The Mighty Dragons Are Dead - Chapter 109:
Chapter 109: Chapter 109: Five Large Trunks
Translator: 549690339
East Coast.
The tide had receded, leaving the beach, soaked in seawater, with plenty of shells, starfish, crabs, and other seafood behind. Fishermen had already started to harvest the seafood.
Liszt sat on his Li Dragon Horse.
He watched a large group of people busily working on the sandy beach with bare feet, connecting ropes and twisting almost all the ropes from the town into one thick cord.
Captain Kostor had dived to locate the sunken ship and tied the rope around the dragon bone of the wreck.
After swimming back, he gestured to everyone, “Pull! It’s ready to pull!”
Dozens of serfs, like the Volga River boat trackers, stepped heavily and instantly tensed the ropes tight. Under Teacher Goltai’s command, they shouted and mustered their strength: “One, two, three!”
One, two!
Three!
The shouts came in waves.
The rope tightened against their shoulders, relaxing and tightening with the rhythm of their bodies. They pressed their feet deeply into the sand with each step, leaving firm imprints. Among them were old men past their prime and young boys, all engaged in the same task. Their clothes ragged, skin darkened by the sun, hair plastered to their foreheads, sweat dropping steadily.
They really resembled the Volga boat trackers.
But they were not.
Liszt had seen Repin’s famous painting “Burlaks on the Volga” in his Chinese textbook. The boat trackers in the painting, who dragged ships along the river all year round, were depicted as numbed by life’s hardships. Yet, the temporary workers from Fresh Flower Town had smiles on their faces, even under the scorching sun.
Because for this job tracking the boats, each person could earn a copper coin.
The generous and kind Lord Landlord had come from the grand Tulip Castle to this place, bringing them plenty of food and the clinking of copper coins, and even silver coins and Gold Coins!
Life had never felt so hopeful.
“One, two, three!”
“Work harder!” Goltai shouted, “You lazy bunch, didn’t you eat anything?”
At sea, Captain Kostor continually dived and resurfaced, calling out loudly, “Give it more strength, the body of the ship has been pulled out! A little more force, and we’ll have the bow out!”
A few cycles of the chant settled.
Then Kostor shouted, “Success! The sunken ship has been successfully pulled out from the mud and sand!”
With the ship now pulled out, the boat trackers worked with even greater ease, dragging the battered sunken ship effortlessly onto the beach. This ship, covered in green algae, was barely recognizable in its original form, with only one mast remaining, and even that was broken. The hull was riddled with holes, and crabs occasionally crawled out from inside.
“My lord, the sunken ship has been hauled up!” Goltai exclaimed excitedly.
Captain Kostor also approached, “An old-style schooner, by this form, it should be a hundred-year-old vessel. Lord Landlord, it must be a ship from the Duchy of Sapphire. A hundred years ago, only the Grand Duchy had the capability to build schooners.”
Liszt rode around the wreck on horseback, “A hundred-year-old shipwreck, then, is it a merchant ship? Or a warship?”
“It should be a merchant vessel, the cabin is sealed for transporting goods.”
“Well, what are we waiting for? Teacher Goltai, have people dismantle this hundred-year-old merchant ship. I want to see what’s left in its cargo hold.”
“As you wish!”
Building a ship is hard, but dismantling it is swift. Moments later, the cabin was smashed open. Patrol Members crawled inside and pulled out some fabric soaked and spoiled by seawater and debris of grains. It seemed to be a merchant ship that dealt in textiles and food, its fate unknown as it rested at sea’s bottom.
“Can it be that sunken ship treasure is simply these few things?” Liszt expressed disbelief.
And sure enough.
A Patrol Member suddenly cried out, “There are chests, here are several chests, intact and undamaged, the locks are still unopened!”
“Hurry up and move the chest out!”
“Give me a hammer; the chest is stuck in the ribs of the ship, and I have to break the wood to get it out.”
After some effort, a total of five large chests were dragged out of the sunken ship’s hold and placed on the sand. Captain Kostor circled the chests, sizing them up for a few moments before coming to a conclusion: “Lord Landlord, these seem to be made of redwood, solid and durable, and have obviously been treated for waterproofing. There must be valuables inside.”
Liszt smiled, “In that case, have them transported to my castle… Right, everyone involved in the salvage operation will be paid double. Captain Kostor who discovered the sunken ship, thus, he will be rewarded with a Gold Coin.”
He had not yet seen what was inside the chests.
He started handing out rewards directly, aiming to encourage his subjects to discover and explore, to bring him more good things. At the same time, the Gold Coin was to encourage Captain Kostor to recruit more Sailor Apprentices, to see if he could indeed build up a qualified crew.
The five large chests, each as big as a desk, were neatly placed in the castle’s hall.
The locks appeared to be cast from brass and had rusted over time.
Carter stood guard over the chests, preventing the servants from getting close.
As a result, the maids and manservants could only crowd at the entrance of the hall, curiously eyeing the chests.
“Debbie, what do you think is in there, could it be mermaids?”
“Maybe it’s a Siren, there are Sirens at sea.”
“The chest is quite old; even if there were mermaids or Sirens inside, they would have turned to bones long ago.”
“That might not be the case. I’ve heard that mermaids can live for hundreds of years!”
“I bet it’s all Gold Coins inside, no, Dragon coins! A whole chest full of Dragon coins could buy the whole of Fresh Flower Town.”
“Jim, use your brains to think about this, even if you sold the entire Fresh Flower Town, including you and me, it wouldn’t fetch a few Dragon coins! A chest full of Dragon coins could buy the whole of Coral Island!”
Carter turned around and scolded the chattering servants, “Have you forgotten the etiquette of the nobility? Do your own jobs and pay no attention to what doesn’t concern you, understood?”
Mrs. Morson also came downstairs from the upper floor and cast a glance at the female servants, her gaze settling on Maisie: “The cleanliness of the lord’s study is unacceptable, there are still crumbs in the corners. Maisie, this is your negligence, you need to clean it again.”
“Yes, Mrs. Morson.” Maisie nodded in response and hurried to get her cleaning tools.
After the reprimands from the two butlers, the servants dared not misbehave and went back to their respective posts. Only Carter and Morson were left in the hall.
“Has the master not returned yet?”
“The master went to the Dragon Kui Field; the Dragon Hollyhocks there are not doing well, he is trying to find a solution.”
“I have seen that Dragon Hollyhock, and indeed, it’s not in good shape. Mr. Carter, do you think it can survive?”
“I believe it can,” Carter replied with a faint smile. “Because the master will save it. The glory of knighthood watches over Fresh Flower Town and, even more, over the master.”
Liszt did not know that his butler trusted him so much.
At that moment, he was staring at the Dragon Hollyhock, which was nearly devoid of life, frowning, pondering how exactly to help it gather Magic Power: “The mission says ‘Moisture-like Magic Power’ is being lost, does it mean that the Dragon Kui needs more Water-Attribute Magic Power? In our town, only Marcus and I possess Attribute Dou Qi, but it is Fire Attribute and Wind Attribute.”
Suddenly.
An idea flashed through his mind.
He thought of the Black Pearls; in his Gemstone Space, there were fourteen Water-Attribute Black Pearls: “Perhaps, I can grind the Black Pearls into powder and sprinkle it at the base of the Dragon Kui, allowing it to absorb the Water-Attribute Magic Power itself… I’m not sure if this is the right approach, but it’s the only plausible method for now.”
Better to try and fail than to do nothing at all. He immediately took out a fist-sized Black Pearl, ground it into powder, and buried it at the base of the Dragon Hollyhock.
“Whether it lives or dies, let’s leave it to the fate of the Dragon Kui.” He mounted his horse and hurried back toward the castle, where five chests filled with treasures waited for him to open them.
