Imperial Crown.

Chapter 169: Tavern Poets and Gray Dwarves
As a lord, Raven has a lot of work to do every day, such as...

Uh, for example, take a cup of coffee, move a chair, sit in a back room and paint dark blue.

In addition to buying and selling things and communicating with other wizards, the Deep Blue platform also provides a forum-like section where many wizards share their experiences and stories, or exchange ideas on the use of magic, potion refining, enchantment techniques, etc.

It broadened Raven's horizons.

For example, a post that Raven had just read.

A fourth-level magician was visited by his sexy magic apprentice who brought an invisibility potion. Then, on the balcony of the magician's tower, in broad daylight, the two drank the potion and experimented in public with the sound-masking effect of the invisibility potion and the impact of emotional fluctuations on the effect of the invisibility potion.

In this regard, Raven could only sigh that these magicians were really playing tricks!

There are many similar gossips, in addition to some internal employment and bounty information.

For example, recruiting experimental assistants, recruiting a court magician on behalf of a lord, and purchasing materials produced by specific monsters.

It’s not that Raven is lazy. Although Denise has left, with the recovery of old Gordon, the construction of Eagle Town is back on track and he doesn’t need to spend too much energy.

Due to the early preparation time, the construction of Eagle Town has begun to take shape. In addition to the Wallace Hotel, other buildings have also been completed and opened to the public, including taverns, casinos, public relations clubs, and so on.

Taking a sip of coffee, Raven muttered to himself, "Speaking of which, how about finding an opportunity to go out for a walk?"

After thinking for a while, Raven stood up and walked to the door of the secret room. As soon as he pushed the door open a crack, he heard the chirping of cicadas.

When he heard the cicadas chirping, he thought of the sun. When he thought of the sun, Lei Wen felt hot all over and his scalp itched.

Forget it, I'll just continue brushing the deep blue and enjoy the coolness of the temperature control magic circle!
However, not everyone would choose the same way to cool down as Raven. In this era, most people's pastime is still drinking.

The pub is the best gathering place.

At this moment, a pub was open for business on the street corner not far from the Wallace Hotel.

Compared to the innovative and luxurious hotel, this pub named "Pride of the Lion" is much simpler. It has a classic oak sign at the door, two oak doors facing each other, and several layers of wine barrels piled on the wall beside the door. It looks like a great place to drink.

Walking through the door, there is a long row of counters. Behind the counters is a large wine cabinet, which has all kinds of wines of various grades and styles. The most eye-catching one in the middle is of course the Angel's Tears.

The windows were closed and the curtains were drawn. Thanks to the temperature control array, the air in the tavern was cool. For the sake of aesthetics, there was a burning fireplace in the corner and a bard was sitting on a high stool in front of the stove.

His name was Rocco. He looked to be about thirty years old. His face was covered with thick makeup, but traces of wind and sun were still visible on his exposed fingers and wrists.

He wore a pair of green leather shoes and purple bloomers, an exaggerated costume dotted with pink lace, and a white wide-brimmed felt hat on his head with a signature pheasant feather on the top.

Rocco played the lute in his hand and sang ballads. The long, jazz-like tunes made the entire tavern peaceful and tranquil.

"Hey, stop singing!" the gray dwarf Sohei shouted, "We are here to relax, and your singing makes us want to cry. Change to another one!"

As he said this, he threw a silver coin to Rocco.

Rocco took off his hat, caught the silver coin very accurately, and said with a smile: "Okay, then what do you want to listen to? I can sing all kinds of songs, such as 'See You at Three in the Morning'?"

"It's boring." Sohei said loudly: "Since you are a bard, you must have traveled to many places. Why don't you tell me a story?"

hum.

Rocco plucked the strings twice and said with a smile, "Okay, then I'll tell you my own story."

"As you know, my name is Rocco, a bard."

“My life is not a success.”

"I was born in a small town in the province of Molinier. Although I am a free man, my parents are honest farmers, stubborn and conservative."

"I longed for life in a big city and didn't want to live a life that I could see the end of, so when I was ten years old, I climbed onto a caravan passing by my hometown and begged to join a traveling theater troupe."

"Of course I did some odd jobs at first. My dream at that time was to be an acrobat, because their throwing knives looked very handsome, which was very consistent with a child's fantasy."

"Although I don't have any talent, I still managed to please the acrobats in the troupe with my eloquence, and I learned to throw knives fairly well. I can now take over for the acrobats when they are resting or when there are not many spectators."

"I was seventeen that year, and it seemed like my dream was about to come true, but that same year, my dream changed."

The sound of the strings stopped quietly, and Rocco suddenly sighed: "I fell in love with a girl, her name is..."

"Jasmine."

Continuing to pluck the strings, Rocco said slowly, "She was a very beautiful girl, only fifteen years old at the time. She didn't want to be married off to an ugly and old businessman by her family, so she ran away with our troupe's caravan."

"She's a lovely girl... I mean, a young, gentle, thoughtful girl, it's hard not to like her."

"She would hand me a handkerchief and a cup of water with honey when I finished cleaning up the mess. She would giggle when I teased her, and even if the joke was too much, she wouldn't be angry for long, and she would be very happy again after a little coaxing."

"No matter what's bothering me, I can talk to her. We can sit in the carriage, on the roof, or on the embankment by the river."

"Her feet would always swing back and forth, with a smile on her apple-like face. She would listen quietly to whatever I said, and when I took the opportunity to hold her hand, her face would really turn red like an apple."

"So my dream changed. I wanted to be with her, marry her, have a few children, and live a life without worries..."

"But I was too timid and too poor to afford a girl's life. I thought I would save enough money - at least ten gold coins - to buy a house and a few acres of land in the countryside, and then go and confess my love to her."

"Unfortunately, just half a year later, she quietly left the troupe, taking my heart and my dream with her."

"I didn't want to throw knives anymore, so I picked up the dusty lute in the theater warehouse and practiced every love song, hoping that one day I could tell her how I felt when we met again."

"I tell this story in every new place I go, hoping that someone will have heard of the name 'Jasmine' and that I can see the 'her' I miss so much again."

Having said that, Rocco sighed, his fingers kept moving but he stopped talking.

Sohei finally couldn't bear it anymore, he shouted loudly: "Hey! Rocco! I told you we are here to relax, relax! How can we relax with a story like yours!?"

"We gray dwarves have feelings too, okay!?"

This time, Bowell agreed with him for once: "That's right, we, the gray dwarves, are also an intelligent race. Together with you humans, we overthrew the evil rule of the dragons. We also have culture, heritage, and emotions!"

"Your story makes the wine in our mouths bitter!"

Today is a rare holiday for the gray dwarves, so they came to the tavern in a group to relax. Seventeen gray dwarves were present, led by Sohei and Bowell, who immediately started to make a noise and banged the table loudly.

The bartender behind the counter gave Rocco an unfriendly look.

Feeling the dissatisfaction of the crowd, Rocco hurriedly said: "Oh, distinguished gentlemen, my story is not over yet!" "Then tell it quickly!" Bowell threw a silver coin over: "I want to hear the ending!"

The other gray dwarves also threw copper coins: "Yes, we want to hear the ending!"

Rocco quickly took off his hat and waved it in the air to catch the coins thrown at him. Surprisingly, not a single one of them was empty, showing his rather skillful skills. Soon the coins formed a peak in his hat.

"In fact, I met Jasmine again later." Rocco put the coins into his pocket with a smile and continued, "It was a summer afternoon. It had just rained. The troupe's performance was over. I went to wander around the town, hoping to have a drink."

"It was a hot and humid day, the air was so humid that you could squeeze water out of it, the troupe's income was not good, and I was in a bad mood too."

"So, I could only choose the lowest-end tavern and pushed the door open and walked in. Then I saw her - my Jasmine. She was standing behind the counter, as beautiful as she was back then."

"My breath stopped, my mind froze, and I walked forward and held her hand, just like I did before."

"Her beautiful eyes gazed at me, and her pink lips uttered words that I will never forget."

Rocco paused.

Suo Hei couldn't help but ask: "What did she say later?!"

"She said..." Rocco plucked the strings gently:
"Two silver coins per session, ten for the whole night."

The air in the tavern suddenly froze. The corners of Sohei's mouth drooped, then raised again, pointing at Rocco: "You kid—"

Bowell immediately laughed out loud, holding his belly, and all the gray dwarves laughed out loud as well.

The gray dwarf was short in stature, but had an unusually loud and sharp voice. For a moment, it was as if he had poked a chicken coop, and the entire bar hall was filled with sharp and devilish laughter.

From time to time, cups, spoons, forks, and bites of barbecue flew towards Rocco, and more often than not, there were coins scattered around.

Rocco's figure swayed back and forth, dodging the flying "hidden weapons" and catching all the coins. When everyone had laughed enough, he blinked and added:
"I spent thirty silver coins."

All the drinkers were stunned for a moment, and then burst into laughter even louder than before. Even the bartender fell on the table with laughter.

"Hey, Rocco." After catching his breath, the bartender said loudly, "Your story is more attractive than your singing voice. Do you want to be our resident poet? You will have the opportunity to meet the Baron!"

Rocco bowed to the bartender and said, "I have heard of the Baron's reputation. If I could meet him in person, I would definitely be able to write a great and touching story for him!"

"But I can only decline your kindness, because I am not a wandering bard."

Sohei asked, "What you said before was not a story?"

"Stories are just stories, but some are true and some are false." Rocco said with a smile, "For example, I did leave home at the age of ten to join the theater troupe, and I haven't left yet."

"I came here today just to make a start for the troupe."

A traveling troupe would have no fewer than twenty members, and would carry a great number of props, monsters, and supplies, usually requiring more than a dozen carriages.

Under this premise, once a location is selected, it cannot be easily changed. If a town with no oil or water is chosen, the entire troupe will lose money, so it is reasonable to be cautious.

Bowell asked, "So how did you observe this time?"

"Eagle Town is such a great place!" Rocco exclaimed sincerely, "I didn't expect the streets here to be so clean and the people to be so wealthy. Especially the buildings on this street, they are even better than those in Mon City!"

Hearing this, Bowell and Sohei looked at each other and puffed out their chests proudly.

They contributed a lot to the construction of Xiongying Town. During the construction process, they referred to and modified the design of the buildings a lot, which is why it looks like what it is today.

A gray dwarf asked: "Then, you will definitely come?"

"Of course!" Rocco weighed the purse on his waist and said, "We will definitely not miss such a rich place."

"And I also believe that everyone will not be disappointed when the time comes. After all, we are a... comprehensive theater troupe."

Hearing these words, all the drinkers' eyes lit up.

A comprehensive troupe will provide quite a lot of performances, including but not limited to acrobatics, magic, animal training, singing and dancing, etc.

In this era of entertainment scarcity, these are very popular performances.

Another feature of the comprehensive drama troupe is that the actresses in it are very beautiful and... don't mind doing some part-time jobs.

They have been exercising for a long time and traveling all over the country, so naturally they have a temperament and style that is completely different from ordinary technicians.

The drinkers exchanged glances and smiled knowingly.

The gray dwarf who had been chatting stood up and asked impatiently: "When will it arrive? My big bird is already thirsty!"

This statement immediately attracted the ridicule of a guest: "Little man, don't embarrass yourself, we are a serious theater troupe and we will not accept children!"

"Hey! Do you look down on me?!" The gray dwarf jumped onto the table, unbuckled his belt, and let his pants fall on the table: "Look at grandpa's murder weapon!"

A waitress saw this and screamed.

Bowell's gray-black face completely turned into the color of coal, and Sohei laughed while slapping the table.

The scene fell into chaos, some people were screaming, some were laughing, and some were cursing.

A melee ensued as a wine bottle knocked the gray dwarf who was walking his bird off the table.

Rocco took the opportunity to jump onto a table and shouted, "Hey, gentlemen! Our 'Dark Side of the Moon Troupe' will come to Eagle Town in half a month. I hope you will welcome us!!"

The bartender behind the table sighed deeply and covered his forehead. He was not completely surprised by this - can a bar be called a bar if there are no fights?
Then he grabbed the collar of Bowell who was trying to escape.

Bo Weier shouted: "I'm here to stop the fight, what are you doing?"

"Of course I'm keeping it for you to pay for it."

The details of this little farce were placed on Raven's desk that night, which made him smile knowingly. At the same time, he also looked forward to the fact that this theater troupe named "Dark Side of the Moon" could bring some new vitality to Eagle Town.

However, before the troupe arrived, an incident occurred that, although expected, made Raven quite happy.

……

(End of this chapter)