The Defeated Dragon

It was still dark, yet the voice of the butler, Carter, constantly sounded upstairs and downstairs of the castle.

“Tom, snap out of it!”

“Thomas, prepare Master's festival best frac habillé (three piece suit)! Don't make any mistakes!”

“Mrs. Mawson, the window on the second floor is a bit dusty, tell the maids to wipe it clean as soon as possible. We can't leave a lazy impression on our soon to come honored guests.”

“Heavens, why does the kitchen have to carry out the oyster flesh to dry! Take it quickly away… No no no, Irene, definitely not today!”

“I want to see the castle's water tank overflow! But Jesse, you don't have to go pick water, Johan and Parker shall do it! You have to hurry and check on the worm stalks! Even though today is the festival, but we also cannot neglect the most important matters!”

“Don't take the entire thing to weather. First break it into pieces, that way it will be easier.” Carter took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat off his face. Today was indeed busy. There was still a large pile of precious crystal dinner service to be wiped clean, yet he had to clear up some trivial matters first.

Seeing the new servingman, Jim, struggling to move the tank with the ice to weather under the sun.

He couldn't help but to tell the other to use his brain.

Jim was big, but also quite clever, just that he hadn't had much experience yet. After Carter made the remark, he immediately apologized: “Sorry, Mr. Carter, I didn't think this through. I will break the ice and put it into several buckets and basins.”

“Don't spill it. This was an instruction from Master. There is… saltpeter inside, which is very precious.”

“Please rest a.s.sured, Mr. Carter.”

After patrolling around the castle, Carter went to the second floor, where he happened to see Thomas enter Liszt's bedroom while holding the frac habillé.

He knocked the door and also went inside.

“Master, you woke up very early today.”

With Thomas' a.s.sistance, Liszt put on the annoying clothes as well as the particularly uncomfortable disc-shaped ruff, the ‘laf'.

He was in a poor mood: “The ruckus in the castle was so big that I would find it a bit difficult even if I wanted to sleep.”

Carter immediately bowed, his expression a bit uneasy: “I am sorry, Master, the noise was my fault.”

Liszt was merely a bit annoyed after getting out of bed, but when he saw Carter apologize, his annoyance quickly waned. He should not blame this old man loyal to him for this little transgression: “It's not related to you, Mr. Carter. Don't blame yourself. Today is the Going-out-to-the-sea Festival, so I have to get up early.”

Carter heaved a sigh of relief.

Thomas narrowed his eyes in disappointment. He was quite looking forward to see the master rebuke the butler.

After dressing up, Liszt ate a simple breakfast before mounting Firedragon, ready to patrol around the fief. Today was the festival. Even though only aristocrats celebrated it, but he still had to congratulate the commoners and enjoy their support and flattery.

Right at this moment, he saw the similarly dressed up Gort.

Marcus, Blair, Isaiah also wore fairly grand attires. The three were not aristocrats with t.i.tles.

“Sir Baron, I, Gort, congratulate you on the festival.”

“Sir, I, Marcus, congratulate you on the festival.”

“Sir Baron, I, Isaiah, congratulate you on the festival.”

“Sir Baron, I, Blair, congratulate you on the festival.”

The four meticulously displayed the aristocratic etiquette as they congratulated Liszt in succession.

Liszt similarly responded according to the aristocratic etiquette: “Merry festival.”

Next, the four retainer knights and the twelve quasi-retainer-knights successively stepper forward to salute him and congratulate him on the festival. Lastly, under Carter's lead, the castle's servants stopped what they were doing and similarly congratulated him on the festival.

He led Gort and the others as well as the retainer knights to patrol around the fief.

The sentence ‘Sir Lord, I, x.x.x, congratulate you on the festival' constantly sounded from both sides of the road, with freedmen kneeling on one knee and serfs kneeling on both.

With this etiquette, the authority of the aristocrats had been continuously strengthened and deeply rooted in the commoner's hearts.

Once commoners got used to kneeling on one knee, the foundation of the aristocratic rule would become unshakable.

“Master, good news.” When he pa.s.sed through the tomato settlement, Liszt saw Jesse Ricewater who had been promoted from a servingman a.s.sistant to a servingman and could receive two copper coins a day as wages.

“Jesse, what are the good news?”

“I just examined the tomato settlement's tomato worm stalk and discovered that the tomato sprite worm has been born.”

“Right, this is indeed good news.” Liszt was very happy with the arrival of the castle's seventh sprite worm. Next, he took the patrol directly to John Shoulderpole household's tomato field.

The tomato worm stalk in the center was clearly quite big, bearing red tomatoes.

Atop a small yellow flower, a red-colored, chubby, adorable sprite worm lazily basked in the sun. John Shoulderpole was nervously looking at the sprite worm. He had the duty to protect the sprite worm in the lord's stead, making sure that it was not harmed as well as that no one contracted it.

Only the lord was qualified to contract the sprite worm.

Also, only a person with qi or magic could establish a contract.

“Sir Lord, I, John Shoulderpole, congratulate you on the festival.”

“Merry festival, John.”

Liszt simply greeted the man. Then, he walked up to the tomato sprite worm and sprinkled a bit of jade powder to attract it. Next, he put a bit of jade powder on his finger and extended it to the little fellow. By operating qi on the tip of his finger, the joint charm of magic power and jade powder was unleashed. The tomato sprite worm bit down without hesitation.

The contract between the tomato sprite worm and Liszt was established along with a fleeting feeling of connection.

Gort looked enviously at the tomato sprite worm before saying merrily: “Today is indeed a day of celebration. It looks like the tomato sprite worm has chosen this day to be born so that it could congratulate you on the festival, Liszt.” If there had been a sprite worm in his fief at the time, then perhaps he might have forgone bankruptcy.

“It is a clever sprite worm, I can feel it.” Smiled Liszt. He turned to John Shoulderpole. “John, the tomato field with the worm stalk is, as before, your's to cultivate. Remember, nothing untoward is to happen to the worm stalk. It is the most important existence in the tomato settlement.”

“Sir Lord, please rest a.s.sured! I, John, am willing to protect it with my life!”

He spoke with great enthusiasm. The tomatoes close to the worm stalk were of a high yield and quality, which meant that there would be an abundance of tomatoes left after paying taxes. For him, his rich life that had began with the Nalda (gold coin) rewarded by Liszt has started to take off.

“Hence forth, it will get better and better.”

“I want to cultivate tomatoes for Sir Lord for the rest of my life!”

As he watched the patrol in the distance, his gaze was fixed at the n.o.ble, untouchable back. He was besides himself with excitement: “I hope that the glory of knights always shines on Sir Lord.”