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Walking on the main road of Thorn Ridge.

Liszt felt quite satisfied. When he first arrived, this road made people anxious, constantly worrying about a magical beast jumping out. Now, the open view made it so that no one worried about the attacks of magical beasts. The original dirt road had also been transformed into a new gravel road, though it was still bumpy.

Marcus rode a dun mare that was pregnant, half a horse length behind Liszt’s Li Dragon Horse.

He was fully armed, fearless in the increasingly warm weather, carefully inspecting every move around him. He was not only Liszt’s home tutor for knight lessons but also the knight assigned by the Earl to protect Liszt—some countries would call such a knight a Chief Knight, but the Grand Duchy did not have this system.

Following behind Liszt and Marcus was Karl Ironhammer, the town’s defense officer.

He did not need to come, but still volunteered to protect Liszt—perhaps he was simply taking this opportunity to visit Coral City to see the sights, and to display his loyalty?

Riding alongside Karl and scattered on both sides were Philip Wool and Zavier Bull Dung, two young Retainer Knights with not bad talents, having taken the lead in cultivating Dou Qi in the squad.

Further behind was Rom Barrel, who had also successfully cultivated Dou Qi just the day before yesterday. As one of the first four to serve as retainers to Liszt, Rom practiced diligently and finally made progress. Liszt immediately appointed him as the captain of the Patrol Team, assisting Karl in commanding the team.

Unfortunately, the other two of the initial four retainers, Gray Scythe and Auden Insole, had still not managed to cultivate Dou Qi.

Marcus had given up teaching the two, as their talents were too poor and they had missed the opportunity during their youth; there was no hope. Liszt asked them to serve as assistants to officials, one assisting the Legal Officer Blair, and the other assisting the Finance Officer Isaiah.

To his own people, Liszt was still sentimental, providing them with quite decent statuses.

At the end of the team were four young knights, who were part of the Knight Squad and had followed after Philip and Zavier to cultivate Dou Qi. They too were reassigned closer to Liszt to serve as Retainer Knights. As for the other members of the Knight Squad, they were still practicing diligently in the town.

In addition, there was Servant Thomas.

The entire team consisted of eleven people and eleven horses in total. The horses’ hooves raced, kicking up clouds of dust.

Since there were quite a few pregnant mares in the team, they did not travel very fast, but they still arrived at Tulip Castle, surrounded by a sea of tulip flowers, around 10:30 in the morning.

“Oh, my dear brother, you have finally come; I’ve been waiting for you here for a long time,” Levis, dressed in festive Flack Abbieye, wore a noble’s proper smile on his face.

He spread his arms, welcoming Liszt.

A very enthusiastic welcome ceremony.

Liszt dismounted and spread his arms as well, and hugged Levis: “Dear brother, I wish you a happy birthday.”

“Thank you for your wishes.”

Liszt gestured to Thomas and the Retainer Knights behind him, “Bring up the gift I’ve prepared.”

The gift was presented and handed over to Butler Xi Er Wa following behind Levis.

“What is it? It’s a big package; it seems you didn’t hold back on the expense,” said Levis, letting a servant open it—according to customs here, gifts were to be unwrapped on the spot.

The gifts inside the bag were beautifully packaged.

First was a coconut the size of a sea bowl wrapped in cloth, looking very high-class with a faint scent of coconut milk drifting through the air.

“This is Fragrant Coconut Fruit. The coconut milk inside is very sweet. Open it and take a sip, and you will know how sweet and delicious it is,” Liszt exaggerated. In fact, it was only slightly better tasting than ordinary coconut water on Earth.

However, the fruit from which one could directly drink the liquid was unique.

Levis became curious indeed, “Coconut milk? This kind of fruit contains milk inside?”

“Yes.”

“It’s simply magical; I can hardly wait to have a taste,” Liszt turned to look at the other side of the bag, where everything was neatly packed in small bags, “What are these?”

“They are seafood.”

“Seafood?”

“Brother, don’t think of them as anything ordinary, these seafood are all hauled in by fishermen, the most precious of the catch. Especially the aged oysters…” Liszt leaned in and whispered into Levis’s ear, “It can keep you up all night, indulging in whatever you wish to do.”

Levis’s eyes lit up, “Really? This is too precious, thank you, Liszt, my dear brother, this is the best birthday gift I have received.”

He wasn’t married yet, but then again, who made a rule that an unmarried noble can’t have a bevy of mistresses?

After securing the gift, the two brothers walked into the castle side by side.

The great hall of the castle was already filled with nobles of all ranks.

Apart from two Viscounts who sent their sons, the rest of the Barons and Honored Knights had made the effort to be present. After all, Levis was the heir of Coral Island, the future Earl of Coral Island, and their next lord paramount.

“It’s quite lively.”

Liszt had to maintain a standard noble smile, greeting the nobles who had come to attend the birthday feast, not fond of these masked social interactions. Yet as a member of the nobility, to uphold the dignity of nobles, such occasions were indispensable.

Once he finished making rounds with his greetings.

He was ready to go and pay his respects to the Earl.

But upon asking, he learned from Levis that the Earl had already left Coral Island: “A messenger from the Grand Duke brought orders, all direct landlords are to head to Blue Dragon Island to discuss this year’s Pioneer Mandate. In fact, I have been training the Knight Order, ready to follow Father to the mainland at any moment.”

The Pioneer Mandate was an order the nobles of the Duchy of Sapphire were most enthusiastic about.

The order was simple: to heed the call of the King of Steel Ridge Kingdom, head to the mainland, and plunder wealth, especially minesgold, silver, copper, iron, aluminum, and all manner of gemstones were targets of contention.

The Steel Ridge Kingdom and the Eagle Kingdom were sworn enemies; both had slaughtered each other’s dragons. Thus, nearly every year, a large-scale war would erupt, with both sides scrambling to snatch minerals. The Duchy of Sapphire was a vassal state of the Steel Ridge Kingdom, not very strong, but it posed a significant threat with maritime raids.

Years ago, the Earl had penetrated deep into the heartland of the Eagle Kingdom, capturing an iron mine in one fell swoop and taking away at least two hundred thousand tons of iron ore.

It was said that the ships hauling the iron ore were as numerous as ants moving house.

Such a massive loss enraged the King of the Eagle Kingdom, who dispatched a Dragon Knight to intercept the fleet, only to be blocked by a Dragon Knight of the Steel Ridge Kingdom. It was also that battle where Marquis Merlin Taro, the captain of the Court Fleet, recognized the potential of Li Weiliam and arranged the marriage of his daughter, Melissa, to him.

This story was one that Liszt had heard since childhood—whenever the nobility reminisced in feasts, they would always bring up this tale, flattering the Earl.

Unfortunately, since that battle, the Eagle Kingdom began to take their coastal defenses seriously, and there had been no opportunity to achieve such a glorious victory since.

Every year, the blood of a batch of knights was spilled, only to bring back a modest amount of metal and gemstone mines.

“Brother, you’re going to battle too?” Liszt was somewhat surprised.

“Yes, I am already twenty-three; although I have not married, I am old enough, and if I don’t go into battle, it would tarnish my reputation.”

Liszt shook his head, feigning regret, “I don’t have a qualified Knight Squad, not even a chance to go to battle. I really wish I could fight alongside you, brother, and win the glory of a knight.”

In truth, he had no desire for battle.

How nice it would be to peacefully farm at home—there were so many uninhabited islands overseas. Why not develop those rather than go to the mainland and risk life and limb?