The Defeated Dragon

“Big Lily, where is Little Lily?”

“What is it, Old Abe? Little Lily is feeding the chicken in the yard.” Big Lily was a middle-aged woman stooped from a life of work.

A brilliant smile covered Old Abe's wrinkled face: “Good news, Sir Lord's castle is recruiting new servants. From listening to the butler, Mr. Carter, the castle is recruiting three servingmen, one maid, and one kitchen maid. Big Lily, Little Lily should go apply to be a maid.”

“Really, Sir Lord wants to recruit a new maid, is this true? Great.” Big Lily rushed into the house. “I am going to tell Little Lily.”

“Hurry and go.” When Old Abe finished speaking, Big Lily had already disappeared from his sight. He smiled, shook his head, and muttered, “I have to go back and tell everyone the good news. In the castle, ah. Drinking milk everyday, what a wonderful life. The children are blessed.”

Soon, the barley settlement's 48 serf households all learned of this news.

“This is truly good news. I have been complaining that Malfoy had no more fields to cultivate and could only clear uncultivated land for cultivation. He is strong and healthy as well as hardworking and capable. Apart from eating a bit too much, he is definitely capable of performing the work of a servingman.”

“Not necessarily. Parker is more hardworking and polite. I think that he will definitely be able to apply for it.”

“Is it true? Will Sir Lord recruit servants from the countryside?”

“That was what Old Abe had said. As someone who had spent these past few days in the blacksmith shop forging tools for Sir Lord, do you think that he would play a joke on us?”

“Old Abe is a master of his craft, but can he still wield the hammer?”

“He doesn't have to. There is bound to be an apprentice arranged by Sir Lord wielding the hammer. Remember the lame Peter? He went to the blacksmith shop to act as an apprentice, and Sir Lord is paying him a copper coin a day!”

“Is the blacksmith shop not owned by Old Drunkard?”

“Old Drunkard has sold the blacksmith shop to Sir Lord. Heh heh, he sold it for three Naldas(gold coins)!”

“Three Naldas, heavens, Sir Lord is really generous!”

Good news were like a virus, quickly spreading into everyone's ears.

Little Lily, who was feeding chickens in the yard, was so excited that her face had turned red: “Mother, can… can I really go apply to be a maid?”

“This piece of news was brought by Old Abe, he would not lie. Little Lily, you have to be well prepared. You will be able to lead a good life as long as you can enter the castle.” Said Old Lily happily.

“But… would Sir Lord choose me?”

“Have a bit of confidence in yourself, Little Lily. You are the most outstanding girl in the barley settlement. You are hardworking and capable, and are the pride of your mother. Of course, you do not need to aim that high. Sir Lord is recruiting both a maid and a kitchen maid. You can go apply to be a kitchen maid as you wash the dishes the cleanest.”

“Yeah, I know how to do that, Mother.” A look of determination flashed past Little Lily's eyes.

In order to have a good life in the future, she had to exhibit sufficient excellence to be recruited into the castle as a maid. Without a father and with her mother raising her and two younger brothers, their lives were quite impoverished. She had already grown up, and had to share the burden of her family. The seventeen-year-old girl secretly clenched her fists.

……

In the blacksmith shop, Liszt watched the few old blacksmiths with their apprentices busily forging iron ingots.

Liszt took out the iron ingots traded for the a.s.similation of the Black Tulip, using them to forge the fishermen's equipment.

Shovels, hammers, and awls, with these three kinds of equipment, the fishermen could harvest seafood.

The Flower Town's East Coast's seafood resource had not been exploited, nor had there been any pollution. The copious amounts of sh.e.l.lfish and crab could be easily caught, not requiring much skill.

“Teacher Gort, has the fishermen selection already been launched?” Liszt took the handkerchief handed by Thomas and wiped the perspiration from his forehead.

He had already gotten used to having a gentleman's valet serve him. So long as there was no physical contact, it was quite enjoyable being served.

Gort had to take out his own handkerchief to wipe off his perspiration: “As per your request, the information spread by the clerks to each settlement states that the new settlement only accepts the elderly, women, and some children who have yet to grown up.”

“Yes, that's it. It does not take much physical strength to beachcomb, it just takes patience. Letting the serfs whose farming efficiency is not high to do beachcombing is a reasonable allocation of human resources. However, you need to make it widely known that poisonous seafood should not be touched and raw seafood should not be eaten.”

This world's medical and hygienic methods were extremely underdeveloped.

Aristocrats cultivated qi and rarely got sick. Therefore, there was no motivation to study medicine. Liszt also had no understanding of medicine. The only thing he could do was to caution his subjects about hygiene, drinking of boiled water, and eating of cooked food.

“It is their fortune to have you as their lord. Liszt, you have an out of the ordinary charm about you.” Gort said a few words of flattery.

Ordinary aristocratic youngsters were likely to become smug from a few words of flattery, yet Liszt had the soul of an adult and his three views (world view, philosophy of life, values) were already matured. There was no way a few words of flattery would go to his head. He just instructed: “Do not stop with the forging of tools, but also do not let the several blacksmiths overwork themselves. Raise their wages from five to six copper coins and the apprentice's to two copper coins.”

Unskilled apprentices got one copper coin a day.

Experienced masters got five copper coins a day.

These wages, which Liszt's had previously paid the workers, were fairly high. Nowadays, as a baron with deep pockets, he disdained exploiting the common people because of a few copper coins.

After all, the Redblood Sword at his waist was worth one or two thousand gold coins.

In other words, more than one hundred thousand silver coins, or more than ten million copper coins.

Besides, the Flower Town was his, so his subjects being well-off was no different from him being well-off. He could adjust the tax rate at a whim, collecting as much in taxes as he so wished.

“Six copper coins a day, oh, these blacksmiths are quite fortunate.” Gort muttered.

Following which, he walked into the casting room, shouting: “Messrs. blacksmiths, Sir Lord has just decided to raise your wages from five to six copper coins a day, while the apprentices' wages will be raised to two copper coins a day. Work hard! Sir Lord's generosity is beyond your imagination!”

“Wow!”

“Six copper coins a day?”

“Long live Sir Lord!”

“Praise be Sir Lord! I, Old Jack, want to forge tools for Sir Lord for the rest of my life!”

“Apprentices can get two copper coins a day, heavens, father and mother will be ecstatic.”

Joy and laughter filled the blacksmith shop, dissipating the complaints regarding the sultry environment. Everyone buckled down to work, wanting to repay Sir Lord Liszt's generosity.

Liszt shook his head after listening to the cheers coming from inside.

He may be kind and be unwilling to oppress the serf cla.s.s, but he was not against using some incentives to drive up the production efficiency of the serves. Compared to oppression, he preferred to create a rational allocation of production resources and vigorously improve work efficiency so that the town's population of less than two thousand people could be flawlessly utilized.

“Master, are you going back?”

“Go to the tailor shop and take a look at the gloves, towels, and masks being sown for the fishermen. I hope that they meet my requirements.” Liszt mounted Firedragon and gently lashed with the horsewhip.