17 – Tremblingwoods, Dragonhorse
Because of the matter with the Flyingdust Dog, Marcus had decided to postpone his departure by a day.
As he rested, he informed Liszt about some of the things to keep in mind when raising a magic beast.
“Even if magic beasts recognize their master, they are still very dangerous. They lack the concept of good and evil and are temperamental. Once they become proficient at using magic power, they are quite likely to inadvertently harm people. Therefore, Sir Baron, you have to proactively guide and train the Flyingdust Dog puppy when raising it.”
“Alike the hunting dogs raised in the Tulip Castle?”
“Yes, obedience has to be instilled in it since little, so it listens to your commands. Also, it is imperative that it continuously uses up its magic power. With its magic power consumed during training, it will not be able to use magic to hurt people. The Flyingdust Dog’s Rock Thorns is an exceptionally lethal magic.”
“When will it be able to release magic?”
“I am not too sure. But in general, the magic of magic beasts is weak before reaching adulthood. Flyingdust Dogs take about one year and a half to reach adulthood; in other words, you have one year and a half to tame it.”
“Very well, I will treat this as a cultivation lesson and train it relentlessly.”
Marcus was obviously in a pretty good mood. Once he finished listing the things to keep in mind, he said something which he rarely did, he said flattering words: “A peanut sprite worm, a magic ingredient, and a magic beast, Sir Baron, you are bound to shock everyone in Coral Island.”
Liszt smiled.
The surprise was yet to come.
He asked: “What about the Flyingdust Dog mother’s body, how should I handle it?”
“Perhaps you should ask Chevalier Gort; as someone who had once managed the sir count’s marketplace, he should be the one most clear about the worth of magic beasts.”
“Mr. Carter, please go call Teacher Gort.”
“As you wish, My Lord.”
Gort hastily came over. When he saw the body of the Flyingdust Dog, he cried out: “Whoa, what am I seeing, is this the king of the Thorns Ridge, the Flyingdust Dog? Heavens, it is a low-ranked magic beast. But the aura being exuded from it is as terrifying as that of mid-ranked magic beasts. Marcus, I have to admit, you are one of Coral Island’s top knights.”
Coral Island’s most formidable knight was undoubtedly Liszt’s father, a Sky Knight and the Count of Coral Island, Leewilliam Tulip, the sole knight with formidable high-ranked qi.
The rest were at most Earth Knights.
As for magic beasts on Coral Island, there seemed to be only a single mid-ranked magic beast, the Purple Sand Crocodile in the Shallow Water Beach on the southern part of the island. The other magic beasts were only low-ranked magic beasts. The Thorns Ridge also only had low-ranked magic beasts, with the Flyingdust Dog being the most formidable type of low-ranked magic beasts in the ridge.
“Teacher Gort, how should I handle this magic beast?” Liszt asked.
Gort used a walking stick to poke the body of the Flyingdust Dog, which was the size of a calf. The bloodstains covering its body had already coagulated; it was a horrible sight to behold: “The fur is ruined. Otherwise, the Flyingdust Dog’s fur would be the most precious good, worth at least 20 Naldas.”
Nalda was the name of Sapphire Grand Duchy’s gold coins as well as the name of the first Sapphire Grand Duke.
“It should still be worth a few gold coins, rights?”
“By selling the fur in pieces, I guess that some profiteers may be willing to produce 5 Naldas, while some conscientious merchants may be willing to produce 10 Naldas.”
Gort continued analyzing: “Its meat, I think there should be 600 jin (0,5 Kg) of it. In the marketplace, 1 jin of magic beast meat generally goes for 1 silver coin, while Flyingdust Dog meat should be capable of going for 2 silver coins, 12 Naldas in total. However, Liszt, you should keep it for yourself to eat. What you need now is to stabilize your qi.”
“What Teacher Gort said is right; selling its meat is not worth it as the castle originally had to purchase meat from outside.” Carter interposed. As a trusted aid, a butler, he could participate in this kind of discussions.
“Apart from the fur and meat, what remains are the bones and viscera. The magic beast’s viscera could be sold to those wizards that deal with half-truths. I know a place where there are wizards. They are fond of purchasing magic beast’s viscera and all kinds of mysterious flowers and plants. But it is hard to say for how many Naldas the viscera would go. While the bones could be used for soup.”
Speaking until this point, Gort gave a chuckle: “Unfortunately, it is a female. Where it a male, whoa, that would be a great supplement.”
The difference between males and females lied in whether they had the member or not.
Liszt said: “Then peel off the fur of the Flyingdust Dog, tan it, and then find time to sell it. Tidy up the viscera neatly and marinate it. Teacher Gort, are there any Wizards on Coral Island?”
“There seem to be none.”
“Then the viscera can also be kept in the castle for food.”
"Haha, we are lucky to get something nice to eat! The generous Baron Liszt be praised!”
……
Nighttime.
A small barbecue party was held in the castle.
The servants, retainer knights, Liszt who was the master, and the two teachers, they all ate delicious barbecue and chatted merrily.
Liszt was really not a fan of such revelry, he was a quiet person.
However, this was part of living in a castle. The majority of castles were dark and somber, living in them for long periods of time being quite depressing. Therefore, it was necessary to find opportunities to give vent, and parties were the best for just that.
After eating and drinking their fill.
The servants tidied up the messy tableware. Liszt went upstairs, straight to the originally idle recreation room. The recreation room had already been converted into the Flyingdust Dog cub’s den. To ensure that the first person it saw was Liszt, the suckling would be raised inside the recreation room until it could open its eyes.
Therefore, Liszt had to do the feeding and bathing himself.
The puppy had been shivering; therefore, Liszt had given it the name ‘Tremblingwoods’.
“Hello, Tremblingwoods, time to suckle.” Liszt put a cow leather pouch filled with milk next to Tremblingwoods’ mouth. The pouch’s mouth part was tailored to resemble a particular shape.
Sensing the scent of breast milk, its desire to suckle prevailed over its fear of the unfamiliar scent. Tremblingwoods hurriedly crawled over, fumbled about with the pouch’s mouth part, and then greedily swallowed.
Despite it only being the size of a poodle, the enthusiasm with which it ate bore the demeanor of a magic beast; in other words, it ravenously devoured its food.
In the blink of an eye, the pouch of milk was eaten clean by Tremblingwoods.
Also, thanks to this pouch of milk.
Tremblingwoods became familiar with Liszt’s scent. Now, when Liszt caressed its fur, not only did Tremblingwoods not evade, it even rubbed against his palm, expressing affection. Unknowingly, Liszt felt like he was just raising a dog and not the king of the Thorns Ridge, the magic beast Flyingdust Dog.
“When will you open your eyes?”
As if it understood what Liszt had said, Tremblingwoods issued light yelps.
Liszt entered a faint state of trance, and smoke once more appeared in front of his eyes. The smoke quickly changed into symbols: “Mission completed. Reward: Flyingdust Dog cub.”
“Sure enough, Tremblingwoods is the reward. I have already figured out the mechanism behind the occurrence of smoke missions.”
While Liszt was musing, the smoky Serpentines in front of his eyes changed.
“Mission: as an Earth Knight, you have to assume the mantle of one charging on horseback. Please practice cultivation according a mid-ranked qi secret manual and become a genuine knight capable of going into battle. Reward: a dragonhorse with a meager dragon bloodline.”
“Dragonhorse?” Liszt eyes lit up.