The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

Once back in the castle, Liszt ordered his servants to install the crystal lamp in his study. The lamp, made of white crystal, emitted a soft white light, reminiscent of natural light, although not as intense as sunlight. Just one crystal lamp was as bright as ten candles.

“It’s about as bright as a 50-watt incandescent lamp, which is still not strong enough. It would be better to install two more.”

Three crystal lamps in a room is the most suitable level of brightness—any more is glaring, any less too dim. These crystal lamps could remain lit for several years on end. They could also be designed to be switched on and off at any time, but that would require high-level craftsmanship, which is not cost-effective.

The value of crystal is indeed high, but the price is not unacceptably so.

With hundreds of crystal lamps illuminating Tulip Castle from morning till night, it is a beacon of light that never falls into darkness. Many nobles like to use crystal for their tableware. After being enfeoffed, Liszt also received a set of exquisite crystal tableware. Although its magic power had been exhausted, it still highlighted his class when entertaining honored guests.

“I need to also install a crystal lamp in the bedroom, then put on a lampshade. That way, I won’t need to turn off the lamp—just closing the lampshade will be like turning off the light.” He was accustomed to sleeping in the dark; he couldn’t sleep with the light on.

He directed the servants to adjust the position of the crystal lamp.

Making a quick calculation in his head, he estimated that at Granney’s pace, it would take another three to five days to make ten crystal lamps. Ten lamps could at most sustain five rooms, but he had no intention of adding more; taking out so much crystal at once would be a bit ostentatious. Better to keep a low profile.

After all, three lamps for the study, two for the living room, two for the dining room, two for the bedroom, and one for the bathroom should be sufficient for his use.

“Master, Mr. Marcus has arrived and is waiting for you in the living room,” Carter approached to inform him.

“Did Teacher Marcus mention what it is about?”

“He has come to report on the knight training of the serf children.”

Liszt pondered for a moment, then said, “Have someone notify Karl Ironhammer and Rom Barrel to come here. Also, summon my twelve Retainer Knights; I want to hold a meeting.”

He went downstairs.

And met with Marcus.

“My lord, Marcus offers his greetings to you.”

“Good day,” Liszt, while letting Thomas adjust his necktie, replied, “Teacher Marcus, let’s talk under the apple tree. I have also invited others to join us in a meeting to discuss knight training.”

The apple tree was a wild fruit tree not far from the front of the castle.

There were stone benches and a wooden table beneath the tree where Liszt often read books or contemplated. Regrettably, during this season, the apples had already ripened and fallen. Thus, he momentarily could not emulate Newton, getting hit by a falling apple and then contemplating and formulating the epoch-making law of universal gravitation.

Next year, once apples grew on the tree again, he would definitely ponder astronomy, physics, magic and Dou Qi under it.

“Apples are wonderful, three apples can change the world.” Liszt sat down and smiled, gesturing towards the apple tree.

Marcus was puzzled, “Apples are indeed tasty, but how can they change the world?”

“Do you know how humanity came to be?”

“We are the rulers of nature, born alongside this continent, my lord.”

Alright, watching Marcus answer seriously, Liszt suddenly found it boring; this Earth Knight was not one to exhibit humor. So, he cut to the chase, “There is a legend that the first two people ate an apple and created the humans of today.”

Marcus asked, “Then why is it that three apples changed the world?”

Temptation in the Garden of Eden, gravity, the iPhone… Liszt regretted starting this topic and had to blather, “Later, someone ate an apple and cultivated Dou Qi, someone else ate an apple and created magic. Of course, these are just legends I’ve read in knight novels; those authors have quite the imagination.”

“Those magicians? They can’t change the world; the world belongs to the knights!”

A moment of blathering followed.

Karl and Rom had already arrived, and the Retainer Knights had formed a circle under the apple tree.

Looking at Marcus, Karl, and Rom sitting upright and the Retainer Knights standing straight, Liszt suddenly thought of King Arthur and his round table meetings. This fictional ancient British king liked to have meetings with his knights around a round table, and Europeans wrote many stories about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

The Japanese also produced many works about King Arthur.

“If one day in the future I were crowned king, would this table under the apple tree come to be known by posterity as the Apple Table, the Apple Table Conference? Would Marcus, Karl, Rom, and this group of elders be called the Apple Table Knights? Or perhaps just the Apple Knights?”

His thoughts were fleeting.

He spoke earnestly, “Teacher Marcus, has the sorting of the serf children finished?”

“Yes, my lord, out of three hundred and fifty-four children, twenty-six were excluded due to deformities or an inability to train, leaving three hundred and twenty-eight—169 boys and 159 girls. Following your instruction, I have separated the girls into one group and divided the boys into passing and failing groups.”

“The girls’ group will be trained by Rom,” Liszt decided on the spot, “The purpose of the training is to keep them physically fit, making it easier to assign them jobs in the future. If there are any exceptionally talented individuals who can develop Dou Qi, we’ll make special arrangements.”

Rom immediately stood up to take the order, “As you wish, I will rigorously train this group of girls!”

Training women to develop Dou Qi was not the mainstream; at least most landowners choosing knights would opt for boys. However, it wasn’t fixed; there were also quite a few landlords who trained female knights… Liszt’s sister, Li Vera, trained a group of girls to form a women’s knight squad, although she also trained many more boys.

Liszt’s training of girls wasn’t about forming a knight squad.

It was because he wished for women to also increase their strength to undertake hard labor in the future, or rather, to take on farming entirely, freeing up the male labor force. Men could work in workshops, or do more physically demanding jobs like building roads, bridges, and ships.

An even more crucial point was that with a stronger female constitution, the difficulties of childbirth would lessen and the baby survival rate would greatly improve.

Besides, there was another reason—if a few outstanding female knights emerged, they could be taken on as Retainer Knights, and if they were fair and beautiful, they could be adjusted to serve as personal guards, which would be delightful.

“The failing group will be trained by Karl.”

Liszt put aside his private thoughts and continued, “The training of the failing group, like the girls’ group, is about building physical strength, preferably to cultivate Dou Qi. In the future, among this group, those with Dou Qi can join the Patrol Team or the Bug Guard Team, while those without it can build roads and bridges.”

Karl stood to accept the command, “As you wish!”

“Lastly, I’ll entrust the passing group to Teacher Marcus for training; they are the candidates for the future Land’s Guard Knights. Philip, Zavier, you Retainer Knights will take turns assisting Teacher Marcus to train the passing group… I think the passing group should be further divided into smaller groups by age to train separately.”

Marcus nodded, “We can divide them into one group for those under six years old, mainly focusing on etiquette and basics; one group for those between six and eight years old, mainly cultivating Dou Qi and loyalty; and one group for those over eight, primarily training courage and mounted charges.”