Chapter 826: Five-Year Outline

After the funeral of Marquis Merlin, Liszt did not linger long at Long Taro Castle and returned to Black Horse Island with Acheronides the next day.

Unlike other nobles who had to travel slowly by ship, he rode Acheronides' shell at supersonic speed, traversing the Sapphire Archipelago as easily as moving around the city's second ring road. Upon returning to his territory, the first thing he did was mount the chocobo Loki for a ride a circuit of his domain, then found the growing ever fatter Rainbow Whale Rosi for a swim in the sea.

It was the scorching heat of summer, and swimming in the sea was incredibly refreshing.

The Lightning Dragon Turtle raised by Acheronides had become the guardian beast of Black Horse Island, spending half of each day lounging on the beach near Giant Kelp Town.

There, it enjoyed large quantities of choice fish jerky delivered by the servants of Bramble Castle.

It wasn’t entirely idle either. As a Lightning-attribute Dragon Beast Supreme, its body naturally gathered high-level Lightning magic power, creating a natural training ground rich in Lightning-attribute magic. Many Lightning-attribute knights of the territory trained around it.

These knights were all young, part of the reserve force Liszt was cultivating for his "Flame Knight Order."

The Sapphire Duchy had the renowned Azure Blood Knight Order as its direct force, and Liszt naturally couldn’t be without his own. In the future, the Flame Knight Order would continue to grow and expand, eventually developing into a noble order of merit like the Azure Blood Alliance.

Generations would guard the vast legacy of the Flame Family.

The Black Blood horse herd is being raised well. The Black Blood crossbreeds can now preliminarily equip the territory's knight order, and the purebred Black Blood horses have grown from a few dozen to over two hundred. Once these foals mature and the breed is continuously improved, they will surely develop into dragonsteeds like the Blue Blood steeds.

Black Blood horses were slightly smaller than Blue Blood horses. Though both were dragon-blooded, the former fell short in all aspects compared to the latter.

However, under Liszt’s guidance of "eugenic breeding and scientific husbandry," stronger Black Blood horses would eventually be bred to arm the Flame Knight Order.

"It’s a pity that the Rageearth Hound still hasn’t produced new breeding females, leaving the formation of the Storm Knight Order without a clear path. Little Yellow, Little Red, and Little Purple also lack mates, making it difficult to develop the Flame Dragonbird community. The idea of a Guardian Knight Order seems like a distant dream... In fact, even the training system for Flame Swordsmen hasn’t been fully established yet."

The Flame Knight Order was a general term, inevitably divided into ordinary knights and elite knights.

Just as the Azure Blood Knight Order had the elite Dustgray Hawk Knights, the Flame Knight Order would also branch into the elite Storm Knight Order and the elite-of-elites Guardian Knight Order. The Storm Knight Order was planned to ride Stormbeasts, while the Guardian Knight Order was intended for Flame Swordsmen mounted on Flame Dragonbirds.

Unfortunately, while the principles of Flame Swordsman training were mostly clear, the specifics still needed refinement, and cooperation with Leo required further exploration.

Liszt felt his wits were insufficient to perfect the system, and Acheronides had no time to focus on such experiments, so the matter was shelved.

"Our foundation is still too shallow. Achieving everything at once is very difficult," Liszt sighed inwardly as he watched the Lightning Dragon Turtle basking on the nearby beach.

As the Mist Task had noted, his personality was indeed filled with the extravagance of "grandiose ambition."

But some things simply couldn’t be rushed.

"Stormbeasts can’t reproduce, Flame Dragonbirds are hard to form, and the Lightning Dragon Turtle shows no hope of becoming a beast of burden... The only consolation is that Dragon Beasts Supreme greatly benefit knight training. The progress of these Lightning-attribute knights training around the Lightning Dragon Turtle is evident to all."

Once Little Yellow, Little Red, and Little Purple matured, they could also provide training grounds for Fire-attribute knights.

Of course, training near the Fire Dragon Leo would be even more effective, but the nobility of dragons would never allow insignificant ants to swarm about it.

Withdrawing his gaze, Liszt gently patted the Rainbow Whale Rosi beneath him and sighed softly, "Good mounts are truly hard to find. Chocobo Loki and Rainbow Whale Rosi likely have no similar breeds, making reproduction impossible... It’s simpler to just find some Dragon Beasts Supreme to cultivate followers."

Thus, he recalled the clues about Dragon Beasts Supreme he had learned from Kenley Truth.

The Earth-attribute Golden Goat was raised by the royal family of the Iron Ridge, making acquisition difficult. There was a type of dragon-hybrid called the Hippalectryon, raised by a ducal family in the Iron Ridge that had once produced a Dragon Knight, but no physical specimen had been seen. The most obtainable was the Unicorn.

The Pegasus Great Forest was home to the high-tier dragon beast Pegasus, and rumors said Unicorns had been spotted among the herds.

"If Pegasi are Wind-attribute high-tier dragon beasts, and Unicorns share a similar relationship with them as Lightning Dragon Turtles do with regular Dragon Turtles, then they should be Wind-attribute Dragon Beasts Supreme... According to the naming rules of the 'Encyclopedia of Magical Beasts,' they should more fittingly be called Tempest Winghorns."

Whether Tempest Winghorns or Unicorns, Liszt had already decided to make time to venture into the Pegasus Great Forest with Acheronides in search of them.

The inspection of the territory yielded positive results.

Three more spirit bugs were obtained, namely the Wheat Bug, Hemp Rope Vine spirit bug, and Tomato Bug, in addition to the Barley Bug and Corn Bug previously discovered and reported by the serfs. In this short period, the territory has consecutively produced five spirit bugs, all of high economic value—a reason to celebrate.

The data proves that scientific farming has an extremely efficient effect on the cultivation of spirit bugs!

Relying on this discovery and the farming methods developed over time in the territory, it is foreseeable that the Fire Kingdom will see a steady increase in spirit bugs, with its national power growing exponentially.

After completing the inspection and handling the accumulated official duties, Liszt took a few days to rest at Thorn Castle. He soon collected the development plans drafted by his senior officials and reviewed them carefully.

By separating the wheat from the chaff and drawing on the strengths of various proposals, he compiled his own *"Fire Kingdom Zeroeth Five-Year Construction Outline."*

As for why it was the "Zeroeth Five-Year" plan, it was because he intended to complete the founding of the nation within these five years. Since the kingdom had not yet been established, it couldn’t be called the "First Five-Year" plan. In short, it was either Liszt’s personal perfectionism kicking in or a momentary quirk of his mind.

The *Outline* could be summarized in a sixteen-character guiding principle:

*"Iron-Hoofed Black Horses, Continued Development; Flame Vortex, Full Development; Serf Trade, Knight-led Expansion; Infrastructure, Industry Shifting."*

It was further subdivided into multiple development stages... This was a comprehensive and well-balanced blueprint that would serve as a guiding framework for the establishment of the Fire Kingdom. Strict implementation would ensure the successful founding of the kingdom within five years.

Once the *Outline* was transcribed, the smoke mission was also completed.

*"Mission completed. Reward: the creative mage Inuit·Truth."*

"Inuit·Truth? I’ve heard this name before. Just a couple of days ago, during the shipyard inspection, a mage was mingling with the sailing crew—a young mage seemingly passionate about great voyages." Liszt quickly realized which mage the smoke mission had rewarded him with.

On the second day after his return, Kosto and the others came back from testing the new schooner. After the sea trials, detailed data on the vessel was obtained. Regarding the speed—Liszt’s primary concern—the advantage was not as significant as he had imagined, especially when sailing downwind, where the schooner proved difficult to control.

However, when sailing against the wind, the schooner’s speed advantage was perfectly demonstrated. Unless directly facing a headwind, the ship could still harness the wind to move forward. Of course, in practice, if the wind was too strong or the headwind too direct, even the schooner struggled to make headway.

Liszt was not entirely satisfied with the performance of the schooner. He had initially believed it could replace the brig, but now it seemed impossible.

It was then that the young mage named Inuit boldly suggested, "My Lord, why not combine the fore-and-aft rig with the square rig? Moreover, the sails are too soft—I recommend using hardwood to reinforce them, allowing the wind to better impact the sails and improve speed."