The Defeated Dragon

“The origin of John Shoulderpole household's tomatoes being so different is quite simple; it's because a tomato sprite worm is about to be born amidst this household's tomatoes!”

Liszt skimmed through the content of the mission, then looked at the reward to be given, and made the above-mentioned judgement.

Here, tomatoes were the main vegetables. Without a sprite worm, the Flower Town's yield of tomatoes was not high. Now, finally, there was a tomato sprite worm. it was worth celebrating: “After going back, I will investigate the tomato sprite worm. There cannot be any issues with the birth of the tomato sprite worm.”

Liszt raised the gem dropped by the invisible dragon in his left hand.

It flickered with radiances.

Liszt took a deep look at the gem, griped it, and stowed it away. Next, he left the serf house, mounted Firedragon, and left the dairy farm. Everything was over. The traces regarding the invisible dragon had been erased.

After a while.

The butler, Carter, brought the servants to the castle's gate to welcome their master: “Master, you returned safely. I can finally be at ease.” He heaved a long sigh once he said that.

“No need to worry, I can handle anything.” Nodded Liszt, “Thomas, go to the town, notify Teacher Gort to lift the curfew and let the Flower Town resume its original order. Mrs. Mawson, prepare bath water. I am tired and sweaty, I needed a nice bath.”

“As you wish, Master.”

The oppressive atmosphere was swept away and the castle immediately became bustling.

Thomas rode to the town to notify Gort, Tom took the new servingmen to feed the horses and tend to Tremblingwoods, the maids had to do laundry, and the kitchen was bustling with lunch preparations. Just for the aristocrat Liszt, fifteen servants had to work nonstop to ensure that he could enjoy himself.

Although he bathed frequently, yet the baths did not take longer than five minutes. This was Liszt's principle.

He put on home clothes, went to the study, and locked the door.

Next, he took out the invisible dragon's gem and started studying it.

Judging by its appearance, there was no way to determine what made it unique. When opening the Magic Eyes, he could only see countless stars wandering about the gem's magic power vortex. Aside from a different color, the invisible dragon's gem did not look much different from the Redblood Sword's ruby while using Magic Eyes.

“So, how does it relate to a s.p.a.ce ring?”

“Or, how do I open the s.p.a.ce inside the gem? Do I use blood for it to recognize me as its master or pour magic power into it?”

Using blood involved self-mutilation, which made Liszt a bit scared. Therefore, he tried to first pour his qi into the gem. When his qi made contact with the gem, then alike concluding a contract with a sprite worm, he immediately felt a subtle connection being quickly established. Following which, the gem started to fiercely absorb his qi.

Once about one tenth of his qi was absorbed, the gem stopped absorbing. The subtle connection had expanded into an invisible portal.

Following the sense of connection, Liszt suddenly found himself discovering a neither big nor small s.p.a.ce.

The s.p.a.ce had an irregular, circular shape. In the s.p.a.ce, the four directions – up, down, left, and right – where not clear. The ‘wall' surrounding the s.p.a.ce was of an unknown composition, it had no gaps and was indestructible.

“It looks like a sphere with a diameter of 5 odd meters, which is equivalent to the surface area of a bachelor pad.” Liszt was clearly looking at the shiny gem in his hand.

Yet meanwhile in his mind, he could perceive the s.p.a.ce.

It was quite the fantastic feeling.

He also found out that this state would persist for as long as he supplied the gem with qi and that keeping the portal open consumed magic power at about the same speed that his qi recovered automatically.

When severing the supply of qi.

Shortly after, the portal leading to the s.p.a.ce and the fantastic feeling in his mind would dissipate, with the spheroid s.p.a.ce disappearing without a trace: “By relying on qi, or in other words, magic power, the s.p.a.ce would be opened. By consuming magic power, the s.p.a.ce would be kept opened. By severing magic power, the s.p.a.ce would suddenly close. Then the invisible dragon's gem is indeed a s.p.a.ce ring.”

Its size was suitable for a ring.

More crucially, magic power had to be provided nonstop. The had was the optimal output location for supplying qi.

“However, I don't intend to embed it into a ring, that would be too conspicuous. For the time being, I cannot use it whenever. For safety reasons, I should make it into a pendant and hang it around my neck.”

The s.p.a.ce ring was a priceless treasure, particularly for greater aristocrats. It was of enormous importance for concealing secrets.

But for Liszt, at present, there was nothing worth storing inside the s.p.a.ce ring. It was not a priority for him. Honestly speaking, if he could get a greater sprite for it, then he would not hesitate to part with the s.p.a.ce ring. No matter how great the s.p.a.ce ring was, it would still not be as important as the promotion of productivity.

In any case, it had to be further studied.

He reopened the s.p.a.ce and started trying to store things inside. This pose not a problem for him. After simple testing, he grasped the method. He had to wrap the things he wanted to store inside the s.p.a.ce ring in magic power.

Holding the s.p.a.ce ring in the left hand while releasing qi from his right hand to wrap it around an item, a book for example, he wanted to store.

The book disappeared from the desk and appeared inside the s.p.a.ce ring in an instant. Apparently, he had to will it and the book would appear anywhere he wanted inside the s.p.a.ce ring. Thereupon, he delightedly put all the books in the study inside the s.p.a.ce and, as if there was a bookshelf, hung them midair.

Inside the s.p.a.ce, the books were static, lacking any motion.

“Is this similar to a vacuum environment?” He ignited a lamp and then put it inside. Following which, he saw an incredible scene – the lamp motionlessly kept its ignited state.

Next, by spreading the qi keeping the portal open, he moved the lamp until its flame was bent from meeting the cover of a book. However, the lamp still didn't went out nor was the cover of the book ignited. It seemed like anything that entered this s.p.a.ce was immersed in a static environment.

“Does it mean that even the movement between atoms is halted?” Liszt tried to come up with a scientific explanation, but quickly gave up. This world seemed to have a scientific foundation, but anything related to magic power was already beyond the scope of science. The s.p.a.ce ring had no scientific explanation.

He wrapped the lamp with qi, willed with his mind, and took it out.

Only now did the flame continue burning.

After several tests, Liszt had determined that the s.p.a.ce inside the s.p.a.ce ring was fairly static.

“What would happen if I put living things inside?” He wanted to try it quite badly, yet his qi was already depleted.

Opening the s.p.a.ce, storing things inside, taking things out required the consumption of magic power. Also, as an Earth Knight, his reserves of qi were somewhat lacking.

……

At lunch, Gort, Marcus and the others came.

“Teacher Gort, had the fief's order been restored?” Sitting in the seat of honor, Liszt cut a piece of roasted meat with a knife. He had already adapted to the Western-styled cuisine.

Gort took a swig of beer: “The curfew lasted just a single morning, so it had no impact on the fief. However, Liszt, the dairy farm has two less cows.”

“In other words, eight cows have returned?”

“That's right. They actually returned from the Thorns Ridge, which is crazy. While only bones remain from the two old cows.” Gort obviously wanted to inquire about this matter, yet did not dare ask. Liszt had previously said that no questions were to be asked about what was to happen in the dairy farm.

Liszt had no intentions of explaining himself: “Well, the bones of the old cows can be made into stew for serfs who return to the dairy farm to fill the tunnels, letting the dairy farm resume its original appearance.”

Gort shrugged: “As you wish.”