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Smoked cod fillets, rice, eggs, cream, curry, plus a bit of vegetables, all mixed together, made for a delectable fish egg risotto.
In her memory, the self-service breakfast at Fluorescent Castle had never been without fish egg risotto.
"Isn't loving fish egg risotto a kind of happiness?" Russell mused as he ate his roast meat and fried eggs with jam, occasionally scooping a bite of the risotto from his bowl. "At least one can enjoy happiness every day, unlike me, who can't have a bite of stir-fried vegetables when I want."
The pleasant mood was slightly dampened by the fish egg risotto, but Russell was still in high spirits because he had regained the Little Dream Dragon.
It also meant that from now on, there would be a continuous influx of elves.
After breakfast.
Russell bid farewell to his parents and, unsurprisingly, received a sponsorship of goods, not much, just three large wagons.
Combined with the five large wagons of materials given by the Baron earlier, he had now received eight large wagons of materials sponsored by his parents.
"Father, Mother, thank you for your generous gifts. I will work doubly hard to manage Wuyao Snake Manor well, to quickly form a knight squad, to guard the safety of Glowing Valley, and to venture into the snowfield to slay Snow Demons, contributing to humanity's restoration!"
The Snow Demon had frozen the entire Dragon Sleep Continent.
But after the Great Dragons awoke, humans began to ride them, striking back at the Snow Demons and reclaiming their rule over the once warm land.
Meryl felt proud of her son's ambition: "The Great Dragons are watching over you, Russell."
The Baron waved his hand: "Go back to your fiefdom now. Come a few more times and Fluorescent Castle will have to be moved to Wuyao Snake Manor."
Russell laughed heartily: "That's because of Father's generosity."
"Russell, when are you going to take me to Wuyao Snake Manor to play?" Lola asked, covering her mouth, dissatisfied.
"I'll definitely take you there when I have the time!"
Gently ruffling his sister's hair, Russell mounted his horse and led the three wagons of supplies towards his domain.
The journey was smooth, and Mr. Ross did not come to provoke.
When the wagons stopped at the gates of the manor's annex, Mr. Charles, who was overseeing the construction of the Windmill Mill, had already arrived on horseback.
"Haha, I knew it, Lord Baron is very fond of you. Just show your Birch Insects, and I guarantee you'll receive generous gifts."
"Sadly, such days cannot come often," Russell replied.
"Who knows? Maybe tomorrow, maybe the day after, you might find another Spirit Insect. It's hard to say," Charles chattered on.
"I hope so."
The two walked into the manor's annex, one after the other.
Charles rambled on: "The materials for the Windmill Mill aren't difficult to find; we can just quarry some stones from Curved Blade Mountain. But wood is a bit tricky. We definitely can't cut down the Birch Forest, and there aren't other trees in the territory."
"Even if there were, we couldn't cut them down, especially the trees that act as boundaries for the fields. They must be protected," Russell advised.
"Then we have no choice but to go buy wood in the town."
"Go buy it from Red Falcon Manor. I remember Lord Utreras loves to plant trees. A lot of the wood at Fluorescent Castle came from there."
Lord Utreras, one of Baron Youguang's vassals, was granted the Red Falcon Manor at the foot of Sharp Knife Mountain on the eastern side of Glowing Valley.
As one of the Baron's trusted assistants and also a Phantom Beast Knight, Utreras had taught Russell a few days of martial arts when he was a child.
Now was a good opportunity for Russell to cultivate a good relationship with Utreras, which could come in handy during the ghost hunting expeditions in the snowfield: "Mr. Charles, I'll write a letter for you to deliver to Red Falcon Manor, and then purchase enough timber from them."
"Alright, happy to be of service."
However, the weather was not cooperative. By afternoon, what had been a cloudy sky suddenly turned to a light drizzle.
The construction of the Windmill Mill had to be halted, and Charles, in no rush to buy timber, joined Russell in seeking shelter in the manor's annex, tasting Black Pearl wine.
Eric was not one to sit idle: "Sir, I'll take Tom and the others to patrol the border."
"You want to go on patrol in this weather?"
"The more inclement the weather, the more vigilant we need to be. If the serfs encounter danger, they may not even be able to send a warning."
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Eric was dedicated to his job, and Russell naturally wouldn't stop him.
"Make sure you wear a raincoat before you go."
"Yes."
The sound of horse hooves trotting away echoed on the damp cinder path.
Gazing out from the upstairs window, Charles mused, "The arrival of this rain signifies the complete retreat of the ice age, and the Glowing River is going to rise."
"I had planned to stay up all night for the caterpillar fungus," Russell said, a bit displeased.
With the return of the little Dream Dragon, he had intended to camp outside for several nights in a row, scavenging for possible Spirit Insects in the vicinity of his land.
Now he had to put that plan on hold.
When night fell, not only had the rain not stopped, but it got heavier. Unable to camp outdoors, Russell could only hide in his own bedroom and enjoy the comfort of his warm, large bed.
"Ga!"
In the Gloomy Dreamland, the little Dream Dragon arrived as expected.
This made Russell even more certain that the little Dream Dragon's absence for the past three days was due to it having greatly weakened from a breath of Dragonflame and hence the need to rest.
Now that it had rested well, it naturally reported in punctually every day.
"Let's go, let's take off and see if we can find any new gains near the estate's annex," Russell said, riding the little Dream Dragon. He wandered around with the annex as the center, now looking at the Glowing River that had started to rise, now flying high before dive-bombing down.
Without any new discoveries, the main focus was on playing.
"Ice Cream, what do you think we can do to expand the Gloomy Dreamland, so that when I sleep at home, I can have full control over everything in my territory?"
"Gaga." The little Dream Dragon was preoccupied with playing.
Russell was casting pearls before swine.
However, at this moment, he suddenly noticed a dim, incomplete shadow rushing in from the edge of the Gloomy Dreamland, emitting a very faint blue glow.
"Hmm, someone!" Russell immediately rode the little Dream Dragon toward the glowing shadow to find it sneaking toward the estate's annex, not one of Eric's or Charles's men, but a stranger.
"He has Battle Qi, a Knight, and judging by the degree of the glow and the outline, it should be an Armed Knight!"
Russell quickly judged the level of the newcomer.
The shadow glowed only in the torso and hands, not in the legs, which was a typical characteristic of an Armed Knight. Because not all meridians were fully opened and Battle Qi did not circulate to the legs, they naturally did not glow.
He rode the little Dream Dragon and flew straight to the incomplete shadow.
Watching the shadow sneak to the outside wall of the estate's annex with three steps and a backward glance under the cover of the rain, then using hands and feet alike to climb towards the second floor.
"Dammit!"
Russell frowned deeply: "Who exactly is it that sneaked into my estate annex! Could it be someone from Echo Water River Cavern?"
An Armed Knight was definitely a big shot for the Freemen of the cavern.
Russell had no time to ponder deeply.
The little Dream Dragon opened its mouth slightly: "Ga."
It was tired and decided to stop maintaining the Gloomy Dreamland to return.
"Don't... Ice Cream, think of a way to wake me up, someone is now conspiring against me!" Russell quickly asked for help.
But the little Dream Dragon had no idea what he was talking about and dropped him, then flapped its wings and disappeared around the corner.
"Crap!"
"Stupid Ice Cream!"
Russell, resigned, had only the moment of the Gloomy Dreamland collapsing to loudly self-suggest, "Wake up, wake up, someone wants to assassinate me!"