Imperial Crown.

Chapter 142: Dark Serpent Ring, Phantom Light Shell

When she said this, Mantheni's eyes were fixed on Raven's face, hoping to see some emotion in his expression, such as surprise, urgency or gloating.

The news of the orphanage being surrounded was deliberately left for last because Mantheni wanted to see if Raven was really as calm as he had appeared to be before.

Because the Moon of Mercy Orphanage was where Raven was born, and he was driven out from there when he was fifteen years old.

But to her disappointment, Raven acted very calmly. Instead, he raised his eyelids and asked, "Anything else?"

"...No more, Baron." Mancenee lowered her head.

"Eric!" Raven stood up and raised his voice: "Gather the men and get ready to go!"

Eric's voice responded from outside the door, followed by a series of footsteps.

Raven dressed neatly and walked out of the house, pausing briefly at the door:
"If you do that again, I will strip you naked and hang you at the door."

With a bang, the door was closed, shaking Mantheni's body.

After leaving the villa, Raven led the team to the Mercy Moon Orphanage.

On the way, the group also encountered some scattered undead creatures, but they were basically cannon fodder skeletons that would scatter at the slightest charge.

Half an hour later, when he arrived at the outskirts of the Mercy Moon Orphanage, Raven saw that a group of skeleton soldiers had surrounded the orphanage in three layers, with cannon fodder skeletons as the vanguard, mixed with first-level elite skeletons and rotten souls.

This kind of gradient attack shows at first glance that there is a shepherd directing it.

A trace of doubt arose in Raven's mind - it was strange, why would the Death Hand Cult pay so much attention to an orphanage?

However, this did not affect Raven's decision. He opened the Eye of Truth and ordered Eric to lead his men to rush towards the shepherd.

Under the sweep of the iron hooves, the shepherd went to meet his god of death almost instantly, and the surrounding undead creatures lost their command and began to become confused and helpless.

Those in the distance who were originally preparing to climb the wall stopped and left, while those nearby began to circle around Raven and his group instinctively.

Eric continued to lead people to clear out and disperse the surrounding undead creatures. Raven and Lux ​​walked into the orphanage. At this time, the gate had been breached and scattered broken bones could be seen on the ground.

Opposite the gate is a memorial wall engraved with the names of "good people" who donated to the Month of Mercy.

Every time he saw it, Raven wanted to tear it down - if even one percent of the amount recorded on it had gone to the orphanage, his childhood would not have been so miserable.

Just as he passed the memorial wall, a headless skeleton fell in front of Raven with a bang. When he looked up, Raven's eyelids began to twitch.

Dean Ms. Nightingale was seen facing two first-level skeletons, holding a long-handled broom in her hand and dancing tightly. The broom was shining with golden holy light, the purity and strength of which were almost as good as Lux's before.

This 73-year-old woman still has the same charm. Although she is wearing a skirt, the expression on her old face is extremely firm and the movements of her hands are not at all chaotic.

The next moment, Nightingale swept across, and with the burst of holy light, the remaining two first-level skeletons were cut into four pieces. Their lower limbs fell to the ground, but their upper limbs were still struggling to crawl.

Raven had always known that Nightingale was a second-level combat priest, but he had never had a clear concept in his mind. Now he understood.

What kind of combat priest is this? He's clearly a retired Knight of Light!
The old dean used a broom to smash the skull of one of the skeletons, and a crossbow arrow was inserted into the head of the other one.

Nightingale looked in the direction of the crossbow arrow and immediately saw Raven: "Is it you?"

"Dean, I'm back." Raven smiled, put away his crossbow and spread his hands: "The undead outside have been driven away by my men. Shall we go in and talk?"

Nightingale looked at Raven from head to toe with a scrutinizing gaze, and her eyes fell on Lux behind him. As a fellow clergyman, she could feel the pure scent of holy light on Lux.

"Little girl, come in first."

"Raven, come back after you clean up the yard."

After saying that, he turned around and walked ahead.

Lux said, "I'm with him."

Nightingale paused: "...It's up to you."

Then he walked through the door.

In response, Raven didn't hesitate and started throwing bones out from the wall: "Lacus, don't do it. This is a task given to me by the dean."

"it is good."

While cleaning up the broken bones in the yard, Raven was also looking around the yard. Everything here was almost the same as before he left.

The public security in the downtown area is chaotic, and children are cute and adorable, which always attracts all kinds of malicious looks, so the walls on all four sides are more than two meters high and are filled with broken ceramic pieces. This is to prevent outsiders from entering and also to prevent those energetic children from rushing out rashly.

The orphanage can only barely operate on the meager funding from the church, and has to do everything it can to increase revenue and reduce expenditure. Therefore, most of the originally spacious yard was converted into fields, where some seasonal, easy-to-survive, and high-yield vegetables were planted. Some of the vegetables were sold and some were consumed by the orphanage itself.

The only place left for the children to play was a small patch of flat ground that had been trampled till there was no grass at all.

There is also a half-crooked old tree on the flat ground, with a swing tied to the trunk with a leather rope. This is almost the only leisure activity for the children.

The surface of the leather rope is full of traces of wind and frost, and it breaks several times almost every year, so there are more than a dozen knots of different sizes on the two leather ropes, and they will not be replaced until they can no longer be used.

Raven still remembered that he had a fight with someone for the swing, and as a result, they were both punished to stand for the whole afternoon, and he could only watch others play.

"Baron, what are you doing?" Eric was shocked when he entered the yard after clearing out the undead creatures outside. "Please put it down. Leave this kind of work to us!"

"No need." Raven said, "Take the men to guard outside and don't let anyone in."

Eric didn't quite understand why Raven had to clean the yard himself, but he followed the order anyway: "Yes, sir!"

For Raven, the reason for doing this is simple.

Because looking back now, the orphanage was very good to him.

If he hadn't been raised here, the twisted monster in the downtown area would have eaten him to the bone, but he chose to repay kindness with enmity.

Moreover, based on how bad he had been back then, no one would pursue the matter even if Dean Nightingale killed him, and many people would only applaud.

That's a second-level Knight of Light!

Thank you, old dean, for raising me and not killing me.

What's the big deal about sweeping the yard?
There were not many bones in the yard, so they were quickly cleaned up. Raven stretched and walked into the orphanage.

This is a two-story stone building. The hall is empty but looks a bit messy, obviously it was just crowded with people.

Now there was only one woman standing in the corner, lowering her head and saying, "My Lord Baron..."

The voice sounded familiar to Raven: "Lian?"

Lien, the first woman in Raven's life, is also the only disciplinary nanny here.

The woman raised her head. She was already in her forties but looked older than her age. Her face was full of wrinkles and her eyes drifted away in shame. She didn't dare to look Raven in the eye.

To be honest, Raven's feelings towards Lien were very complicated. On the one hand, it was because of her care that he was able to get adequate nutrition during his youth; on the other hand, it was also because of her seduction and instigation that he went down the wrong path.

Raven had also heard some rumors about what happened after he left. The truth about their relationship could not be hidden and was soon discovered by Lien's husband. After a beating, they divorced as a matter of course, and their two children no longer recognized their mother.

It is difficult to say who is more sorry between Raven and Lien.

Lien's feelings were equally complicated. If Raven was not a baron now, she would definitely pounce on him and ask him to compensate her. But now the gap in their status was too great for her to have any extraordinary thoughts.

She said calmly, "The dean is waiting for you in the office on the second floor."

Raven nodded and walked upstairs.

The orphanage was more dilapidated than when he left. The wooden stairs creaked when he stepped on them, but it was still as clean as ever.

When he arrived at the office, Dean Nightingale was sitting behind the desk, just like when he left that year, staring at Raven with sharp eyes.

Although she was over seventy years old, the old lady was in very good spirits, and the look in her eyes made Lei Wen feel quite uncomfortable.

"Please sit down," said Nightingale.

Sitting opposite Nightingale, Raven felt as uneasy as a student facing his teacher.

"Raven," Nightingale said, "You finally lived like a human being."

Lux suddenly became curious: "Madam Dean, when Raven was young, he was very... careless in his work?" "More than careless." Nightingale rolled her eyes: "This kid has never been easy for me to worry about. He is always there for fights and troubles, and he often sneaks out. If I hadn't restricted him, the Mercy Moon Orphanage might have turned into the Mercy Moon Gang!"

"But he is a natural born noble. He lies without blinking. Even if he is caught, he is very stubborn and can blame others for his own mistakes."

Lux became more curious: "This happened after he turned eight?"

"Some happened before the age of eight, and some happened after the age of eight." Nightingale became even angrier when this was mentioned: "Especially when he was a teenager, he was really excessive..."

Raven's face turned red. "Dean, it's all in the past, let's not talk about it. Can you give me some face?"

Hearing this, Nightingale's attitude softened: "It's only because you saved the orphanage today, otherwise I would definitely not forgive you."

In fact, it was not just because of this. As a retired clergyman, Nightingale could tell at a glance that Lux was a priest.

The key point is that she actually maintained her purity while still harboring feelings for Raven.

If Raven hadn't learned to control his desires and respect others, these two characteristics would never exist at the same time.

"The undead army of the Death Hand has already invaded the city." Raven said, "The orphanage will become increasingly unsafe. Now that I have temporarily controlled the Silver Hand Brotherhood, would you like to move your people there?"

Raven was a little nervous when he said this, worried that the Silver Hand brothers would arouse Dean Nightingale's disgust, but it turned out that he was overthinking it.

Nightingale thought for a moment and said, "From a security perspective, this is indeed a good idea. However, the Silver Hand Brotherhood is a gang after all. If the children come into contact with them too much..."

"Ms. Nightingale, I think nothing is more important than the lives of children." Lux said, "And the gang members are not all bad people by nature. They are influenced by the environment. If you can share and spread the mercy of the Lord of Light to them, I think they can be influenced."

This sentence was so naive that Raven was a little shocked. Gangs? Belief in the Lord of Light?
No matter how you think about it, it's a bit too explosive.

However, perhaps this is the thinking of the clergy, Nightingale actually resonated with it: "Little girl, you are right. I was too narrow-minded before. I only wanted to separate the children from the gangs, but I didn't think that as long as the environment does not change, the gangs will always exist."

"Is it because of this philosophy that you influenced Raven?"

Raven was stunned for a moment.

Lux has influenced me, how come I didn’t know?
However, Raven did not refute. At least this way the orphanage could be kept safe and it would live up to his remaining conscience.

"The sooner the better. The children have already been awakened by the shock. Now is a good time for your guards to take them away." Nightingale said, "But before that, I have two things to give you."

As she spoke, Nightingale opened the drawer and took out a wooden box.

Raven's eyes lit up: "This is your treasure."

"Well, it's old and no longer useful." Nightingale opened the box and said, "It's so chaotic out there now. You can use it to its fullest potential."

Suddenly, a magical light appeared in the room.

In the box was an emerald green bracelet, made of metal and inlaid with tiny diamonds. Green light flowed through it, making it look like an outstanding work of art.

"This is the 'Hell Serpent Ring'. It was obtained as a trophy when I wiped out a cult when I was young. It is a second-level magic item. It can cast the second-level magic 'Venomous Fang Flying Thorn' once a day."

With a click, Nightingale applied slight force on both sides of the wooden box with her fingers and lifted up the part containing the Hades Serpent Ring.

This box is actually divided into two layers, upper and lower.

Nightingale turned the box over, revealing a shell-shaped brooch inside.

This shell is only the size of a palm, pink all over, with the wrinkled patterns common in seashells, and the colors are colorful and rippling, as if it is under the rugged waves.

"This is the 'Phantom Shell', a creation of the Naga clan."

"Wear it on your body and activate it with magic or fighting spirit. It can form an invisible barrier around your body. It can not only protect you from arrows, but also deflect the light around you like the sea water."

As she spoke, Nightingale put it on her chest. After a flash of light, her figure suddenly moved about 30 centimeters to the right, but her voice remained in the same place: "In battle, you can use it to deceive the opponent's vision."

After taking off the brooch, Nightingale appeared in her original position again: "These two things are now yours."

"Are you really going to give it to me?" Raven was stunned.

"Take it." Nightingale smiled kindly. "Although you caused the most trouble when you were young, I also know that you will be the one who can achieve the greatest success."

"The Eagle Territory is in the northwest of the province. It's a good thing that you can come all the way to support Meng'en City."

"This is good."

Raven breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.

To Raven, whose parents died when he was young, Nightingale was like his mother.

The reason why I never came to the orphanage after moving to the city was also because I didn't know how to face her.

"I'll go organize the evacuation right now."

There are children of all ages in the orphanage, from infancy to sixteen years old, a total of more than 130 people.

When Eric received the order, he thought it would be a troublesome mission. With more than a hundred people, it would take an unknown amount of time just to assemble them.

But what he didn't expect was that in just over ten minutes, the children had packed their luggage and bedding.

Children as young as six or seven can carry packages that are almost as tall as themselves; it goes without saying that the older ones, in addition to carrying the luggage, will consciously take their younger children with them.

The children of the poor are in charge early.

For the first time, Eric felt the meaning of this sentence so deeply.

The journey was originally expected to take three hours, but it was completed in just over an hour.

When she saw the yard full of children, Mantheni's face turned pale - this was the headquarters of the Silver Hand Brotherhood, a gang stronghold, not a kindergarten!

Her face turned even paler when a little girl rushed over, called her sister, and asked her where the toilet was.

But seeing Raven's meaningful look, Mantheni had to be patient and point her in the direction.

The little girl bowed to her and said, "Thank you, brother. You are such a good person!"

Then he jumped away.

Manseni's face was burning. She waited until the little girl walked away before she cursed in a low voice: "You little brat, you are the good person! Your whole family is good people!"

Children are always likable, especially obedient children. Over the next few days, the entire Silver Hand Brotherhood began to have a different kind of vitality.

The coalition forces also had their own moves. Everyone wanted to gain the friendship of the Slater family. Therefore, even with the lessons learned from the past, they began to send people to spy inside, trying to find a relatively safe shortcut to the inner city.

Every day there were reports of nobles being injured or killed.

Raven seemed to be completely out of the matter. Apart from occasionally returning to the camp to make his presence felt, he always maintained a leisurely attitude.

It was not until the sixth day after returning from the Moon of Mercy Orphanage that Mantheni reported the news.

The flooded lane is open.

Manshui Lane is a passage connecting the old city and the inner city. It is hidden and narrow, and even the locals may not know about it. It has always been occupied by the Undead Army.

In addition to this alley, Raven also monitors six streets at the same time.

Upon receiving the news, Raven immediately gathered his men and led the team out.

Compared to when the city gate was just broken, the environment in the outer city is completely different. Wandering cannon fodder skeletons can be seen everywhere, and the doors of some buildings have been broken open, with blood splattered everywhere.

However, these wandering skeletons were completely unable to stop the horses of Raven's personal soldiers. With almost no significant hindrance, Raven passed through the Flooded Alley and arrived at the edge of the inner city.

Just as Raven was about to shout to the top of the city wall, a shadow suddenly passed through the originally clear sky.

A rotten gale blew past, and the bone dragon's huge body fell on the wall, and its shovel-like tail landed less than thirty meters in front of Raven.

"hold head high--"

A dragon roar like a giant bell swept across, and the bone dragon raised its head

The blazing white breath of death dragon condensed in the throat!
……

(End of this chapter)