The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

Chapter 0431 Selling Off Family Assets for Construction (First Update)

Levis's birthday was celebrated on board the ship. Although there was no lively banquet, the family gathered together, and everyone, except for Lady Penelope, who never went to sea, extended their blessings.

The following afternoon, they returned to Tulip Castle and held a belated celebration. Liszt also rested for one night at the Tulip Castle before returning to Fresh Flower Town.

However, his trip back to Fresh Flower Town was far from leisurely.

Levis's wedding was about to be organized—At Long Taro Castle, Li Weiliam had discussed with Marquis Roderick and his only son, Roger Golden Wheat Sheaf, and the wedding date had been set for September 12th.

The Pioneer Mandate was also fast approaching—Steel Ridge Kingdom would surely send an envoy to Blue Dragon Island to confirm the date of this year's war with Eagle Kingdom—strangely, almost every year around the time of the autumn harvest, the two Kingdoms would erupt into large-scale conflict, a tradition that had lasted for centuries.

Aside from ancient enmities, another reason was likely the knight system—how could one gain honors and wealth without war, how to alleviate the tension between new and old nobles, how to redistribute wealth, and without war, where to channel one's vigorous energy.

To train hard and become an Earth Knight, even a Sky Knight, was to seek glory and establish one's career on the battlefield.

On the way back, Liszt was a bit annoyed, "Levis's birthday gift was easy to choose, but his wedding gift can't be inferior to the one I gave Meioubao… Although the Knight Squad has replenished two Earth Knights, with the territory's construction booming, it is really not suitable to deploy knights for combat now."

Knights were crucial, both mounted in battle and dismounted in governance, the cornerstone of the knight system—because only knights had access to a complete education, especially those of Noble descent.

Without knowledge to expand their thinking, it would be difficult to be competent in management positions.

Now both the port town and Fresh Flower Town were short of officials, especially those capable of leading in "major battles"; Earth Knights could barely maintain the territory's management.

Withdrawing them all would seriously impact construction.

"However, if I plan to go to war, it is impossible not to bring the Knight Squad… For the sake of the serfs, it is necessary to prepare to set out. Fortunately, it is possible to loot resources. My Douson and the eight tiny ones can all be taken to battle. By tearing down a few castles, I should be able to gather enough money to buy serfs."

In the battle for Iron Hoof Island, the Grand Duke prohibited the looting of resources.

But the Pioneer Mandate was about looting resources, with the only requirement being to pay taxes to the Grand Duke, certainly making the Pioneer Mandate more profitable.

On the road.

He called out the Smoke Mission again.

"Mission: Reviving Fire Dragon Bones. Have you forgotten? The dried-out dragon bones need to be nourished with Magic Power, only then can they foster a result that touches your heart. Please organize serfs to mine 10 tons of Volcanic Glass. Reward: the restlessness of the Rubber Bug."

No change.

The ten tons of Volcanic Glass had not yet been mined sufficiently.

When he arrived back at Fresh Flower Town, he found that Goltai was waiting for him.

"My lord, in the process of developing Black Horse Island, there was a problem that was overlooked and needs urgent resolution," he said. "We only have two sailing ships, Fresh Flower Vessel and Thorn Number, but Black Horse Island still cannot produce food. Merely for transporting food, most of the two ships' transport capacity is occupied."

"That is indeed a problem. Has the Fresh Flower Town agency seen any increase in finances recently?" Liszt turned to inquire of Isaiah.

"With Fresh Flower Brew completing distribution in Red Crab Island, profits have increased significantly. However, we are required to make payments to Tulip Castle to settle debts. The scale of Fresh Flower Soap has always been unable to expand further due to insufficient supply of raw materials... So, the agency's current revenue has not seen a significant increase," replied Isaiah.

"I see…" Liszt said.

"My lord, with the increased profits from Fresh Flower Brew, do you think it might be possible to repay part of what we owe, while keeping some funds for the territory's expenses?" Goltai suggested.

Liszt rubbed his forehead, "I would like to do that too, but Tulip Castle is also facing a Gold Coin crisis. My brother is about to get married and needs a considerable amount of Gold Coins for the wedding. My father has already decided to levy an extra tax to tide over this difficulty."

Tulip Castle was his support.

But Tulip Castle couldn't endlessly cater to his demands, especially when faced with Levis's upcoming wedding—a noble's wedding was definitely an event of overwhelming extravagance, requiring a large expenditure of Gold Coins. Therefore, it was customary for kingdoms to impose a special "wedding tax."

The Landlord or the landlord's daughter, son was getting married.

But what to do if there was no money?

Of course, it was to levy taxes, shifting the financial pressure of the landlord's marriage onto the subjects of the land, whether the subjects complained or accepted it with good grace was not important.

Now Tulip Castle had to rely on the wedding tax to raise funds, and Liszt really felt embarrassed to borrow money from Tulip Castle again.

He could only find a way by himself.

"The Thorn Ironwood, though fast-growing, couldn't keep up with the rate of logging; the Rubber Bug, however adept at repairing Rubber Trees, couldn't allow for rubber to be harvested in large quantities; Fresh Flower Soap, though popular, was limited by the supply of ingredients like animal pancreas; Fresh Flower Brew, though it could capture the market, still needed time to be distributed."

Essentially, the products of the land could be quickly converted into cash, yet still couldn't fill the financial void for the development of Black Horse Island.

So, after much distress, Liszt still had to sell his family's assets. He sent away Goltai and Isaiah and hid in the study to take inventory of his assets that could be liquidated.

Mithril, Jade, Crystal, there wasn't much left.

He really didn't want to sell them.

His gaze finally settled on three gemstones, one being the Crimson Blood Sword embedded with a Ruby, another a Sapphire Magic Ring, and the last being a Pink Gemstone seized during the battle at Iron Hoof Island.

"I no longer need to use the Crimson Blood Sword, and Li Vera has long coveted it. She certainly wouldn't be willing to pay one thousand five hundred Gold Coins, so just sell it to her at half price, eight hundred Gold Coins should do, she should be able to afford that; the Sapphire Magic Ring, as Curtis Truth's Life Box, I don't know if it holds any secrets, so let's not sell it for now; the Pink Gemstone can be sold."

But then he had another thought.

He had a new inspiration, "I actually don't need to prepare a pile of gifts for Levis's wedding. I could completely give him the Pink Gemstone as a gift—a gemstone worth a thousand Gold Coins is definitely a powerful gift... The Pink Gemstone as a gift, and money from selling the Crimson Blood Sword could buy two second-hand sailboats to almost make up for the loss of shipping capacity."

The plan was well-conceived.

He immediately went to Tulip Castle to seek out Li Vera—although she had been granted a fief in Falcon Town, she spent eleven months of the year at Tulip Castle, a true case of lingering dependency.

"You want to sell the Crimson Blood Sword to me?" Li Vera looked at the dusty Liszt in surprise.

"Not sell, it's half sale, half gift. I happen to be short of money and I thought of my sister, who lacks a good weapon, so I made this decision."

"Are you really that short of money?"

"As you can imagine, for the fiefdom of Black Horse Island, I almost didn't receive any material rewards from the Iron Hoof Island campaign; the development of Black Horse Island has left me penniless; and with Meioubao and Levis's wedding, my finances are seriously depleted, so I need to find a solution from you."

Facing Levis's predicament, Li Vera thought for a moment and said, "The Crimson Blood Sword was a gift from grandfather, and it means a lot. I wouldn't want to take away his expectations of you, but I can lend you some Gold Coins."

Liszt, of course, didn't want to sell the Crimson Blood Sword if he could borrow money.

This was a very good backup weapon.

"How many Gold Coins can you lend me?"

"Five hundred, is that enough?"

"Make it a thousand, I'm really short on money... If you have more, just lend me two thousand Gold Coins."