52 – Growing Ambition
The Magic Eyes consumed quite a bit of qi. Liszt found out that he could only maintain them for five minutes. Going past this limit would not only result in his qi not being capable of keeping up, but also his eyes feeling sour.
However, whenever the qi within his body got used up, the Redblood Sword on his waist would send a tepid aura, making up for his loss in qi.
The dragon-produced ruby contained mystical magic power.
He used his Magic Eyes to look at the ruby, only to see it as a slowly spinning, blood-like vortex of light.
“I can see a gem"s magic power, so I also should be able to see a dragon"s magic power. During the time that I have left, I will practice hard and strive to employ the Magic Eyes at will.”
Liszt was very high-spirited after pulling out the Redblood Sword.
In the near future, he had to be prepared to ‘battle with a dragon".
……
“Gort, why do you think Sir Baron wants a tunnel to be dug here?” Isaiah used his fingers to calculate the number of copper coins that would be given to the serfs.
Liszt never demanded free labor from the serfs, always paying them a certain remuneration. Consequently, the serfs were eager to register for the various productions and constructions.
The drive for benefits and the power of the lord worked like a charm.
“To be honest, I am also in the dark.” Gort looked detached as he held a pipe in his mouth, “Liszt is already an adult, and is no longer that timid youngster in the Tulip Castle. I cannot understand what he is thinking most of the time. I don"t even know what he is planning to do with the Flower Town.”
“You didn"t say it like that in your letter. You said that the Flower Town is thriving.”
“Would you have come if I did say it like that? Besides, even though the Flower Town is not thriving… but at least we have seafood to eat everyday, right?”
“I admit that catching seafood is a novel undertaking and picking up the feces is a major undertaking. But what is the deal with digging a tunnel below the farm, is it meant to be a cellar to store fodder?”
Gort took the pipe and knocked the ash off: “Don"t complain. Blair never complains, so every dinner, Liszt has one more drink with him.”
“That"s because he is already old. He just wants to find an aristocratic patron, so that he can spend the remainder of his life in comfort. He has no ambitions.”
“You are also not young.”
“But I still hope to return one day to the rank of aristocracy. I must struggle for my son. He is too stupid, and will never be able to marry an aristocratic gentlewoman.” Isaiah grabbed his hair in vexation, “I originally wanted to come here to see if I could get a chance to go to the battlefield as you said that Liszt had great ambitions.”
“I am not sure about that. However, you can talk to Marcus. That guy wants to become an aristocrat more than anyone else, yet he had quite quickly vowed loyalty to Liszt.”
Isaiah narrowed his eyes: “I will.”
Soon it was evening, it was time to distribute the wages. Isaiah checked the register as he gave the serfs their copper coins in exchange for their work one at a time: “Next, Aleva Dogs.h.i.t.”
“Sir, it"s me, it"s me.” Aleva, whose family name was Dogs.h.i.t, rubbed his hands before receiving the two copper coins with elation from the clerk.
With them, he could by eight big loafs of black bread!
However, he had no intentions of buying black bread as his wife had joined the oyster settlement. Every day, she would go to the beach to catch seafood. Apart from the portion that she had to give to the castle, there would still be seafood for him to eat at home. He had eaten a lot of seafood these past few days. He felt like his body was full of power. The time that he could last at night had doubled, reaching upwards of six minutes.
His wife had praised him for his ability, letting him eat more seafood.
He was ready to have his third child now that he could strive to get more copper coins. In the future, he would send his child to the blacksmith shop to act as an apprentice. According to the sir lord, serfs skillful in particular fields would be valued.
“Praise Sir Lord!” After collecting the copper coins, Aleva couldn"t help but to say his prayers inside. He liked this current lord of his as every consecutive day was changing for the better. He didn"t had to worry about having to eat his fill and still could save some copper coins, “Just that, why does the sir lord wants to dig a tunnel here?”
He was a serf of the dairy farm responsible for raising cows.
Previously, he was still very worried, complaining to his wife that he might have to lose his work, that the sir lord might not want to raise cows. Otherwise, why else would he want to dig a tunnel in the dairy farm.
But he was scolded by his wife: “You can go raise horses if you cannot raise cows, you can go build roads if you cannot raise horses, or you can go cultivate maize if you cannot build roads. Sir Lord is an extremely good person, giving the old, women, and children easy work and letting them eat their fill. Dogs.h.i.t, stop your whining! You must believe in Sir Lord!”
Aleva took his wife"s words to heart and quickly changed his train of thought.
Now he thought that it did not matter where the sir lord wanted to dig. He was a great lord. How could mere plebs understand what an n.o.ble lord was thinking?
……
Practicing the Magic Eyes and supervising the construction projects had become Liszt"s main tasks these past few days.
All the preparations in the dairy farms were completed over the past few days.
The beacon was ready, the bunker was well camouflaged, and the pa.s.sage was repeatedly crossed. There were no obstacles. The smoked gra.s.s was reaped and stacked on the beacon, ready to be ignited at any time. The young cows were kept not far away, while the two old cows, Old Flower and Old Black, were tied to the edge of the beacon.
List had also crossed the path from the thorns woods to the bunker to ensure that he could immediately hurry over to the bunker after settling down the worm stalk.
The bunker also had an U-shaped pa.s.sage connecting to another shelter.
If the invisible dragon did not behave as expected and did not leave the Flower Town after eating the cows and gra.s.s, he would immediately follow the U-shaped pa.s.sage to hide in the shelter and then block the pa.s.sage.
The shelter had breathing holes connected to the outside as well as quite a lot of food- and drinkstuff deposited inside.
At least he could ensure his safety.
There could be no missteps when dealing with a dragon.
Liszt performed his final inspection of the project. The project was not big, so the inspection progressed quickly. It was up to standard. Everything was made according to his wishes, nothing fancy.
“I like this world and this era.”
He climbed onto the beacon, surveying the entire dairy farm: “Things get in motion with a word from the lord. In the past, I managed a five-person team in a company, yet they gave me lip. Here, no one dares to question me, with Gort and Marcus being no exception.”
For men, power was an irresistible desire.
Those who had never enjoyed power might think that there was nothing special about it, but after enjoying it for themselves, they would become addicted, unable to resist the wonderful feeling it gave.
Liszt could not give up the ident.i.ty of the Flower Town"s baron.
At the same time, the ambition at the bottom of his heart was growing. The Flower Town was too small to satisfy his thirst for greater power. Fortunately, it was only ambition. Reason was the one prevailing over his thought. Following his policy of ‘ascend the throne only after the provisions were full and ramparts were built", he slowly plotted.
“Are kings and aristocrats born with their standing?”