The Defeated Dragon Chapter 86

86 – Can't Open the Giant Clam

Kosto crouched on the beach and drew a crude drawing of the East Coast's coastline with his finger in the sand. Next, he made a circle at one end of the coastline: “Sir Lord, this is the place suitable for building a harbor.”

Liszt understood the crude map.

The location of the place suitable building a harbor, strictly speaking, was no longer within the scope of the Flower Town. The dairy farm was the northernmost part of the Flower Town, and further north was the part of the Thorns Ridge that extended into the sea.

The place Kosto mentioned was at the junction were the Thorns Ridge and the sea met.

“Between the Thorns Ridge's low hills, there is a traversable, flat path. I came upon it when I traversed the entire East Coast. From there, the path widens into a flat valley. There, the water level at the coast is deep. I personally dove in and explored it. The terrain and path are suitable for building a harbor.”

“You dare to go deep into the Thorns Ridge?” Liszt was a little surprised.

Kosto's tone was a bit fanatical: “Ever since I took refuge in the Flower Town, I always wanted to let the sailboat sail again. But there is no harbor or wharf in the Flower Town. I was not resigned, so I went to explore even farther… I was quite lucky not to encounter any magic beasts. There were only some beasts, but I had a some smoke grass.”

Saying until here.

He suddenly knelt once more: “Sorry, Sir Lord, I went to the smoke grass field and picked up some leaves that fell on the ground. Please punish me.”

The smoke grass belonged to Liszt. And even leaves that fall off naturally, they also belong to Liszt. Anyone picking them up would be considered a thief, let alone if the perpetrator was a serf.

“Get up first, we can talk about this issue later.”

Liszt gestured for the second time for him stand up before continuing: “You've got guts. Not only do you dare to enter the Thorns Ridge, but you also dare to go to the sea alone. It seems that magic beasts and sea monsters cannot put a stop to your yearning for the sea.”

“I like the sea!”

Kosto took a deep breath and looked at the waves.

“I grew up on the coast. When I was a youngster, I went out into the sea. I spent more time on the sea than I spent on land. I've seen narwhals' long tusks, which was a tooth growing from their mouths, slash through the sea. I've seen the mirage of a prosperous city, which could not be reached, in the sea. I've heard pleasant singing coming from the mist, which was the singing of Sirens…”

After a pause, he swallowed before continuing in a serious tone: “I like navigating ships and I like crossing the sea. Sir Lord, I wish to be at the helm of your sailboat and for the it to go out into the sea to trade.”

After this brief conversation.

Liszt could tell that Kosto was a knowledgeable, savvy, decisive and adventurous person. If placed during the Age of Discovery, such a person might be able to mingle with adventurers like ‘Columbus'. People with dreams were worthy of awe.

This talent was being wasted in the Flower Town.

“Kosto, I hereby appoint you as Flower's captain.” He looked at the other from above, “You can recruit sailor apprentices and drill sailing skills into them on the East Coast.”

“Flower?”

“Flower is the name I gave this sailboat, it is the Flower Town's first ship!”

Kosto was overjoyed: “Sir Lord, when are you going to build the harbor and when do you plan to go out into the sea to trade? I can train a batch of qualified sailors so long as I am given a year's time!”

“Before the Thorns Ridge's trees are felled, you are not allowed to enter the thorns woods again. There is no need for you to worry about the harbor. When the time comes, I will naturally build one. The captain position is temporarily unpaid, so you will have to be self-reliant, such as collecting tuition fees… Of course, you can choose to apply to be a teacher and teach my knight squad how to sail.”

Marcus taught qi, Isaiah taught the written language, and Kosto would teach sailing. Liszt attached great importance to the knight squad's education.

Even if only a few people made it to the end, they could also become instructors qualified to teach the next batch of knight candidates for Liszt.

The outcome was even better than expected – Kosto knelt on the ground and kowtowed: “Sir Lord, I am willing to apply to be a teacher!”

“Then, captain, introduce me to Flower.”

Flower was a brig sailboat, which was clearly much smaller than a barque sailboat and could barely be used to go into the far sea to trade. There were many brig sailboats in the Tulip Family's fleet. They were most suited to sail inside the archipelago, where they would not encounter storms that were too great, which greatly improved their security.

There were no cannons.

So when encountering sea monsters, they could only flee. Although there were often stories of ships being attacked by sea monsters, but in fact, sea monsters rarely attacked ships.

As he was admiring Flower, the fishermen that were dissecting the large squid's body suddenly cried out.

The news that the fishermen dug out a very large shell monster from the squid's innards quickly reached Liszt. ‘Wavy shell', ‘as big as a person', was what a clerk used to describe the shell monster.

Liszt at once alighted Flower.

He was clear, the black pearls from the deep sea should be inside the shell monster.

When he saw the shell monster, he had a sudden realization: “This is a giant clam!”

The huge shell, the wavy form, and the colorful, gorgeous mantle, everything pointed to it's identity – a giant clam. In his birthplace, giant clams were the largest bivalvia. Their shells could be processed into very expensive jewels and their flesh was also particularly delicious.

In his home, he had a vase made of giant clam's shell on the table.

Of a small giant clam's shell of course.

The enormous giant clam in front of him was at least two meters in diameter and five hundred catty in weight. With its shell closed, it was unknown whether it was alive or not. Its gorgeous mantle was digested by the squid, leaving some mottled, loose traces.

“Sir, what is this shell monster, do you know?” Gort made circles around the giant clam.

“It's a giant clam, a type of large bivalvia.” When he spoke, he released Magic Eyes and carefully looked at the giant clam. He didn't see any traces of magic power. Therefore, it was probably just an ordinary giant clam and not a sea monster, “Open it, I want to sea whether there are pearls inside.”

“Pearls? Giant clams can also produce pearls? I thought that only Placid Lake's Pearl Clams could produce pearls.”

Placid Lake was a huge lake on the Blue Dragon Island and was part of the Sapphire Family's estate, with the Pearl Clams raised inside being one of its specialty products. Pearl Clams were a kind of small sea monster, or strictly speaking, a river monster, that only lived in fresh water and could produce pearls. It's pearl's had traces of gentle, water-attributed magic power that could calm the mind.

These pearls were favored as ornament by the aristocracy.

Many gentlewomen wore a pearl necklace around their neck.

Liszt pointed at the giant clam: “We'll know after it is opened.”

Gort hurriedly organized the manpower to pry open the giant clam's shell. However, after a long time, the group of people still couldn't pry open the giant clam's hard shell.

“Heavens, haven't you eaten your fill?!” Gort could only stare, “A shell made you loose your masculinity?”

“Mr. Gort, this thing is too firm, even the poles got broken.”

“I dare say that it is as firm as a stone, it is impossible to open.”

“Perhaps we should put it atop a fire. When cooked, it might open its shell alike oyster.”

Chapter end