61 – Boiled Peanuts and Hops

“The staple food tonight is peanuts?” Marcus skillfully peeled the peanuts. Although wheat was the default choice for staple food, but wheat production was generally low. Therefore, peanuts and peas were required to feel the gap.

“How does it taste?”

Liszt asked as there were no boiled peanuts in front of him.

Liszt didn't like to eat boiled peanuts. Therefore, as the castle's master, Liszt had oatmeal specially prepared for him by the cook, Abby. As for the others, they were not as lucky.

“Its moderately soft, and tastes a bit bland.”

Gort interjected: “That's how boiled peanuts taste. Having them occasionally feels quite good as they improve the flavor, yet eating them often would get annoying. However, have you noticed that the peanuts tonight are bigger than usual?”

Marcus came to a realization: “The peanut settlement already had a harvest?”

“This is the first batch of peanuts from near the peanut sprite worm's worm stalk. The yield is 30% higher than usual and the cultivation period had been shortened by a month. This year, there will be no shortage of peanuts in the castle. When Mrs. Abby has time she should churn some peanut b.u.t.ter to smear on bread.”

No one was more worthy than Gort to be called Flower Town's sole food connoisseur; the dest.i.tute chevalier talked non-stop about drinking and eating.

Liszt smiled lightly: “If matched with Juniper (wine), wouldn't that be just wonderful?”

“Oh, Liszt, you know me, haha.”

“Unfortunately, the Juniper that was brought back from the Coral City has already been finished.”

“Truth be told, I really didn't want to hear this news.”

“In fact, there are even more frustrating news.” Liszt sipped his oatmeal. “The amount of red wine in the cellar has reached a critical point. Mr. Carter does not recommend that we continue to drink red wine. Otherwise, there won't be enough for the holidays in the later half of the year. Also, hops beer will soon run out and only sour beer will remain.”

“Heavens, is this true?”

Liszt didn't respond.

The butler, Carter, who waited upon the banquet, answered: “It is getting hotter and a lot of beer is being consumed. However, there is no caravan coming our way nor are we capable of producing hops beer ourselves. If it was not for Sir Count's caravan bringing a lot of beer barrels last time, then by now, the castle would also lack sour beer.”

Gort had a bitter expression: “I think that we should build a wharf and go directly to Viscount Trix's abode to purchase hops.

Unfortunately, only shallow waters were adjacent to the East Coast, so there was no way to build a wharf.

As for Viscount Trix, he was a follower of the Coral Island's count, his full name being Trix Wildhop. He owned a small island called the Beer Island.

There was a magnificent castle on the island, the Beer Castle.

The Wildhop Family's beer relied on hops. It sold quite well on multiple large islands.

Beer was the most common kind of beverage in the grand duchy. There were two kinds of beer – one was beer with hops and the other was beer without hops.

Hops were a kind of wild hop that played a huge role in beer, giving beer a refres.h.i.+ng aroma, bitterness, antiseptic properties, and the ability to form excellent foam. Hops were good for clarifying the wort and their intense aroma could balance the natural sweetness of the wort, stimulating the appet.i.te.

Beer without hops would quickly become sour-tasting and difficult to swallow.

The Coral Island's hops beer was brewed by the Wildhop Family. Thanks to this industry, the Wildhop Family had the wealth to build the named Beer Castle.

“It is not possible to build a wharf. Therefore, we have to thoroughly open the road through the Thorns Ridge. Only then would caravans venture to the Flower Town… Now that there are no knights coming to collect taxes, there would be no one protecting the caravans where they to cross the Thorns Ridge.” Said Liszt before looking at Marcus, “Teacher Marcus, the knight squad selection is not over yet?”

Marcus put down the boiled peanuts in his hands and said: “Tomorrow is the final selection date. I already have chosen some preliminary candidates. Unfortunately, their physical const.i.tutions are still too lacking. Among them, only two can meet the entrance criteria of the knight college.”

“It's probably because of the lack of food. With the support from the castle, I'm sure that their physical const.i.tutions will improve greatly.”

“Then I will stop worrying about food and concentrate on the training.”

“Right, they have to grasp qi as soon as possible. The Flower Town should not just have five knights with qi. In the future, we'll have to rely on knights for many matters.”

……

To his surprise, Liszt saw the logging team the following day.

He thought that Gort would at leas take two or three days to complete the transfer of the able-bodied serfs.

While on horseback, Gort personally led the logging team to a.s.semble in front of the castle. There was a total of thirty able-bodied serfs, yet only half of them carried new, or perhaps old, axes in their hands. There were only two saws, which were brought by a carpenter's son from his home.

Iron tools were hard to procure.

Metals were controlled by the nations with dragons and were quite hard to procure.

This was also the reason why the Sapphire Grand Duchy often organized knight orders to go to the continent and wage war. The grand duchy's iron ore was basically all pillaged from the Eagle Empire before being transported to each island bit by bit.

In the Flower Town, a lot of serfs used wood, stone and bone tools.

The team was different from the neat and serene team in his imagination.

The group of able-bodied serfs had expressions of great uneasiness on their faces. The lord had asked them to go to the Thorns Ridge to cut down trees. It was too dangerous. Were they to encounter magic beasts, then their wives might have to remarry.

“Teacher Gort, you haven't told them that I will send people to protect them?”

“Of course I have, but they are still scared.”

Liszt expressed his understanding: “Words lack strength.”

Just as he said that, a group of people shouting war cries ran over to the castle from the horse field. At the sides, there were four retainer knights supervising the group; at the head, there was a knight. The knight was Marcus.

“Sir!” Marcus dismounted his horse and saluted Liszt.

“How are these thirty people?”

“They will protect the logging team. Through today's performance, I will make my final judgement.” Marcus explained, “Their physiques are about the same and they are not to stupid. Now, the final criterion – courage – will be judged. Knights cannot be without courage.”

Hearing what was said, Gort chimed in: “Liszt, won't you say a few words prior to setting off?”

Liszt nodded. He naturally had to say something.

Liszt had a heroic air about him as he slowly approached the two teams while sitting atop Blackdragon and wearing the black magic beast leather armor. With a solemn expression, Liszt swept everyone with a glance, and then said with a clear voice: “Subjects, I am your lord, Liszt Tulip.”

He suddenly did not know what to say.

He had yet to properly master the skill of putting a positive spin on things. After a while, he decided against a long-winded, inciting speech. He just calmly said: “Today, you will be cutting down trees in the Thorns Ridge for me, opening a path between the fief and the outside world! In return, I will protect you!”

Words lacked strength. Faced with the still uneasy serfs, he just gently lashed with the horsewhip. Blackdragon lifted its forelimbs and neighed.

Liszt rode ahead when Blackdragon's forelimbs landed on the ground.

“Set off!”