The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

The entire Tulip Castle household set off, including the Earl, Lady Marie, Levis, Li Vera, Liszt, and Lidun. Only Lady Penelope stayed behind due to ill health.

"Lucky Liszt, take this potted plant with you and tell that handsome young fellow at Meioubao that my plant has given birth to two Elf Bugs."

Lady Penelope earnestly told Liszt before leaving.

She already knew her fig potted plant had bred Fig Bugs, so she was now doubly concerned about her potted plants and truly believed they were treasures.

"Of course, I believe my cousin will be delighted to receive your potted plant; perhaps he too will be blessed with an Elf Bug," Levis had a servant take the potted plant.

He sneakily used the Eye of Magic to check the plant and found no trace of magic power.

Lady Penelope said with an air of expectation, "It depends on his luck. If he is favored by the knight's glory as you are, he is certain to get an Elf Bug. If he doesn't get one, it's not because my potted plant isn't precious enough, but because he isn't favored by the knight's glory."

Liszt offered a faint smile.

At that moment, Li Vera came over, "I just can't help but feel envious of you; why do you always have luck that others don't? I looked through all of grandmother's potted plants and couldn't tell which might give birth to Elf Bugs, yet in your hands, they continually produce them."

"You know, I am blessed by the knight's glory; I am the Son of Glory." He had now learned to shamelessly toot his own horn; being high-profile on Coral Island wasn't a mistake.

After a moment of thought, Li Vera sighed, "I won't be surprised the day you become an Earl."

"Neither will I."

"You've really grown up; I can't find a trace of your childhood self anymore."

"It's still there; after all, I've always been this handsome since I was young."

"Heh."

...

The ship sailed across the vast ocean.

Liszt spent his idle time at the bow of the ship, setting up a deck chair, a parasol, brewing a cup of green tea, and arranging a plate of fruit.

Enjoying the cool breeze on his face.

"You really know how to enjoy yourself," said the Earl, emerging from the ship's cabin to the deck, where he found Liszt lounging in his chair.

He couldn't help feeling a pang of jealousy, thinking that his son's life seemed different from his own.

"It's too hot and the cabin is too stuffy. Better to come out and enjoy the sea breeze," Liszt stood up and instructed his personal manservant, "Thomas, bring over a chair."

"Yes, my lord."

"Tom, brew a cup of green tea for the Earl."

"Yes, my lord."

Thomas quickly brought over a chair for the Earl to sit in, and Tom prepared a cup of green tea, placing it on a side table. Both the table and the chair were products of the woodworking workshop that Liszt had brought specially.

The Earl's gaze fell upon the scene behind Liszt.

Storm and Flame were fast asleep, snoring heavily.

"Are they descendants of Douson?"

"Yes, one is named Storm and the other Flame."

"Do they take after Douson or the Fierce Earth Dog?" the Earl asked casually.

Liszt casually replied, "They're probably more like Douson."

"It's not bad to keep a few low-level magical beasts… Wait, what did you just say? Their lineage is closer to Douson's?" The Earl immediately stood up, walked over to the sleeping Blizzard Beasts, and reached out to pet one of them, Storm.

Storm's alertness was commendable, as it immediately opened its eyes and, seeing the unfamiliar Earl, made to rise and bite.

But Liszt promptly commanded, "Storm, lie down and don't move!"

A moment later.

The Earl's astonishment had not lessened: "This truly is the behavior of an Intermediate Magical Beast. Its magic power dissipates very quickly, surpassing the scope of Low-Level Magical Beasts... If this is the case, with Douson having eight offspring, doesn't that mean there are eight more Intermediate Magical Beasts?"

"It's almost safe to say that, but neither Douson nor the Eight Tiny Ones are powerful Intermediate Magical Beasts. However, tearing down a castle should not be difficult for them."

After a good while.

The Earl returned to his own chair and slowly began, "Liszt, do you realize what this means?"

"It means that once they grow, even Sky Knights could be besieged to death; or during a Knight Order charge, they could hold off several knights... Does it also mean that, perhaps even before my promotion to Sky Knight, I could achieve glorious military exploits and even satisfy the military exploits required to be granted the title of Earl?"

"Under ideal conditions, indeed it could be so. Maybe by that time I'd still be an Earl, and you would already have the chance to start a new family line."

"I've never thought about starting a new family."

"Starting a new family is nothing special, it's just a change of surname, a part of Noble honor. Both the Golden Wheat Sheaf and Golden Wheat Grain families, despite being offshoots, are as close as ever," the Earl said. "If you become the new Earl, I would be very pleased to see you start a new family."

Liszt still couldn't quite understand this world's perception of honor, hence he uttered a meaningless, "Hm."

The Earl didn't know how to continue.

Nine Intermediate Magical Beasts, a force like this, so long as no accidents occur, challenging for the title of Earl would definitely not be difficult, and charging for the title of Marquis would just be a matter of time.

He prided himself on his strong talent, having fought his way from Viscount to Earl, and he even harbored hopes of charging towards the rank of Marquis, always full of pride.

Though he was looking forward to each of his offspring achieving greater things, he knew deep down that of his daughters and three sons, the one with the most hope to surpass him was Lidun.

This was also the reason he wasn't fully committed to piling resources onto Levis for the Sky Knight challenge.

He had placed the hopes of "hoping for his son to become a Dragon" on his youngest son. Hence, for a small mistake in the past, he directly stripped Lidun's family tutor, the Honored Knight Zambrotta, of his title—he was very expectant of Lidun's future development, if indeed Lidun's talents were extraordinary. Experience new stories on empire

If father and son joined hands in their efforts, the charge toward the rank of Marquis would be stable.

If Lidun's performance upon maturing was unlike his childhood, it wouldn't be too late then to fully support Levis, stacking Magic Potions and advancing to Sky Knight.

So his consistent belief was—Levis could maintain what has been achieved, while Lidun represented hope.

As for Liszt, the more he grew, the less promising he became, from a beacon of hope to a disappointment, and eventually, when he was indifferently granted his own fief, he became the most failed creation in the Earl's heart.

Yet, it was this overlooked son who was now showing momentum that surpassed his own.

A seventeen-year-old Elite Earth Knight was not particularly outstanding—but Liszt had become an Earth Knight only after reaching adulthood and had been promoted to elite status in just over half a year; this talent was terrifying enough.

His strength was already formidable.

Even more incredible was his luck.

The Earl didn't want to list examples to prove how greatly Liszt was favored by knightly glory, he breathed deeply, lifted the teacup on the table, and took a sip of green tea.

Upon tasting, he immediately frowned: "What is this tea? Why is it so bitter?"

Liszt explained, "This green tea is brewed from the leaves of the Green Tea Tree, which indeed tastes bitter at first, but after lingering for a moment, you can taste the freshness and fragrance on your lips and teeth."

"Is that so." The Earl savored carefully, indeed sensing the taste of green tea, which was not just bitter, but behind the bitterness was a very novel flavor.

Just like his current mood—initially shocked by Liszt, feeling the bitterness, but after accepting it, filled with a sense of achievement of surpassing the blues.