Imperial Crown.

Chapter 184: Imperial Power

(Additional chapter for the big brother [Kanda Aoba] who has subscribed to all the accounts.)
Even when she ran back to the church, Lux still felt her face burning.

Although she had always had a good impression of Raven, she never thought it would come to this point today, and it would come so quickly and so suddenly.

She changed into priest robes, knelt before the statue of the Lord of Light, and chanted prayers.

In the past, no matter what happened, this method could always make her calm down quickly, but now this tried and tested method has completely failed.

"Great Lord of Light, our beloved Raven..." Lux frowned, apologized in a low voice, and stopped praying.

None of these methods worked, so she decided to go to sleep, hoping that maybe everything would be over when she woke up the next day.

As a result, not long after she fell asleep, she was awakened by a "nightmare".

In her dream, she prayed to the Lord of Light as usual in the early morning, but when she looked up, the statue of the Lord of Light had turned into Raven's face.

This time she couldn't fall asleep no matter what. She walked to the desk and sat down. She spread out a piece of parchment, thought for a while, and wrote down her confusion on it: "My respected and beloved teacher, my godfather, Priest Crouch himself."

"Recently, I encountered a strange thing. I doubt whether I am still qualified to serve the Lord of Light."

"I hope you can answer my questions and show me a way out."

"The thing is like this..."

While Lux was still struggling with this, Raven was also thinking about this matter, but at this time he was not in the castle, but came to the box in the troupe's tent.

The bard Rocco, who was also the host, did not reveal his identity, but recognized Raven at a glance, so he immediately hinted to the leader to invite Raven into the box.

The drinks provided here are not high-end, but Raven is not picky. At this time, no matter what kind of wine it is, it is not as intoxicating as Lux.

This time he went a little over the line, but Raven didn't regret it. Instead, he was a little tempted and felt that he should have done this a long time ago.

Just then, a cheer brought Raven back to his senses and his eyes fell on the big tent.

This large tent is cylindrical in shape, and its layout is very similar to that of a colosseum, except that due to its smaller area, the roof can be covered.

Since it was a temporary platform, the sound insulation of the box was not very good, so the cheers could be heard inside.

At this moment, more than a dozen actresses in very revealing clothes were walking out. No wonder the scene was so explosive.

Looking closely, Raven was immediately amused.

The actresses' clothes were not revealing. Although the clothes that could be clearly seen were the sexy bikini swimsuits of later generations, their limbs and even their chests were actually wrapped in close-fitting flesh-colored silk shirts.

It's just that the traveling troupe can't afford magic lamps, and the lighting in the big tent is very dim. In such an environment, the white main clothes are dotted with sequins, which attract people's attention. Combined with their tight and curvy figures after long-term exercise, they naturally look cool.

The actresses from these troupes walked around the stage hand in hand for a few laps to show off their figures, and then began the formal acrobatic performance.

There’s even a plot.

It started with a group of women gathered together, talking at once and accusing the youngest and most beautiful girl of being a witch.

The girl accused of being a witch huddled together, looking very innocent, and just when she successfully aroused people's sympathy, the music suddenly changed.

Her limbs began to twitch abnormally, her waist arched backward, showing amazing flexibility, her head stretched out from between her legs, her eyes widened, and her limbs moved on the ground, looking really scary.

The women were terrified and wanted to escape. At this moment, the actor playing the witch suddenly raised her hand. A woman who was running screamed and flew towards the witch as if pulled by an invisible force.

"You really have some skills." Raven exclaimed.

He could tell that there was no element of supernatural power involved in this jump, it was simply the running woman relying on her core strength to leap backwards, creating the feeling of being pulled forward.

This made Raven even more interested.

As the plot progresses, after several women were "absorbed" by the witch, they seemed to be connected as one. Each of them made the same posture as the witch, and their movements were coordinated.

This was not new to Raven, who had seen many acrobatics, but it had a huge impact and attraction on the subjects who had hardly ever left the area within a few dozen miles. For a while, there were constant screams and applause, and copper coins were thrown onto the stage from time to time.

After they performed for a while, several actresses rushed out from the backstage. Their clothes still looked revealing, but they had pure white wings on their backs, which obviously represented their identity as "angels".

Strips of cloth were hung from the ceiling, and these "angels" coiled one arm on it and jumped high up. As their movements became more and more intense, they flew faster and higher, which was a feast for the eyes.

They kept throwing golden fragments in the air, which sprinkled on the witch. The witch's body twisted more violently, and finally collapsed like mud, as if she had no bones at all.

At the same time, the angels also fell on both sides of the tent through the hanging silk ribbons and disappeared.

The next group to appear were women in warrior costumes. They lifted the witch and put her into a coffin. Then they took out their swords and, to verify how sharp they were, they performed a trick of cutting an apple in mid-air and then stabbed the swords into the coffin through the gap.

The exclamations in the field became louder.

This scene was also beyond Raven's expectations: "I didn't expect there would be magic involved."

Not surprisingly, after the warriors retreated, the actress playing the witch crawled out of the coffin. This time, she did not bend over to show off her flexible body. Instead, she turned her back to the audience, twisted her neck 180 degrees, and revealed an evil smile.

It seems that there is actually a second act.

The actors left the stage, prolonged applause broke out, and more coins were thrown onto the stage.

The troupe's performances never get boring, and the next show is about to begin, but Raven no longer has the interest to continue watching.

He left the box, asked someone, and then came to the backstage of the actors.

At this time, the girls had just finished a performance and were changing clothes backstage, all sweaty, showing off their different figures. Perhaps because they were used to traveling around, they did not have any particularly intense reactions.

Raven's purpose was not here, he went straight to the captain's lounge.

The leader of the Dark Side of the Moon Troupe is a bald man in his fifties, who is a bit overweight. He has a red top hat on the table and wears a somewhat worn red suit. His brown mustache makes him look particularly funny.

When the captain saw Raven coming, he frowned and was about to scold him, but Rocco, who was leaning on a chair reading a book, slammed the book on the table, stood up and saluted, saying, "Baron Raven!"

The team leader was shocked, and thankful that he did not say anything bad, he quickly saluted.

"Everyone, sit down." Raven pulled a chair and sat down. Although his posture was casual, the captain and Rocco did not dare to look down on him, let alone sit down.

Raven didn't force it, and asked straight to the point: "How much do you earn every month?"

The leader didn't understand what Raven meant, but he didn't dare to lie. He whispered, "It depends on the market and the local economic level. For example, here, after ten days of performances, including various projects, we can probably earn more than 40 gold coins."

"But like when we were in the mountain territory before, we only earned less than sixteen gold coins in the same ten days."

"Generally speaking, we can only perform once a month. It's rare that we can perform more than one time."

Raven said, "Then how about this, I will give you fifty gold coins a month, and you will work for me."

The reason why Lux left and Raven decided to stay here was to observe the level of this troupe.

The arena is currently in full swing, but if there is nothing new, the novelty will soon wear off.

At this time, letting the traveling theater troupe join in and perform some inter-event performances, such as cheerleading, can not only enrich the arena's projects, but also boost revenue and reduce the decline of the gladiators' novelty. With his family background in learning, Ingra should be able to come up with some new plots.

Rocco has good eloquence and can partner with Ingra. It is always easier to create sparks when two hosts are together than when one host is alone.

This is indeed good news. The captain swallowed his saliva and said, "Baron, we shouldn't refuse your kindness, but..."

"Of course, we choose to wander in order to make a living, but we also have some unavoidable difficulties."

"If you stay for a long time, it may cause you a lot of trouble."

Raven waved his hand nonchalantly: "It doesn't matter. As long as you stay in my territory and behave yourself, no one can do anything to you."

"If you do a good job, I can also issue him a freeman's certificate."

These words immediately brought joy to the eyes of the troupe leader and Rocco. In fact, many people in their troupe were serfs who had escaped from villages and towns all over the place. They did not dare to stop because they were afraid of being recognized. Now with Raven's strong guarantee, they could not help but show their joy.

Raven knew this clearly, and he was also sure that this troupe would not have any vicious bandits or people with extremely low morals, because a troupe that operated for a long time would definitely pick out these bad apples.

Considering the good reputation Raven had created before, after receiving Raven's assurance, the captain nodded immediately: "Since Lord Baron is impressed by our little trick, then we will definitely serve you wholeheartedly!"

"Well, you guys should finish your performance as planned." Raven thought for a moment and said, "Then when you have time, report to Ingra at the arena immediately. He will arrange your next performance."

The team leader naturally agreed without hesitation.

Raven stood up and was about to leave when his eyes fell on the book on Rocco's desk. Upon closer inspection, he saw the words "Imperial Power" written on the cover.

"This is……?"

Rocco handed the book over: "Are you interested in this too? This book, Imperial Power, is a hot seller even though it's just a novel!"

Raven's interest piqued. He flipped the book over and over again. "It's made of parchment. Although the quality of the paper isn't very good, it's so thick. It should cost at least thirty silver coins, right?"

"More than that, this book costs ninety-eight silver coins." Rocco said proudly, "And this is only the first volume, there are six more volumes to come. I plan to save up enough money and buy a copy next time I go to Mon'en City."

Raven weighed the book and flipped through two pages at random. "Is this book really popular?"

"Really!" Rocco said, "In fact, it's not just me who likes to read it. The citizens of the entire Mon'en City love to read it. It has been published twice before, and each time it is published, it is sold out in a short time!"

"Can you lend me this book first?" Raven asked.

Rocco's fingers trembled, his heart was bleeding, but he couldn't refuse: "If you like it, take it. Don't talk about whether to lend it or not!"

Picking up the book, Raven left a bag of fifty gold coins and returned to the castle, but he did not rush to sleep. Instead, he went into the secret room.

Whether it is the popularity of the Colosseum or the success of the Dark Side of the Moon Theater, it directly illustrates the shortcomings of today's entertainment industry, and there is great potential to be tapped.

He just glanced at the book "Imperial Soveraign"

Although this book is well-written, has a first-rate plot, a wonderful story, and vivid character creation...

But it is still a little bit different from the great online novels that Raven has read.

Such stories can sell like hot cakes in Mon'en City. If I bring those great writers' online novels here, won't they be very popular?

Today, what limits the spread of this story is its carrier - the parchment book.

Cost is secondary, the most important thing is its production capacity.

Even if Raven invented printing, parchment would be difficult to supply in large quantities, as it was produced from sheep after all.

As for inventing papermaking, Raven believed that with the wisdom of the gray dwarf craftsmen combined with the knowledge in his own mind, it could be done, but at the same time there was a huge problem.

Why are nobles so noble?
It's not just the wealth passed down from generation to generation, but also the monopoly on knowledge.

It was precisely because of the high cost of books that the free people and serfs were restricted in their access to knowledge, keeping them in a relatively ignorant state.

This may not be something the nobles did intentionally, but they were certainly happy to maintain the status quo.

If Raven invented papermaking and made knowledge worthless, he would definitely be targeted and suppressed by the aristocratic group.

Being half a step ahead makes you a saint, being one step ahead makes you a madman.

What’s more, this invention is to cut off the roots of one’s own class.

Raven has no intention of betraying his class, at least not yet, so he needs to choose another way.

So he opened the Deep Blue platform.

After a brief pause, Raven thought of the relevant information he had seen before and quickly found the product he wanted.

From the appearance, it is a spherical metal object the size of a watermelon, engraved with profound and mysterious magic array patterns, and seven-color light pulsating in between.

Sixth-order magic device, the magic network of intelligence.

This is also the core of the Deep Blue platform. Because of it, Deep Blue can ignore the gap in time and space and contact magicians from all over the continent at the same time.

And its price is also extremely shocking, with five zeros after the 32.

Three million and two hundred thousand gold coins!
A so-called magic device is a magical creation that, once set up, can operate for a long time as long as sufficient energy is provided, even without the need for maintenance by a magician, and it usually works over a larger range.

Including temperature control arrays, magic lamps and magic elevators, all fall into the category of magic devices.

The reason why Deep Blue dares to sell this kind of magic device on the platform is because of its first-mover advantage. The market for transactions between magicians has long been monopolized by Deep Blue, and no newly emerging platforms can compete with it.

In fact, there are magicians who have tried, but they all ended in failure.

"That's because I haven't come yet." Raven said with a confident smile: "If you do Taobao, I can do Moduoduo!"

Build your own platform, use novels to promote it, expand the audience to every literate family, and then use it to open up a broader market and earn more profits!

"It's just 3.2 million gold coins. Sooner or later, I will buy it!"

Having said that, Raven closed the Deep Blue platform, took out a pen and paper and began to write.

After all, you have to have manuscripts saved for serialization, otherwise adding more chapters would make you lose all your hair.

There are four big characters on it:

"Lord of Mysteries"!
The first sentence below is: It hurts! It hurts so much!

“Eh? Is this how it starts?” Raven scratched his head.
"Forget it, they haven't read the original book anyway, so it's fine as long as it's roughly the same!"

……

(End of this chapter)