Imperial Crown.

Chapter 13 Under the thunderstorm, everyone has their own agenda
boom--

It was mid-May, and the Nord Province had welcomed its rainy season. Dark clouds covered most of the province, and thunder was winding through it, exploding continuously.

John Ota Luke leaned back in a soft animal-hide couch as the roaring fire dispelled the lingering dampness.

As the lord of Snow Maple Territory and Viscount of the Empire, John is already fifty-seven years old.

As a fourth-rank ice knight, his body looks much younger than his age and he is full of energy. His hair still maintains a healthy brown color. Although the skin on his face is a little loose, his aquiline nose with an amazing curvature is still tall and straight, which will leave a deep impression on anyone who sees him.

"My Lord Viscount." The butler pushed open the door, walked forward, and placed an invitation on his desk: "There is a letter from the Griffith family."

John closed his eyes: "Read."

The butler picked up the letter opener, skillfully cut the wax seal, held the letter in both hands and read in a rhythmic manner: "Dear Viscount John Ota Luke, I am sad to inform you that Baron Donald Ota Griffith died of a sudden illness on May 1193, 5 in the Guangming calendar.

As the heir of the Griffith family, I sincerely invite you to come to Eagle Castle, Eagle Territory, Nord Province on June 6st to attend the funeral of Baron Donald and my coronation ceremony.

A & G
R.A.G.

After hearing the contents of the letter, John opened his eyes and laughed, "Ha, I thought a baron who came from a gangster background could give me a little 'surprise', but I didn't expect it to be such a boring and old-fashioned official document."

"I guess Gordon wrote it for me," said the butler.

"Of course it's old Gordon! That pariah probably can't even recognize all the words, right?" John lifted the blanket from his knees and sat up. "It's a pity that the Griffith family has been passed down for thousands of years, but it has fallen to this point. They have to let a lowly gangster inherit the family business."

"Then..." The housekeeper asked carefully, "Do you need me to write a letter saying that you have important matters to attend to and cannot come?"

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

The butler waited by the side, he had served the Luke family for thirty years and knew the temper of his own viscount. To put it nicely, he was cautious, but to put it bluntly, he was indecisive.

"What did Ingres say?" John suddenly asked.

The butler replied respectfully: "This invitation has just been delivered. 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 reached its peak in his generation, allowing the Luke family, which borders them, to reap huge benefits.

Today, the Eagle Territory of the Griffith family is divided into three parts, and the richest of them, Shining Gold Town, is in John's hands.

Although it was a lease agreement, the lease term was as long as fifty years, and there were still forty years left to take effect, which was enough time for the Luke family to establish substantial rule there.

Donald was not a very skilled opponent, but he was a qualified noble after all. Even though he had lost his mind due to magic and divided up large tracts of territory, he still left the possibility of taking back the territory in the future.

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

Unfortunately, it seems that all his efforts are in vain now.

John doesn't think much of women, but he has heard of Denise's skills and shrewdness, and has always regarded her as the biggest obstacle to his continued control of Griffith Town. He never expected 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 done by some dishonorable means.

Women are women, and they will always be conquered by men.

It seems that I have overestimated Denise. If I had known that she was that kind of person, I, John, would still be in good shape!

"Lord John, are you going there in person?" the butler asked again.

"Go, reply for me. I will be there on the same day." John said with a smile, "I heard that the little bee has trained private soldiers. 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 hand over the source of wealth in Shining Gold Town to the Wharton family."

Outside the window, a thick flash of lightning lit up, illuminating the house as bright as day, and then a terrifying thunder exploded!

The thunder also reached the Wharton family.

Unlike the quietness of John's place, the men of the Wharton family gathered in the conference room at this time.

The man sitting on the innermost side was wearing dull iron armor, had a thick neck, and held a steel helmet next to him. The shape of the nose of the helmet was particularly exaggerated, and this was to suit its owner - Baron Angel Ota Walton.

His nose is so big that it looks like a lion's!
As a third-level earth warrior, although he was already 65 years old, his temper was as irritable as a ball of fire. He stretched out his hand, crumpled up the invitation and threw it into the fire: "Humph, the world is really going downhill, any cat or dog can become a noble!"

"Father, I think..." The one who spoke was Angel's eldest son Judra. He inherited his father's most obvious feature, a big nose, and even made it more unique, with a large red scar on the tip of his nose.

But as soon as he opened his mouth, his words were choked back by Angel: "This is a meeting room. I told you to call me by my title here!"

"Yes, Lord Baron!" Judela shrank his neck. A 35-year-old middle-aged man was scolded like a dog: "Lord Baron, I think you shouldn't underestimate Raven."

"I have met Lady Denise several times. She is definitely not the kind of woman who can be easily manipulated. Now that Raven has been able to snatch the inheritance from her, she must not be an easy person to deal with."

"Bullshit!" Angel slammed the table. "I think you've been bewitched by that bitch named Denise. You actually said something that would boost others' morale!"

"Father, please don't be angry." The red-haired young man on Angel's right said, "Brother, you contacted Denise for the sake of the family."

The young man's name is Mark, he is twenty years old and is Ingres's youngest son. He did not inherit his father's big nose, but inherited his mother's fiery red hair.

The title of "father" obviously violated Angel's previous instructions, but this lion-like man was not angry at all. Instead, he restrained his temper: "Humph, what do you mean by considering the family? I think he is just doing it for himself!"

Judra lowered her head and suppressed the dissatisfaction on her face in her heart.

As a fellow heir of the Wharton family, Angel's partiality is really too much!
Judra is fifteen years older than Mark. When he was a child, he was trained to be the heir of the family and received the most rigorous training.

Starting from the age of six, they had to learn the necessary etiquette, culture and history for the nobility, while also taking into account training in martial arts and tactics. If they slacked off even a little, they would be severely beaten by Angel, without even a smile or a word of praise.

Judra originally thought that Angel was such a conservative father who loved her but just didn't know how to express it.

But this idea became fragmented as Mark grew up.

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

There were even a few times when Mark rushed to the command platform when his father was training soldiers. If it was Judra, she would definitely be beaten. But Angel was not angry. Instead, he smiled and hugged him, proudly introducing Mark's identity to his private soldiers.

When Mark was only fifteen years old, he even obtained a second-level [God-given Potion], which was the kind that could awaken the earth's fighting spirit. It cost as much as one thousand five hundred gold coins. After the first failure, his father even bought him a second one!

As for Angel himself, he got his first God-given potion in his life when he was twenty years old. It was the first-order non-directional awakening potion. He did not awaken successfully until he was twenty-five years old!

That's right, he contacted Denise for his own sake. His father's preference for Mark was obvious. He no longer had any hope of inheriting the title and only wanted to marry Denise. In this way, he could become the actual lord of Eagle Territory through manipulation!

But am I not part of the family?

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

"Why don't we just have our private soldiers disguise themselves as bandits and charge directly into Eagle Castle to make the Griffith family extinct. This way, the two rented territories will be impregnable, and no matter who inherits Eagle Town, they will never have any evil intentions again!"

"Hahaha, you are worthy of being my son. This is how our Wharton family should be worthy of its prestige!" Angel laughed heartily. "Although this idea is good, it is a bit too prudent. We are nobles, not robbers."

It's not that Angel is so committed to aristocratic ethics, but the current environment of the entire kingdom does not allow him to do so.

A hundred years ago, the imperial royal family began to consciously weaken the nobility and greatly tightened the issuance of titles. Over the past hundred years, 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 baronial family. If they really do what Mark wants, even if they succeed, I'm afraid that the group of king's lackeys in the Council of Nobles will attack like crazy and will not stop until the Wharton family loses their land and their titles.

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

Angel stared and said, "Isn't that little bee training? Then let's take our best troops to give him a 'gift' and let him know what kind of opponent he is facing!"

"Father, you are so wise." Mark praised loudly, "That lowly thug must have never seen elite soldiers like our Iron Furnace Ridge soldiers. He must be scared to pee his pants."

"When the time comes, if we just scare him a little, he might hand over Eagle Town and that bitch Denise to us!"

Angel shook his head: "No, kid, not us. Judea will go with me this time. As for you, you should stay in the territory and practice your martial arts!"

“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 what Angel was thinking - Judra was older, had his own team, and was the eldest son of the family.

If Judra is left in Ironforge, if anything unexpected happens to Angel, Judra can directly declare herself the successor to Ironforge.

Mark wanted to act aggrieved, not because he really wanted to leave the territory, but just to make his father feel guilty and to get some benefits.

As expected, Angel said, "Mark, don't be so petty. You are already an adult noble. How about this, when I come back, I will give you a knight to rule over, how about that?"

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 galloped across the different roads of the Nordic province, just like blood flowing in veins.

These knights were all mercenaries, and they were working day and night to deliver invitations to every noble home that had ever had any connection with the Griffith family.

The continuous rumbling of thunder was like the prelude to a grand drama, foreshadowing the entire Nordic province—

The Griffith family is back!
But this loud bang could not cover up all the sounds. Inside the courtyard of Eagle Castle, there was a sound that was louder than it.

"prick!"

"prick!!"

"prick!!!"

In the heavy rain, Raven's private soldiers were still training, and there was a gleam of tenacity in everyone's eyes.

At Eric's command, they spread their legs, held the spears in both hands, and practiced the same action over and over again.

Thrust, thrust, and thrust!
The tip of the gun broke through the rain curtain, breaking the raindrops into smaller water droplets. From a distance, it actually created a hazy 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!"

Swish.

The thirty-six private soldiers stood up almost at the same time, their heels colliding with each other, and the sound of squeezing the accumulated water almost overlapped at this moment!
After half a month of training, initial results are showing.

Raven yelled, "Who are we!?"

The private soldiers led by Simon held their heads high and roared, "Eagle Army!"

"What is our creed!?"

"Defend our homeland and serve the Baron!"

"Who is your Baron!?"

"Lord Raven!"

"Very good!" Raven shook his gun and shouted, "Now, someone wants to see you make a fool of yourself, to see Lord Raven make a fool of himself! What are you going to do? "

After a brief silence, a loud thunder exploded.

Simon suddenly stepped forward:
"kill!"

Then, a roar of voices arose:
"kill!!"

"kill!!!"

……

(End of this chapter)