Chapter 18 (2/2)

A moment later, he was back to himself. He looked at Dudderson, which had returned to its nest to sleep. Suddenly, he felt that although a knight order was too far away, it was rather easy to go hunting with a dragon-bred horse and a monster dog.

Marcus will go to Coral City and Falcon Town tomorrow and return in three days. By then, I’ll be able to practice the techniques and accomplish the mission. Liszt rose and left the entertainment room.

…

Marcus left Flower Town again.

Liszt would rather not idle in the castle. He had rested enough during his recovery. He went to the Flower Farm early in the morning. On the flower of the black tulip, the insect had almost finished assimilation.

It will probably take another two hours. After checking the tulip insect, Liszt rode to Peanuton, where his peanut insect was growing.

Carl Hammer was on duty. He greeted, “My lord!”

“How is my peanut insect?”

“It’s still sleeping. Old George fertilizes it with a lot of manure every day. It’s growing quickly.”

“Keep your eyes sharp. I don’t want anything to happen to it.”

“Rest assured, my lord!”

He returned to the Flower Farm from Peanuton. After half an hour, the tulip insect finished assimilation. Liszt could sense the joy of the insect, as well as the additional air of life, as he took it back. It meant that the tulip insect could already influence black tulips.

Since they were born, all the elvish insects of Tulip Castle were arranged to assimilate as many varieties of tulip as possible to increase their strength.

The tulip insect Liszt owned had already assimilated all the tulips that the family had before.

Why do I feel that the insect is excited after assimilating the black tulip? It’s not going to evolve, is it? A bold idea popped up in his head.

Very soon, he vetoed the idea himself.

The tulip insect he was given was a weak one among its peers. The odds of evolution were very low.

A new magic medicine was not enough to make it evolve.

He took the tulip insect and gave it to Carter. Now that the wormgrass had been planted, the tulip would never starve.

Liszt soon came to the Cow Farm with Goltai.

“There are plenty of clover seeds. I intend to eradicate the grasses in this place and replace them with clovers. Then, the clover insect can plant the wormgrass here. The cows will be adapted to the new food. The horses can be grazed here, too.”

A wormgrass had to be surrounded by the same plants, or it would wither due to the lack of nutrition.

It was easy to plant the wormgrass. Liszt had nothing to add. He said, “Your plan is fine with me, Mr. Goltai. What about the millet insect and the thorn insect?”

“I’m thinking to reclaim a desolate land and see if millet can be grown there. As for the thorn insect, we can only work on the thorns on Thorn Hill. Liszt, I don’t see the value of the thorn insect.”

Thorns, as spiky bushes, were usually used as fences. Many nobles liked to surround their manors with thorns as a form of defense.

Liszt, too, found no use in the thorn insect other than providing a batch of fences for his castle and guarding it from little animals. As for monsters, they could overcome the thorns easily.

Fire Dragon ate grass, at ease.

Looking at the skinny cows not far away, Liszt said, “In any case, the elvish insects are the most important for productivity. We must plant them in appropriate places.”