Chapter 148: Chapter 0148: Fresh Flower Town Resource Survey
Granney Truth’s letter was delivered to the castle by the Fresh Flower Caravan.

He postponed his arrival time. There was a shortage of materials for making the Black Pearl Magic Equipment, which required some time to prepare. Approximately in mid-October, he would head to Fresh Flower Town.

“Wasting my time, I should have chosen another magician to visit!” Liszt wasn’t very pleased when he saw the letter. He felt that the magician wasn’t giving him due respect. Preparing the materials took over a week, which implied a low efficiency and lack of dedication, bordering on perfunctory.

However, the magicians he had access to were few.

Such creatures always lived reclusively, leading a semi-hermitic life, seldom making contact with ordinary people. If Liszt weren’t a member of the Tulip Family, perhaps Granney wouldn’t have agreed to meet him—the nobles probably wouldn’t let a magician settle in their city anyway, for they were prone to causing explosions every now and then, which was frightening.

He threw away the letter.

Liszt no longer cared when Granney would arrive.

Now in Fresh Flower Town, the resource survey and the logging campaign were underway simultaneously. Even though Goltai devoted himself as an advisor, there was still an overwhelming amount of work causing trouble for Liszt.

He had his own troubles too.

Standing in front of the castle window, he frowned at Juan Fu, who was shackled by the legs.

“Garrulous!”

“Garrulous!”

Juan Fu kept making noise, continuously flapping his fully-feathered wings.

With eyes turning into vortexes, Liszt unleashed the Eye of Magic. To him, Juan Fu appeared as a fat bird made of green magic power.

“Juan Fu has reached the stage where it needs to release magic power. In a few days, it might not need my guidance to cast magic… Eating too well is also a burden. Should I reduce its food? This bird eats as much in one meal as a servant does in three.”

Juan Fu wasn’t large; curled up, it was about the size of a dog.

But being a Magical Beast, its appetite far exceeded that of ordinary birds: “To keep feeding it like this is just not cost-effective.”

Without finding a falconer, Juan Fu will always be a wild Magical Beast, whose main use is to be killed for meat or selling materials for Gold Coins.

Shaking his head, Liszt decided not to kill it for the time being. Having taken care of it for so long, they had grown familiar with each other. No matter how he teased it, Juan Fu wouldn’t bite him, only dodge. It didn’t like to be touched by anyone.

“There’s still some friendship between us.”

The life in Fresh Flower Town was busy and orderly.

The resource survey presided over by Goltai was soon completed. The data was summarized and sent to the castle, sparking spirited discussions at the dinner party.

“According to the lord’s instructions, a portion of the serfs in the town who work in agriculture will be transformed into specialized workers. The farming serfs will get interest-free loans from the castle. The loans will not pass through the serfs’ hands but will be delivered to them in the form of farming tools, along with guidance for scientific farming,” Goltai read passionately from his lengthy dissertation. The resource survey was his performance project, naturally filled with enthusiasm.

“The current resource survey results for Fresh Flower Town are as follows, Peanut Hamlet…”

Peanut Hamlet  Peanut Fields covering 100 acres, including one Peanut Elf Bug; Corn Grass Fields covering 20 acres; about 500 acres of uncultivated wasteland, mostly overgrown with weeds; a residential area covering 20 acres.

Mushroom Hamlet Mushroom sheds covering 80 acres; a mixture of Mushroom and Flame Mushroom sheds covering 30 acres; about 800 acres of uncultivated wasteland, mostly overgrown with shrubs; a residential area covering 30 acres.

Barley Hamlet Barley Fields covering 50 acres; Oat Fields covering 50 acres; Rye Fields covering 150 acres; Corn Grass Fields covering 30 acres; Millet Fields covering 50 acres, including one Millet Elf Bug; about 500 acres of uncultivated wasteland, mostly overgrown with weeds; a seaside beach covering 1800 acres, with some Fragrant Coconut Trees; a residential area covering 50 acres.

Little Wheat Village Little Wheat Fields covering 500 acres, including one Little Wheat Elf Bug; a pig farm with 12 large fat pigs; about 300 acres of uncultivated wasteland, mostly overgrown with weeds; a residential area covering 50 acres.

Tomato Hamlet  Tomato Fields covering 80 acres, including one Tomato Elf Bug; Vegetable Fields covering 20 acres; about 40 acres of uncultivated wasteland, mostly overgrown with weeds; a residential area covering 60 acres.

Oyster Village A seaside beach covering 4600 acres, with some Fragrant Coconut Trees and one Fragrant Coconut Tree Elf Bug; a Fruit Thief Monkey Training Ground, housing 7 Fruit Thief Monkeys, of which 3 females are pregnant; a residential area covering 30 acres.

Dairy Farm Alfalfa Grassland covering 150 acres, housing 11 dairy cows, of which 3 females are pregnant; Thorn Forest covering 180 acres, including one Thorn Elf Bug; about 300 acres of uncultivated wasteland, mostly overgrown with shrubs; a seaside beach covering 1700 acres, with some Fragrant Coconut Trees; a residential area covering 15 acres.

Fresh Flower Farm Tulip Fields covering 200 acres, including 15 acres of St. Dence Tulips, 10 acres of William I Tulips, 20 acres of Black Tulips, the rest being wasteland; about 500 acres of uncultivated wasteland, mostly overgrown with shrubs and weeds; a residential area covering 20 acres.

The town A commercial district covering 40 acres; a workshop district covering 80 acres; a serf residential area covering 150 acres; a freeman residential area covering 120 acres; a noble residential area covering 80 acres; a government building covering 10 acres. Most are planned areas, with the current housing footprint being very small.

The Castle  Alfalfa Grassland covering 120 acres, including one Alfalfa Elf Bug, housing 22 horses, of which 7 mares are pregnant; Dragon Kui Field covering 5 acres, including one Dragon Kui Elf Bug; the castle itself covering 20 acres; about 400 acres of uncultivated wasteland, mostly overgrown with shrubs and weeds.

The entire town’s cultivable land is roughly 5165 acres, with about 8100 acres of seaside beach, and approximately 775 acres occupied by buildings, including small rivers, ponds, roads, totaling about 15,000 acres of land  as for the standard of this “acre,” Liszt was also unclear, lacking a comparison.

If his body had traveled through time, with himself as a reference, it would have been easy to understand the local system of measurements.

Unfortunately, he traveled through souls, unclear whether now, compared to his past self, he was a giant or a dwarf  but it no longer mattered, as he had gotten used to the units of measurement here.

“Fresh Flower Town roughly covers 15,000 acres and Thorn Ridge about 13,000 acres, total that’s 28,000 acres, which is the size of my territory… hmm, I also need to count the nearly 5000 acres of beach revealed at low tide. Then, I have 33,000 acres of land.”

A small town of 33,000 acres was already one of the larger towns on Coral Island.

He had even taken the time to draw a detailed topographical map of Fresh Flower Town, the map might not be completely accurate, but the basic framework should be correct.

There were mountains, and water, with clear roads.

His gaze traveled across the map, quickly moving to the north side of Thorn Ridge: “From here on out, it’s all low shrubs, and further out, large tracts of uncultivated land that nobody has developed. Should I include this piece of land as well?”

After some thought, he decided against it.

Swallowing Thorn Ridge was greedy enough; it was better to make a fortune quietly. Being too greedy and grabbing more land might backfire, possibly displeasing the Earl and Levis.

“Right now, the wasteland of Fresh Flower Town hasn’t been fully cultivated. I should develop low-key and steadily. I have the Smoke Mission; there’s no need to take risks. The old saying still applies: amass provisions, build high walls, and proclaim kingship at a slow pace. I’m sixteen this year; I’ll set a small goal for myself — by the age of twenty, I want to own an island of my own!”

In his mind surfaced the information about Black Horse Island.

This nurturing ground for the Li Dragon Horse Herd hadn’t yet been uncovered, but its allure had already left Liszt enchanted.