The geographical location of Fresh Flower Town is at the northeast corner of Coral Island and the area is not small. However, how large it specifically is, Li Si Te (Liszt) was clueless. As a remote small town on Coral Island, it was only simply divided to the northeast side of Thorn Ridge, without any marked boundaries.
That meant, as long as Li Si Te (Liszt) didn't encroach on the towns to the southwest of Thorn Ridge, he could arbitrarily decide how large Fresh Flower Town was.
Even if he were to include all of Thorn Ridge, probably no one would blame him—after all, the ownership of Thorn Ridge on Coral Island was also undefined.
Over twenty years of cultivation by the Tulip Family, in fact, less than two-thirds of Coral Island had actually been converted into farmland with a settled population.
The remaining one-third was wilderness.
Thorn Ridge was such a wilderness where the landlord's knights needed to campaign abroad, and these wild lands must be opened up by serfs and commoners.
The land of Thorn Ridge was extremely barren and uneven, making it of low development value.
Moreover, facing magical beasts, ordinary people were just a delicious meal; even hunters dared not lightly test the waters of the magical beast's depth. Of course, there were some adventurers who would still go hunting magical beasts, and each beast, every piece of flesh, every inch of fur, could be exchanged for gold coins.
Li Si Te (Liszt), riding on his Fire Dragon Horse, was filled with enthusiasm for this inspection.
Enclosing land was an innate instinct of every noble; how large Fresh Flower Town was would depend on where his horse's hooves could reach. At this moment, the hooves were trotting along the town's streets, which were dirt roads, very dirty, with the feces of livestock and humans apparent everywhere—only the nobles would build toilets.
"Sanitation, it must be changed," Li Si Te (Liszt) said as he turned to speak to Ma Ku Si (Marcus).
Ma Ku Si (Marcus) could not deny it; he was not an administrative officer and was not interested in these matters. What heated his blood was the authority of the nobility, especially the serfs and commoners constantly bowing to Li Si Te (Liszt) along both sides of the street. These people, with their sallow faces, harbored admiration and fear toward the nobility.
They would shiver all over.
The ones kneeling were serfs; those bowing were freemen.
Serfs made up the overwhelming majority, having sold themselves to the nobles, and were Li Si Te (Liszt)'s private property. Matters of marriage and burial were decided by Li Si Te (Liszt). Even if Li Si Te (Liszt) exercised his droit de seigneur, these serfs were obliged to comply and send their freshly bathed daughters and wives into the castle.
Freemen were rare; they were mostly craftsmen such as hunters, tailors, and the like.
The town was very small and rundown, not housing many residents. Even if all the town's populace had gathered along both sides of the street to pay respect, there was still no trace of a warm atmosphere.
Gazing around, Li Si Te (Liszt) found that the town might only have a few hundred people… not even as many as the student population of a school.
The lowly hovels made of mud and thatched with straw stretched over a large area. The size of the town was mostly supported by these dilapidated houses—with two-story buildings being a rarity, with only three or four households visible.
This time, he truly felt the poverty of the commoners' lives.
His heart was heavy with countless emotions.
And he felt even more fortunate that he was a noble, able to live in a castle and eat fine white bread made of refined wheat flour.
The Fire Dragon Horse quickly carried Li Si Te (Liszt) through the town's only north to south thoroughfare, and with a slightly heavy heart, he proceeded along the safe route planned by Ma Ku Si (Marcus) towards Thorn Ridge.
Throughout the ride, surrounding the town were patches of farmland, but Li Si Te (Liszt) could not name most of the crops. These crops didn't look promising; they were sickly and twisted, with many weeds growing alongside them, clearly lacking any scientific management.
This era certainly had incredible creatures like dragons and elves, as well as unimaginable divine forces like Dou Qi and Magic, but it was relatively underdeveloped.
Industrial revolution was out of the question, but introducing some scientific development methods was still very promising.
Liszt was full of confidence in managing his territory and leading the development of Fresh Flower Town.
...
The journey was not long before the small town was far out of sight. Leaving the flat land, they entered a hilly area with sparse woods, which marked the edge of Thorn Ridge.
"Baron, magical beasts often appear around the edge of Thorn Ridge, so I hope you will follow me closely without being reckless," Marcus said, leading the way upon reaching the area, and he instructed the four Retainer Knights, "Protect the Baron at all costs. Unless you become corpses, do not let any magical beast advance a single step. Can you do that?"
"We can!" Karl and the others responded loudly.
They came from commoners, who did not have to go to war in this region, a burden borne only by nobles and knights. But although Retainer Knights were of commoner status, they also needed to go to war—serving as logistical soldiers, they had the responsibility to die for the noble if they were seeking better treatment.
To avoid magical beasts, the group of knights could only make their way along the edge of Thorn Ridge.
The trees were still lush and occasionally one could see wild animals, like rabbits and foxes; but the edge of the Thorn Ridge was not rich in food, so it was rare to come across large wild beasts.
"In spring, summer, and autumn, the food within Thorn Ridge is enough to meet the needs of magical beasts, so Fresh Flower Town does not often encounter them. But in winter, starving magical beasts will invade Fresh Flower Town, and every year a few unfortunate souls become food to satisfy the beasts' hunger," Marcus explained without mincing words despite his poor mood.
"Ah, magical beasts, I wonder if we could encounter one today," Liszt thought, recalling from the predecessor's memories having seen several types of magical beasts. The biggest difference between them and ordinary wild beasts was their magic power, enabling them to release some greatly powerful magic spells.
At Tulip Castle, they had also raised a small magical beast—the Fire Rabbit.
The Fire Rabbit, capable of casting small fireballs, was delicious, with glossy fur preferred by nobles for its meat, and noblewomen for its fur to make coats.
He had also seen the fur of a powerful magical beast—the Giant Barbarian Bear, which Coral Island's Count's favorite chair was upholstered with, the terrifying bear's face fully tanned, exuding an intimidating and ferocious aura.
To hunt down the Giant Barbarian Bear, the Coral Island Knights had lost eight Earth Knights.
The death of eight Earth Knights amounted to a severe blow to the Knight Order, even more casualties than a territorial battle might cost.
Moreover, many more Apprentice Knights had perished.
All the way, Liszt kept recording the terrain of Thorn Ridge, including places suitable for building defensive fortifications, places fit for water conservancy projects, locations where fortresses could be erected, and areas appropriate for opening farmlands. These were all duties for a landlord noble invested with land to fulfill.
"It must be time for lunch, Auden. Let's prepare lunch right here."
"Yes, my lord!" Auden Insole immediately dismounted, found a flat area to spread out a carpet, and then arranged the dry rations on it.
The simple lunch included bread, caviar, fruit salad, and milk tea.
And specially prepared for Liszt, dried goat meat.
Just as they thought it was going to be a simple lunch, Marcus's expression changed abruptly after swallowing a piece of bread, "Baron, there is a situation. It's the scent of a magical beast!"