The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

Chapter 749: Chapter 0746: In the Name of Flame (Second Update, Requesting Monthly Votes)
 

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People who are not from this world can hardly understand the mentality of knights toward dragons, which is an emotion constantly reinforced from childhood in a cycle of brainwashing.

Even though Liszt himself was obsessed with dragons and admired their power and beauty, his reverence still fell short of that of the indigenous residents. Their feelings for dragons were a twisted, almost pathological mixture of emotions: part worshipful veneration as for a deity, and part destructive possessiveness if denied possession.

Decades ago, Marquis Merlin had once expressed during communication with the Sapphire Dragon that if he didn’t get a contract with the Dragon Domain Landlord, he would slaughter it.

That might have been said in jest, or perhaps only dared to be said while the Sapphire Dragon was asleep.

Now, the aged Marquis Merlin could no longer utter those reckless words of his youth; he simply looked at Little Fire Dragon Leo and kept praising: “So beautiful!”

Leo always looked down on humans, so he was very dissatisfied with being summoned repeatedly by Liszt like a monkey for people’s amusement. He turned his head and gave Thorn Castle a cold glance, then took to the skies with a flap of his wings and quickly vanished into the snowy sky.

“Ah, the Fire Dragon, the Fire Dragon has flown away!” Meioubao exclaimed nearby.

Liszt explained: “Leo is just taking a spin in the sky, he will come back soon.” He was in contact with Leo at all times through Dragon Heart Electrical Signal, which is a long-distance communication technology.

Princess Angela helped Marquis Merlin, having seen the Sapphire Dragon since she was little and almost growing up alongside dragons, she was not unfamiliar with them. Her feelings towards Liszt’s Fire Dragon were the most complex — the Fire Dragon had saved Sapphire, but because of it, Sapphire was about to lose its hegemony.

Moreover…

She raised her head, remembering the petite magician she had seen in the living room earlier, and suddenly felt immense pressure. In this oddly shaped, battlement-and-turret-less, and distinctly unsafe little castle, there lived a Dragon Knight and an Archmage.

It was truly unimaginable.

The Long Taro Family, which she had once disdainfully looked down upon, had become a significant Noble family because of the kinship with the Dragon Knight and Archmage. And she had no choice but to restrain her own thoughts, play the role of future matriarch of the Chang Yu Family earnestly, and now with her pregnancy, she was completely tied to the Long Taro Family’s fate.

Sigh.

With a silent sigh in her heart, Angela acknowledged that a woman could never escape the constraints of family, and her carefree, unfettered days were ultimately coming to an end.

“Grandfather, the balcony is cold, let’s go back to your room,” Liszt said.

Part of Thorn Castle had already been fitted with Temperature Calming Pearls, which made it pleasantly warm in winter and cool in summer. Marquis Merlin declined: “Wait for the Fire Dragon to return, I want to take one more look.”

Seeing this, Liszt immediately called for Leo using the Dragon Heart Electrical Signal, urging him to come back quickly and not to wander aimlessly in the heavy snow. Moments later, Leo landed once again on a patch of ground near the castle, which had been compacted in preparation for building a hundred-meter-high stone platform next spring.@@novelbin@@

The rock produced by the Blizzard Beast had been piled up nearby, ready for construction to begin.

After Marquis Merlin had another careful look, Liszt gestured, and Leo flew up into the sky in an instant, turning into a blaze and darting into his body.

“Elemental dragons are truly miraculous,” Marquis Merlin exclaimed.

…

The next afternoon, the entire family from Tulip Castle arrived at Thorn Castle.

Lady Penelope, Li Weiliam, Lady Marie, Levis, Loria, Li Vera, Lidun, and Little Richard all followed the party.

After a round of courtesies, they settled into Thorn Castle.

Lady Penelope and Li Vera planned to stay in Thorn Castle until the end of the holiday season. Liszt naturally would not refuse as the castle was big enough. However, the servants of the castle began to run short, and the dozens of children being trained as servants were clearly not yet capable of performing their duties.

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They could only select from the newly acquired serfs of the territory, picking out those who had previously served as servants in the Eagle Kingdom, to continue serving at Thorn Castle.

These servants’ knowledge of Serpent Script was poor, so they took on tasks that required physical labor.

The original castle servants, such as Thomas and Little Lily, began to take on guest reception duties. Perhaps their background and cultivation might not match the servants of great nobles, yet this was just the beginning. As Liszt ascended, the foundation would naturally accumulate over time.

After the banquet, the ladies gathered to gossip.

The men, on the other hand, went to Liszt’s study, which could also be called a library, with rows of bookshelves filled with various books—of course, the vast majority of these books had never been read by Liszt; they were merely there to present the facade that he was a man of culture whose knowledge spanned a wide array of subjects.

The servants served tea.

The conversation primarily revolved around how Liszt would go about nation-building in the future.

Whether it was the Tulip Family or the Long Taro Family, neither were old noble families. They had not experienced the founding years of the Duchy of Sapphire, and were thus clueless about nation-building. However, just because they had not tasted pork didn’t mean they hadn’t seen a pig run; the operation of the Sapphire Family served as the best reference.

“Has the family thought of a new surname?” Li Weiliam asked.

To branch out was an inevitable choice since, after all, Liszt was but a younger son of the Tulip Family and legally had no right to inherit the family assets. The greater his achievements, the more inevitable the separation would become.

“For now, it’s been decided as ‘Flame,'” Liszt responded.

He possessed more than one dragon, but the surname for nation-building could only be coined based on the revealed Fire Dragon.

He truly couldn’t think of a better surname. ‘Inferno’ was too vulgar, ‘Burning’ too bland, ‘Sky Burning’ too juvenile, ‘Rage’ too extreme, and ‘Dragon Flame’ too common. No matter which one was chosen, there would be regrets. After much consideration, he decided to simply use the straightforward ‘Flame’ as the new surname, just as the Sapphire Family used ‘Sapphire.’ Sometimes, being straightforward is the essence.

The Royal Family of the Eagle Kingdom had one branch with the surname ‘White Maw Iron’ and another ‘Moonlight Silver,’ both just as straightforward, naming themselves after dragons.

Leo was a Fire Dragon, and a Fire Dragon was the incarnation of flame; ‘Flame’ was the purest title.

It may not have the same prestige as ‘Inferno,’ ‘Sky Burning,’ ‘Karma Red Lotus,’ ‘Eternal Flame,’ or ‘Inferno,’ but upon closer appreciation, ‘Flame’ had a sense of returning to simplicity. Anyway, noble surnames were not set in stone. When there were more Dragon Knights, one could always change to a more domineering surname like ‘Master of Thousands Dragons’ or ‘Dragon Shepherd.’

Marquis Merlin, savoring the word ‘Flame,’ couldn’t help but nod and said, “Liszt Flame, I think it suits you well, matching the temperament of a Fire Dragon Knight.”

“So when do you plan to separate from the family?” Levis followed up with his inquiry.

“Perhaps after the New Year,” replied Liszt, who was indifferent about the matter. Whether he separated from the family or not made little difference, and the Tulip Family would not become distant just because of it.

For instance, the Golden Wheat Sheaf Family, from which Loria came, maintained a close relationship with the branched-off Golden Grain Family, without the notion that separation meant becoming strangers. When the Little Papa Island Lord was destroyed, the Da Pa Pa Island Landlord, a branch family, went to great lengths to campaign for the Pa Pa Family.

Separation signified the prosperity of the family.

Within the Blue Blood Alliance, there were many small families that had branched out from the Sapphire Family, all safeguarding the Sapphire Family.

Thus,

Liszt’s new identity was formally determined: Marquis of Flames, Flame Family, Dragon Knight Liszt Flame. In the future, the country he would build would probably be called the Grand Duchy of Flame.