The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

Chapter 0606 Hand-drawn Map (Second Update)

The castle inspection didn't yield any special findings.

The assets of Clear Water Sword Saint Yevich Shuisheng were embarrassingly meager, not befitting a Sword Saint. The supplies in the storeroom of Snow Pear Castle were even less than those of Shattered Stone Castle and Beer Castle, which Liszt found quite contemptible.

Of course.

He wasn't angry enough to actually destroy the Elf Cordyceps; knightly wars are part of the noble game, and although there are no explicit rules that war must follow, it is akin to how countries on Earth signed the Geneva Convention to protect civilians and those suffering in war.

Under the knightly system, there is also a set of rules pertaining to the knightly spirit and character.

The knightly spirit and character are varied in the propaganda of different countries, but overall, they include slogans of loyalty, fearlessness, bravery, honesty, fairness, protection of territories, and pursuit of glory.

Some unwritten but firmly established rules include prohibiting the killing of prisoners, the redemption of knights with gold coins, forbidding harm to Elves, not slaughtering civilians, treating betrayers with disdain, and ensuring that the lineage of a noble's wife is pure.

There was a time when the King of the Steel Ridge Kingdom deployed the army to the court of a certain duke from a grand duchy because he was notorious for killing civilians. Ultimately, the duke was stripped of his title, yet the kingdom didn't abolish the grand duchy; instead, they supported the duke's brother to inherit the title.

Of course, the real reasons for the action might relate more to a conflict between that duke and the kingdom rather than his tendency to kill civilians.

But killing civilians provided an excellent excuse to dispatch troops against the duke.

Liszt likewise followed these rules.

He had no intention of destruction.

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After all, if Elf Cordyceps were cut down, it would greatly harm the elves and affect the final yield. Even if transplantation was attempted, it wouldn't work, as the Cordyceps would wither over time if elves were away for too long. Although elves could cultivate new Cordyceps, they too would suffer greatly and likely die prematurely.

The wool has to come from the sheep, and if the Duchy of Sapphire wished to plunder sufficient resources from each Pioneer Mandate, it couldn't recklessly consume resources like the elves.

Otherwise, after several mandates, the coastal hinterlands would probably lack nobles willing to cultivate the land.

In fact, as the Pioneer Mandates continually invaded, many costal hinterland regions in the Eagle Kingdom that were frequently raided had given rise to nobles who did not engage in production. These nobles supported Mercenary Corps in secret, involved in serf trading and various smuggling activities, to avoid open moral condemnation.

For instance, town civilians are usually spared the ravages of war; sadly, if the knights don't plunder them, the mercenaries still will.

It is easy to imagine, without the protection of Snow Pear Castle, Ice Pear City would soon face attacks from Mercenary Corps.

But these were not issues Liszt cared to concern himself with.

Standing on the second floor of the castle, he looked at the grapevines in the backyard and still regretted Yevich's escape, "It seems many castles have tunnels; I should also construct tunnels in Thorn Castle... build one leading to the sea, that would not only be convenient for meeting Ach, but also for escaping into the sea if necessary."

If he fled into the sea, he had the Rainbow Whale Rose to provide him with the ability to breathe; even Dragon Knights would not be able to reach him—except for Water Dragon Knights, as Water Dragons are Elemental Dragons, and perhaps their riders could breathe underwater.

Amid these reflections,

a distorted wisp of smoke once again drifted before his eyes.

"Task completion reward: a hand-drawn Ruins Map."

With Yevich having fled and three Grand Magicians turned into prisoners, the task's completion was a matter of course. Moreover, Liszt believed that the Ruins Map was bound to be in the possession of these three Grand Magicians, and he could take it whenever he wished—the Earl would claim the military achievements, and he would take the supplies, so naturally, the Ruins Map was also his.

He turned his attention to his next task.

By his count, this was the one hundred and twenty-sixth task, "Task: The fleeing Yevich Water Peanut, reluctant to concede, may be waiting for you in the next city, hoping to plunder the resources of the Impact River Plain. A major battle is impending, please capture or kill Yevich. Reward: One Iron Knight."

There was nothing particularly out of the ordinary about the task—it was just a typical development of taking advantage of the situation.

What surprised him was the reward for the task, "An Iron Knight? That means the city Yevich has fled to must be Steel Dyke City, and there are Iron Knights in Steel Dyke City?"

Steel Ridge City was the next target for the Coral Island Knights.

An Iron Knight is a type of knight that cultivates special Dou Qi manuscripts to forge various divine weapons.

The Crimson Blood Sword, Sky-Cleaving Greatsword, Swift Shadow Bow — these weapons were all forged by Iron Knights — whereas magicians make magic equipment, such as sapphire pendants, amplification bracelets, and calming wind pearls; Iron Knights forge all sorts of gemstone weapons, mithril armor, elf weapons, and dragon bone weapons.

The magic equipment made by magicians activates the inherent magic power of the materials through magic arrays, to produce special effects and power.

The weapons forged by Iron Knights, on the other hand, integrate materials with the weapons, which after special processing, are suitable for knights to infuse Dou Qi into, triggering the resonance of the material's own magic power to bring out great strength.

As long as one possesses magic power, they can activate magic equipment, whether it's Dou Qi or magic; gemstone weapons, elf weapons, and the like, however, require Dou Qi to bring out their power.

Cultivating an Iron Knight consumes a tremendous amount of resources.

Typically, only great nobles would select talented young knights from their territories to cultivate into Iron Knights, and many Iron Knights are the progeny of these great nobles. The grandson of the Marquis of the Bull was also a young Iron Knight, which led Liszt to surmise his extraordinary talent.

"I hope this Iron Knight can bring me the methods to train Iron Knights. The Iron Knight himself isn't all that significant; it's the systematic training methods he possesses that are truly valuable."

...

Back in the castle,

The Earl had already finished interrogating the three Grand Magicians.

Lars·Truth, Cyrille·Truth, and Dulac·Truth were the names of these three Grand Magicians. Although they were all magicians from the Eagle Kingdom, they came from different regions and had come together at the same stall during a magician's gathering six months earlier.

A regular magician there had offered a decaying, incomplete ruins map for sale.

Lars explained with an expressionless face, "It was a Map of Moon Language. After our assessment, we realized it was a map left by the Moon Empire, leading to a lost civilization. All three of us were interested in this map, and none of us wanted to give it up, so we finally decided to study it together…"

Cyrille added, "The map was incomplete, and that magician told us it was excavated from the ruins of an ancient Mage Tower, so we spent all our savings to excavate the Mage Tower ruins…"

From the Mage Tower ruins, they did not find the missing parts of the incomplete map.

However, based on the clues left in the ruins of the Mage Tower, they successfully completed the incomplete map and hand-drew a not-so-accurate map, which pointed to the Roaring River Mouth.

"Based on our research, during the era of the Moon Empire, most of the area around the Roaring River Mouth was actually the sea, and the lost civilization that the map guides to was a strange race living in the sea. The Moon Empire engaged in trade with this peculiar race, and so we came here, hoping to find that race."

"A race from the sea?"

Liszt's eyebrows rose slightly, and a flicker of realization shot through his mind, "Could it be that they're referring to the Sea Monster Tribe?"