Chapter 481: The cover-scratching madman appears again

Liszt hadn’t really thought of a name for the corn spirit bug yet.

The thorn fairy Jie La’s name comes from "The Thorn's Rise"; the red mangrove spirit bug Nami’s name comes from "The Tidecaller." Both are heroes from *League of Legends*, but it seems there are no heroes related to corn.

"Can’t say there aren’t any—the Explosive Genius Giggs is related to corn—think explosions and popcorn. But the name Giggs isn’t flashy, vivid, or memorable enough. Besides, I remember the manager of the Fruit Thief Training Ground is also named Giggs, so using that name again would be awkward."

So.

After racking his brain, he couldn’t come up with a good name, so he just picked one at random: "Let’s call it... Mickey."

Why Mickey? Liszt had no idea—he just came up with it and decided to use it for the corn spirit bug. In fact, in the households of great nobles, spirit bugs usually don’t have names—they’re just called by their grass bug names since there are so many.

But the Tulip family isn’t that well-off, so every spirit bug gets a name.

Liszt naturally names his own spirit bugs.

"Master, I’ll spread the word about Mickey’s birth right away," Carter said urgently. The birth of a spirit bug is clearly another big reason to celebrate.

"Go ahead."

But before Carter could leave, the town officials had already rushed to the castle. Led by Isaiah, the officials hurried to the castle as soon as they got word from the patrol team.

"Mr. Carter, is the lord in the castle?"

"Gentlemen, the master is celebrating the birth of the corn spirit bug Mickey—I was just about to let you know."

"What? The corn spirit bug’s already been born?" The officials exclaimed in surprise. "Heavens, the glory of knighthood is with us! One amazing thing after another—all the glory belongs to our lord!"

At that moment.

Liszt walked down from the second floor.

On his left shoulder sat the snow-white thorn fairy Jie La, pouting and still mad; on his right shoulder sat the pale yellow corn spirit bug Mickey, looking around curiously. Too bad Nami isn’t here—otherwise, there’d probably be one perched on his head.

"All hail the lord!"

"All hail the lord!"

The officials quickly began to bow and salute.

Liszt smiled: "No need for formalities—save the celebrations for the banquet later. Right now, I’m more focused on the territory’s development, especially the new serfs and the arrangements for the recruited knights and their families."

Isaiah stepped forward: "My lord, Captain Marcus has taken the recruited knights to Black Horse Island to settle them. Aside from a few Earth Knight instructors staying in Flower Town, the rest have all gone to Black Horse Island. Advisor Gort has also gone to Black Horse Island to settle the knights."

"And how are the serfs in Flower Town arranged?"

"As per your orders, Flower Town hasn’t reclaimed any more wasteland, and most grass bugs have been moved to Black Horse Island. So, the new serfs in Flower Town are only staying there temporarily, fixing up roads and wooden houses. They’ll move to Black Horse Island to farm once the new town is ready."

"You officials must make sure supplies are secured so the serfs can survive the winter. I’ll handle the gold coins."

"Yes, my lord."

After accepting everyone’s praise and discussing government business for half an hour, Liszt sent the officials away. As the attendants and servants brought the blizzard beasts back to Flower Town, Liszt settled them into their kennels, then left the castle for the magic workshop.

He was running low on magic potions and needed Cris Truth to supply a new batch ASAP.

He also came to pick up the magic books—he’d given Cris a lot of gold to buy them, so his quest to collect covers had to go on.

What if one of these book covers holds a new mana secret?

There's no harm in trying.

When he arrived at the magic workshop, Cris was not working, but sitting on a rocking chair in the cold wind, gazing at a withered tree not far away as it shed its last leaf.

"What's on your mind?"

Liszt's voice snapped Cris out of her daydream.

She hurriedly stood up: "Lord Viscount, you're back? I heard you've successfully advanced to become a sky knight. Praise the lord, this is truly an admirable achievement."

"I have both talent and effort. Becoming a sky knight is only natural," Liszt said indifferently. On his own territory, there was no need for modesty.

"Lord Viscount, have you come for the potions?"

"I came to visit you and check on your cultivation progress, and incidentally take some magic books back to read. Finally, I'll take the potions." His main purpose was indeed the potions, but there was no need to be so blunt; he could adjust the order of his intentions.

A flash of surprise crossed Cris's face, and she replied, "Lately, I've been feeling unsettled. It seems my understanding of magic arrays has reached a critical point, but there are still a few things I can't figure out and need to ponder more carefully."

"Don't rush. If there are any difficult points, you can tell me. Although I'm not a magician, I can consult other magicians."

"If I really can't solve it, I'll seek your help, Lord Viscount."

"So, how many magic books did Mr. Elkson sell?"

"I spent thirty gold coins to buy three boxes of magic books, mostly theoretical notes. And I spent one hundred and thirty-six gold coins to purchase four advanced magics and eight ordinary magics, including one light-based advanced magic - Shadow Projection, which cost forty gold coins."

These magic books were directly handed over to the servants to carry back to the castle.

Then they began the handover of the potions. Cris was very fast at making potions, as long as the materials could keep up, and the loss during production was relatively low. However, it was clear that the territory's production of potion materials was still too little, and the potions she had made during this period were only a small batch.

Not enough for Liszt to cultivate for half a month.

So he still had to spend gold coins to buy potions from outside. Although it was painful, for the sake of cultivation, he had to do it. Fortunately, the final payment from selling black pearls would soon be recovered, the income from flower wine would soon be obtained, and the production of glass was also on the agenda.

Otherwise, Liszt would really find it difficult to face the current financial demands of territory construction.

...

Taking the potions.

Returning to the castle.

Liszt immediately began his achievement of being a book cover slasher. The castle's collection of books had now filled shelf after shelf, looking like the study of a learned scholar.

But in fact, except for the cracked covers, half of all the knight novels and magic books were brand new.

One, two, three... He was like a diligent little bee, constantly slashing through the covers, searching for possible hidden layers and metal pages.

Hoping to obtain another mana secret technique.

However, unfortunately, by dinner time, he had slashed through all the book covers and still found no hidden layers.

He sighed: "Without the guidance of the smoke mission, it's indeed unreliable. It seems I must go to Black Horse Island tomorrow to plan out the new town and complete this period's smoke mission."