Volume One: The Baron of Flower Town

Chapter 1: Dragon, Elf, and Flower Town

After spending a week recuperating from wild fruit poisoning and working hard to adapt to his new identity after transmigrating, Edward Thompson (Liszt) often found it all unbelievable.

He, who died suddenly from overwork, was actually reborn as a noble.

And not just any noble, but one in another world.

This other world was somewhat similar to medieval Europe, where castles and knights ruled over everything. But it was a magical and wondrous world, where dragons and elves existed, knights could cultivate battle aura, and mysterious magicians roamed. Even he himself had trained in "Basic Battle Aura" and become an apprentice knight.

"Beginner battle aura, huh."

A stream of energy flowed endlessly within his body, and as he willed it, it surged into his hands. Instantly, he felt his palms heat up, filled with powerful strength.

That slightly stinging sense of swelling made him feel, for a moment, as if he could tear apart tigers and leopards with his bare hands.

Knights ruled the boundless land, relying on this battle aura that symbolized strength.

Battle aura cultivation.

Those who mastered beginner battle aura were "apprentice knights," those with intermediate battle aura were "earth knights," and those with advanced battle aura were "sky knights."

Edward Thompson's father, the hereditary "Count of Coral Island," William Thompson (Leewilliam) Tulip, was a sky knight who had mastered advanced battle aura. On his own territory—Coral Island, an area equivalent to a prefecture-level city—he held absolute power over life and death, needing only to pledge loyalty to the Duke of Sapphire.

Unfortunately.

As the count's third son, he did not inherit the Tulip family's talent for battle aura. Even at sixteen, the age of adulthood, he was still just an apprentice knight.

His older brother, Steven Thompson (Levis) Tulip, became an earth knight at thirteen and was now an elite among earth knights, able to challenge three earth knights at once.

His sister, Sarah Thompson (Lvera) Tulip, also became an earth knight before reaching adulthood.

He also had a half-brother, Richard Thompson (Lytton) Tulip, who was twelve this year and was said to be close to advancing to earth knight.

Edward Thompson inherited more of his looks from his mother, the late countess. Light golden, slightly curly short hair, deep sapphire-like eyes, well-defined features, fair skin, and a tall, slender figure—he was born with the elegance and charm of a noble. But his aptitude was simply too poor.

Perhaps because he resembled his mother so much, the count once had high hopes for him.

The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.

As he grew up, his father became completely disappointed in him, even to the point of disgust.

His brother Steven Thompson was temporarily granted the title of "Viscount for Life," destined to inherit the hereditary countship. His sister Sarah Thompson was unusually granted the title of Baron of Falcon Town, becoming one of the rare "hereditary female knights" with land in the Duchy of Sapphire, rather than a mere titleholder without land.

As for him, he was only granted the title of baron, just like his sister, and that too over the most remote Flower Town on Coral Island.

With a personality like his mother's, Edward Thompson had always been gentle and weak, often bullied by his brother and sister. As he grew older, he communicated less and less with the count, to the point that he would rather live at the knight academy than go home.

"Fortunately, he was an unnoticed good-for-nothing. I replaced him, and no one will notice... And I have my own fief, hereditary and unchallenged, with absolute power over life and death within my territory. It's wonderful." Edward Thompson had long since gotten over his initial panic and was working hard to blend into this world.

He had to blend in, to live like a native.

Because in this world, transmigrators had few advantages—magic and battle aura surpassed science—he couldn't build nuclear weapons and plant mushrooms everywhere, so the idea of competing with science against magic and battle aura had to be set aside.

In fact, after learning more about the situation, he felt he had to keep a low profile—even all metal ores came from dragons, and lush plants depended on elves!

No dragons, no elves.

Want to farm? Want an industrial revolution? Pure fantasy!

But dragons and elves were the rarest treasures in the world. The Duchy of Sapphire had only one dragon—the Sapphire Dragon, the mount of the Duke of Sapphire from 150 years ago. The entire Sapphire family was built upon this dragon.

It was said that a dragon could live for a thousand years, which meant the Duchy of Sapphire still had several centuries of national fortune to enjoy.

Elves were a bit more common than dragons, but strictly ranked.

Edward Thompson's father, William Thompson Tulip, owned a "Great Tulip Elf," which helped the family grow vast fields of tulips. The family was established because of this, and even changed their surname to "Tulip." Great elves could live for two hundred years, so barring accidents, the Tulip family could enjoy prosperity for another 150 years.

Below the great elves were the little elves, who could live for a hundred years.

The Tulip family owned twelve little elves, who helped the family cultivate all kinds of plants.