Imperial Crown

boom--

It was mid-May, and the province of Nord ushered in its rainy season. Dark clouds enveloped most of the province, and thunder meandered through it, constantly exploding.

John Ota Luke reclined on the soft hide chaise longue, a roaring fire dispelling the lingering dampness.

As the lord of Xuefeng Territory and Imperial Viscount, John is already fifty-seven years old.

As a fourth-level ice knight, his body is much younger than his age, and he is quite energetic. His hair still maintains a healthy brown color. Although the skin on his face is a little loose, his astonishingly curved aquiline nose is still high. Well, it will leave a deep impression on anyone who takes one look at it.

"Lord Viscount." The butler opened the door, stepped forward, and placed an invitation on his table: "There is a letter from the Griffith family."

John closed his eyes: "Read."

The butler picked up the letter opener, skillfully cut the sealing seal, held it in his hands and read in a cadence: "Dear Viscount John Ota Luke, I hereby sadly inform you that Donald Ota Griffey Baron Si died of a sudden illness on May 2, 1193, Guangming calendar.

As the heir of the Griffith family, I sincerely invite you to come to Eagle Castle, Eagle Territory, Nord Province, on June 1st to attend the funeral of Baron Donald and my enthronement ceremony.

A\u0026G

R·A·G”

After hearing the content of the letter, John opened his eyes and laughed: "Ha, I thought a baron with a gangster background could give me a little 'surprise', but I didn't expect it to be such a boring official document."

"It must have been written by Gordon," the steward said.

"Of course it's Old Gordon! I'm afraid that untouchable can't even read the words, right?" John lifted the blanket on his knees and sat up: "It's pitiful that the Griffith family has been inherited for thousands of years, and it has fallen to this point. You want a lowly gangster to inherit the family business."

"Then..." the housekeeper asked after careful consideration: "Do you need me to reply with a letter saying that you have something important to do and it is inconvenient for you to go?"

John waved his hand and said: "Don't worry, let me think..."

The butler was waiting by the side with his hands tied. He had served the Luke family for thirty years and knew his Viscount's temper. At best, he was cautious, and at worst, he was indecisive.

"What did Angel say?" John suddenly asked.

The butler replied respectfully: "This invitation has just been sent. According to the distance, the Wharton family should have just received it."

John nodded slowly, his thoughts starting to settle.

The decline of the Griffith family did not start with Donald, but it declined to the extreme in his generation, which also allowed the Luke family that borders them to reap huge benefits.

Nowadays, the Eagle Territory of the Griffith family is divided into three, and the most prosperous Goldsmith Town is in the hands of John.

Although the lease agreement was signed, the lease term is as high as fifty years, and there are still forty years left to take effect, which is enough for the Luke family to establish substantial rule there.

Donald is not a very clever opponent, but he is still a qualified noble after all. Even if his mind is lost by magic and the territory is divided into large areas, it still leaves the possibility of reclaiming the territory in the future.

Otherwise, he would not have offered the high price of 20,000 gold coins, but he was still only willing to rent Gold Flash Town to himself, and rented the other two pieces of land to the Wharton family.

Unfortunately, his hard work now seems to be in vain.

John didn't look down on women very much, but he had heard of Denise's skills and shrewdness, and had always regarded her as the biggest obstacle to continuing to control Goldshire. He didn't expect that the Griffith family would fall into the hands of a gangster. !

"Little bee!" John sneered.

He didn't know how Raven defeated Denise, but judging from the nickname, it was probably through less than honorable means.

Women are women and they always have to be conquered by men.

It seems that I still overestimated Denise. If I had known she was like that, I, John, would still be young!

"Master John, do you want to go in person?" the steward asked again.

"Go, you answer the letter for me, I will definitely be there that day." John said with a smile: "I heard that the little bee even trained a private soldier, I really want to see their style."

"And if I don't go, I'm afraid that little guy won't be able to withstand Angel's pressure and will hand over the financial resources of Goldsmith Town to the Wharton family."

Outside the window, a thick bolt of lightning lit up, illuminating the room like daylight, and then a terrifying thunder exploded!

The thunder also reached the Wharton family.

Different from the tranquility at John's place, the men of the Wharton family gathered together in the conference room.

The man sitting on the innermost side is wearing dull iron armor and has a thick neck. He has a face-covered steel helmet at hand. The shape of the nose of this helmet is particularly exaggerated, and this is also to suit its owner, Baron Angel Horta Walton. .

His nose is as big as a lion's!

As a third-level earth warrior, although he was sixty-five years old, his temper was as bad as a ball of fire. He stretched out his hand, crumpled the invitation and threw it into the fire: "Humph, the world is really declining, what? Even cats and dogs can become nobles!”

"Father, I think..." The person who spoke was Judra, Angel's eldest son. He inherited his father's most obvious feature, a big nose, and also renovated it, with a large red epilepsy mark on his nose. .

But as soon as he opened his mouth, his words were choked back by Angel: "This is the conference room. I told you, you have to call me on my duties here!"

"Yes, Lord Baron!" Judah shrank his neck. A thirty-five-year-old middle-aged man was trained like a dog: "Lord Baron, I don't think you should underestimate Raven too much."

"I have met with Mrs. Denise several times. She is by no means the kind of woman who can be manipulated at will. Now that Raven can snatch the inheritance rights from her, she must not be an easy person to deal with."

"Fart!" Angel slammed the table: "I think you were so confused by that bitch named Denise that you actually said such words that make others ambitious!"

"Father, please don't be angry." A young man with red hair on Angel's right said, "My elder brother also contacted Denise for the sake of the family."

This young man's name is Mark, who is twenty years old this year. He is Angel's youngest son. He did not inherit his father's big nose, but inherited his mother's fiery red hair.

The title "Father" obviously went against Angel's previous instructions, but this lion-like man was not angry at all. Instead, he restrained his temper: "Hmph, why consider the family? I think he just wants to Himself!"

Judra lowered his head and suppressed the dissatisfaction on his face.

As a descendant of the Wharton family, Angel's partiality is really too much!

Judah is a full fifteen years older than Mark. When he was a child, he was completely raised according to the family heir and received the most rigorous training.

Starting from the age of six, one has to learn the necessary etiquette, culture and history of nobility, while also taking into account the training of martial arts and tactics. If you slack off for a moment, you will be beaten by Angel without even a smile or a compliment. Never heard of it.

Judra originally thought that Angel was such a rigid father. He loved her, but he just couldn't express it.

But this idea became fragmented as Mark grew up.

Since childhood, Mark has enjoyed the most love from his father, who would often hold him in his arms, even when he was five or six years old.

There were even times when Mark rushed to the command platform while his father was training soldiers. If this happened to Judra, it would definitely be a good beating.

But instead of being angry, Angel picked him up with a smile and proudly introduced Mark's identity to his private soldiers.

Even when Mark was only fifteen years old, he obtained a second-level [God-given potion], which was the one that directionally awakened the fighting spirit of the earth. The price was as high as 1,500 gold coins. After the first failure, his father even I even bought him a second one!

Angel himself received his first god-given potion, the first-level non-directional awakening, when he was twenty-five years old. He did not successfully awaken until he was twenty-five!

Yes, he contacted Denise for his own sake. His father's preference for Mark was blatant. He had given up hope of inheriting the title and just wanted to marry Denise so that he could become a real person through operations. Lord Eagle Lord!

But am I not a member of the family?

"Father, my elder brother is also a member of the family, but he is too kind-hearted." Mark's eyes flashed with a cunning light, and he knew how to make Angel happy: "In my opinion, it will be the rainy season soon, which is the peak of the Bloody Highlands. A time of confusion.”

"Let's simply let our private soldiers dress up as rogues and rush directly into Eagle Castle to exterminate the Griffith family. In this way, the two rented territories will be impregnable. No matter who inherits Eagle Town, they will have no heirs. I won’t do anything wrong again!”

"Hahaha, he is indeed my son. Only in this way can we have the prestige of our Wharton family!" Angel laughed heartily: "But although this idea is good, it is a bit too careless about the beginning and the end. We are nobles, not robber."

It's not that Angel abides by aristocratic ethics, but that the current environment in the entire kingdom does not allow him to do so.

Since a hundred years ago, the imperial royal family has begun to consciously weaken the nobility and greatly tightened the issuance of titles. Over the past century, the number of newly promoted nobles can be counted on one hand, but the number of nobles whose titles have been reduced is at least hundreds!

The Wharton family is just a small baron family. If they really follow Mark's idea, even if it succeeds, I am afraid that the king's henchmen in the noble council will bite like crazy and not make the Wharton family gain or lose. He will never give up if he loses his rank.

"Then father, what do you want to do?" Mark asked.

Angel stared and said, "Isn't that little bee training his troops? Then let's take the most elite troops to give him a 'congratulatory gift' and let him know what kind of opponent he is going to face!"

"Father, you are so wise." Mark praised loudly: "That gangster from a lowly background must have never seen elites like our Tielulu Ridge soldiers. He will definitely be scared to the point of peeing in his pants."

"At that time, as long as we scare him a little, he might hand over Eagle Town and that bitch Denise to us!"

Angel shook his head: "No, kid, not us. This time Judra is going with me. As for you, you should stay in the territory and practice your martial arts more!"

"But..." Mark was about to argue, but he lowered his head again, with just the right amount of grievance on his face: "I understand, father!"

He knew Angel's intention - Judra was older, had his own team, and was the eldest son of the family.

If Judra is left in the Iron Furnace Territory, if anything happens to Angel, Judra can directly declare his inheritance to the Iron Furnace Territory.

Mark wanted to show his grievance, not really wanting to leave the territory, but just to make his father feel guilty and ask for benefits at the same time.

Sure enough, Angel said: "Mark, don't be petty, you are already an adult noble. How about this, when I come back, I will hand over a knight to you to govern, how about it?"

Mark immediately said: "Thank you dad!"

boom--

Another burst of thunder sounded, and the rain outside the window became heavier.

In the deep rain, horses were walking on different roads in the Nord province, just like the blood flowing in the veins.

These knights are mercenaries and are working around the clock to deliver invitations to every noble house that has ever been involved with the Griffith family.

Those continuous rolling thunders were like the prelude to a grand drama, foretelling to the entire Nord province——

The Griffith family is back!

But the loud noise could not cover up all the sounds. There was a sound louder than it in the courtyard of Eagle Castle.

"prick!"

"prick!!"

"prick!!!"

In the heavy rain, Raven's private soldiers were still practicing, and everyone's eyes shone with perseverance.

Under Eric's order, they spread their legs, held spears in both hands, and kept rehearsing the same action.

Thrust, thrust, thrust again!

The spear tip broke through the rain curtain and broke the raindrops into smaller water droplets. From a distance, it actually created a mist.

No one dared to be distracted, because at this moment, Raven was also standing in the rain, holding a spear, standing with them!

After the 500th thrust today, Raven put away his spear and stood up: "Stand at attention!"

Uh-huh.

Thirty-six private soldiers stood up straight almost at the same time, heels colliding with heels, and the sounds of squeezing water almost overlapped at this moment!

Half a month of training has begun to show results.

Raven shouted, "Who are we!?"

A group of private soldiers headed by Simon held their heads high and roared: "Eagle Army!"

"What is our creed!?"

"Defend your home and be loyal to the Baron!"

"Who is your Baron!?"

"Lord Raven!"

"Very good!" Raven shook the gun barrel and shouted: "Now, someone wants to see your joke, Lord Raven's joke! What are you going to do!?"

After a brief silence, there was a thunderous explosion.

Simon suddenly took a step forward:

"kill!"

Then, there was a loud noise:

"kill!!"

"kill!!!"

…