fate thread to be thicker than a holy dragon's.

"Perhaps it's a matter of distance?"

He suddenly realized: "So far, I've done sixty smoke missions, completed fifty-seven of them. Only three missions—changing Old Cobbler's collection, spying on the lord's thief, and the establishment of the Fire Dragon Brick Factory—were unrelated. Fifty-nine of all the missions have concerned Flower Town and Black Horse Island. Only one was about Duniko's hyacinth."

In other words, the scope of the smoke missions affecting fate threads was within Liszt's territorial range.

The only exception, Duniko, was a woman he had shared an intimate relationship with. There was no denying that her fate thread had been slightly influenced by this unhealthy relationship.

However, since Liszt had not gone to Red Crab Island to find her for three months, there had been no connection, and her fate thread had likely been severed.

"So, the reason the invisible dragon was affected near Flower Town was because of the smoke mission, or the fate power of the smoke dragon. But the Sapphire Dragon is located far away on Blue Dragon Island, so the smoke mission can't reach it?"

It was just speculation, impossible to draw a real conclusion.

After all, Liszt wasn't even sure if the smoke he saw was left behind by the smoke dragon. If it was, was he some form of dragon thrall, or a dragon-human? Moreover, judging from how dragon-infected beasts didn't possess the magical attributes of dragons, the blood of dragons didn't seem to carry their magical properties.

Fire dragons, water dragons, and metal dragons infected beasts that were merely ordinary dragon-beasts. Some were extraordinarily magnificent, but that was the extent of it.

A fire dragon infection wouldn't turn a horse into a fire horse, nor a water dragon infection into a water horse.

Similarly, a smoke dragon infection wouldn't turn one into a smoke horse. Likewise, if Liszt were infected by a smoke dragon, he would at most become a small dragon-human, not what he was now.

As for dragon thralls.

White dragon thralls were those killed by dragons, their magic power and souls combining to become a special ghost-like existence; black dragon thralls were those who voluntarily offered themselves and were corrupted by the dragon's magic while still alive.

Liszt certainly wasn't a ghost, nor had he ever offered himself voluntarily, so he probably wasn't a dragon thrall either.

"So, did the smoke dragon die, and its power transfer to my body? The key question is, who could kill a fate-representing smoke dragon? According to some knight novels and magic books, when a dragon is about to die, it flies to the unknown Dragon Valley."

So it was unlikely that the smoke dragon had died naturally and its power had transferred to Liszt's body, but who knew? The fire dragon had died on Black Horse Island and had already decayed into bone fragments.

In any case, these speculative thoughts had crossed Liszt's mind many times, but there was still too little evidence to draw any conclusions.

With his thoughts fluctuating along the way, he had arrived at Tulip Castle by eight in the morning.

Levis happened to be about to leave, and when he saw Liszt arrive, he was quite surprised. "Brother, what brings you here so early? When did you leave Flower Town?"

"I set out before dawn. Where is Father?"

"Father is doing morning exercises in the flower garden behind the mountain. Do you have something to discuss?"

"It's something very serious, brother. Please ask Father to wait for me in the room." Liszt said seriously.

"What's going on?"

"More serious than anything you can guess," Liszt didn’t want to discuss this outside the study, so he urged Levis to hurry and bring their father.

Liszt then led Cris into the Earl's study.

Louis, the housekeeper, was sick, and now Silva, the deputy housekeeper, was in charge of Tulip Castle. He personally brought over two cups of milk tea. Liszt only enjoyed drinking milk tea at Tulip Castle.

"Please sit, Cris. Don't be nervous. My father is not a very strict person," noticing Cris’s nervousness, Liszt felt compelled to reassure her.

Cris nodded and took a seat. "Lord Baron, I'm just worried that this might implicate you and the Tulip family behind you. You saved me, and I don't want you to get into trouble because of me."

"Coral Island is remote, and the information flow is not smooth. As long as you don't reveal your identity, no one will recognize you, and no one will connect you with that incident. As for my father and brother, they need to know so they can better deal with the danger."

"As long as I can assist you, Lord Baron."

"Have some milk tea; your spirit doesn't seem to have fully recovered yet."

"Thank you."

They didn’t have to wait long before the Earl's voice came from outside the door. "I'd like to know what my son, who hunted a one-ton snake but only gave his father five jin of snake meat, wants with his father."

Liszt, who was drinking milk tea, couldn't help but cough.

It wasn’t that he was stingy; he just really couldn't bear to part with it.

"Cough, cough."

Before he could finish coughing, the Earl had already pushed the door open and entered the study. He glanced at Liszt and the woman next to him. Cris wasn’t wearing a magic cloak, just ordinary clothes. After the Earl took a look, he went straight behind the desk. "Go on, Liszt, my dear son, what do you want with me?"

Levis closed the door tightly and asked, "Liszt, are you sure this young lady, whose name we haven't asked yet, should stay in the study?"

"Her name is Cris Truth, and she is a mage. The information comes from her," Liszt ignored the Earl's earlier jibe about the "five jin of snake meat" and said solemnly, "Brother, please make sure again that no one is eavesdropping outside the door or window."

"This careful?"

Although feeling a bit unnatural being ordered around by Liszt, Levis still checked carefully.

The Earl had already poured himself a glass of red wine and took a small sip. "Cut the mystery. Just say it. What message does this Cris have?"

"The Bull Marquis might be planning to assassinate the Sapphire Duchy’s dragon, or maybe he already has. At least a week and a half, possibly two weeks, have passed since Cris delivered the message. She was pursued by a great mage across the sea, encased in eternal ice, and drifted to Coral Island."

Cris and the others escaped by boat from Iron Horse Island but didn't know where they had sailed to. After being caught by a great mage, she sank into the sea.

Drifting with the currents to the waters near Flower Town, it took about five days. It can be roughly judged that the Bull Marquis would act during this time to avoid complications.

Cris then fell into a coma for nine days, which was enough time for a dragon slaughter to conclude.

Levis couldn’t help but laugh dismissively. "Assassinate the Sapphire Duchy’s dragon? Liszt, and Miss Cris, do you realize how reckless this plan is?"