Imperial Crown.

Chapter 186: In times of peace, be prepared for danger
After putting away the things, Raven turned around and left with Zhu Nasheng. As soon as they walked back into the hall, they heard a bang.

Zhu Nasheng was so frightened that he let out a strange cry, took several steps back and almost fell to the ground. The sound echoed between the walls for a long time.

Raven frowned and looked over, and saw that it was Zhu Nasheng who stepped on and overturned a copper urn on the ground.

"Baron, I didn't mean it, I..." Zhunasheng wanted to explain, but Raven waved his hand, walked over, squatted on the ground, and picked up the copper jar.

Raven's brows knitted slightly as he scanned the patterns on it, then he sighed, "Let's go."

This copper urn is about one foot high, cylindrical in shape, bulging in the middle and narrow at both ends, and is carved with a wolf symbolizing bravery. The lid of the urn is designed in the shape of a vulture.

Raven had seen urns of this shape before, in the Griffith family cemetery, used to hold offerings such as grain.

But now, it appeared in the hall of the Metini family, and was scattered everywhere, with a total of no less than dozens.

Raven could imagine the scene.

The undead army broke through the castle, opened the cemetery, and summoned the corpses of the ancestors of the Metini family.

Maybe Raven had fought them before.

In addition to reviving the corpses, the members of the Hand of Death Cult would certainly not let go of the burial objects. As for these copper urns, they were only painted with a layer of copper on the surface and were made of hardwood inside, so they were abandoned here.

Raven asked, "The Metini family has lived on this land for more than six hundred years, right?"

Zhu Nasheng was still wondering what kind of punishment he would receive, but when he heard this, he immediately said, "To be specific, it is six hundred and twenty-seven years, sir."

Seeing that Raven was listening attentively, Zhu Nasheng told him everything he knew: "Six hundred and twenty-seven years ago, the first head of the Medini family, the fifth-rank seven-star steel knight Kolifu, was awarded the title of Viscount for his military exploits and established a business here."

"After that, there have been a total of 28 generations of family heads, and the current generation of family heads is at the third level..."

Through Junason's narration, Raven gradually understood the history of the Metini family.

The first few generations of family heads still remembered what the war was like. Not only did the family heads have the strength of level five, but the knights under their command were generally at level two or three.

At the same time, the Medini family also focused on the development of military strength, spending almost half of their financial expenditure on maintaining and training the army. They maintained a force of 2,000 elite private soldiers alone, and if necessary, they could raise a legion of 5,500 people at any time.

As time went by, wars gradually faded away, weapons were put into storage, horses were released into the mountains, and luxury and enjoyment gradually became the main theme of the nobles, and the Medini family was no exception.

In this generation, the head of the family ascended the throne when he was less than 30 years old, but he did not break through to the third level until he was 42 years old. Among the nine extraordinary people under his command, only two were at the second level, and the rest were at the first level.

The standing army was said to have 2,000 men, but in reality there were only about 1,200 of them, including 200 elite private soldiers, but only their breastplates and helmets were heavy armor, with the rest of their bodies only wearing leather armor.

As for where the money went?
Of course it’s fine wine, beautiful women and works of art!

Unfortunately, these three things cannot help the Medini family resist the undead army.

Fine wine cannot be turned into kerosene, a beautiful woman's scream is not magic, and a work of art thrown out has less effect than a piece of stone.

So, the Metini family was destroyed.

As Junason's story came to an end, Raven had already walked out of the castle and turned back to pause.

Under the cover of night, the dark castle exudes a dead air, like a long-abandoned tomb, no longer able to see the bustling scene it once was with music and revelry every night.

After only a few months of no maintenance, the collapsed city walls were overgrown with weeds, shrubs and vines. Perhaps in a few years, the place will be completely occupied by plants.

A sigh came out of Raven's throat: "Six hundred and twenty-seven years..."

The Viscount family, which has been passed down for 627 years, will soon be completely forgotten.

It was not out of sympathy for the Medini family. At this moment, Raven was thinking more about himself and the Griffith family.

Why did the Metini family fall?
It is true that the Hand of Death Cult's uprising was sudden and its attack was fierce, but internal factors were the most fundamental element.

If the Medini family had a powerful army instead of just two hundred elite soldiers; if its head was not a third-level, but a fourth-level or even fifth-level knight, then they could have survived this turmoil.

Instead of what is happening now, with the family dead and the clan wiped out, even the remains of the ancestors were desecrated, leaving only a small box, which was obtained by an outsider, Raven.

Raven sighed, "Let's go!"

The journey back was faster than the journey here. After all, we had to avoid being seen when we came here, but we didn’t have to think so much when we went back, so it only took two days.

It was morning when we arrived at Eagle Town. The construction sites were dusty and full of activity, forming a sharp contrast with the castle of the Medini family.

Back in Eagle Castle, Raven announced the punishment for Junason.

Zhu Nasheng's merit this time was used to atone for his crime. He had originally wanted to ask Raven to pardon the crimes of the 20,000 serfs and let them enjoy the same treatment as ordinary subjects.

But Raven was not a man who changed his mind every day. Punishing Zhunasheng was just an excuse. The main purpose was to tame those serfs.

Therefore, Raven rejected Junasen's request, arranged a clerical position for him in Eagle Castle, and allowed him to bring his children and grandchildren over.

Zhu Nasheng was naturally very grateful, and kept thanking him before leaving.

After resting and washing up, Raven had lunch and called Simon.

After he told her his plan, Simon was surprised and admired at first, but then he waved his hands and tried to refuse.

"That won't do, my Lord Baron!"

"I only learned to read a little after following you. If I were asked to be a teacher, I really can't do it!"

Raven smiled and said, "We're asking you to be their instructor, not to teach them academic subjects. What are you afraid of? Young people should try everything!"

Simon looked a little strange when he heard this. The Baron was not much older than him!
Of course I didn't dare say this out loud.

"This is an order!" Without waiting for Simon to continue to refuse, Raven frowned and said, "I will attend your first class. If you fail, I will punish you!"

Simon straightened up: "Yes! Baron!"

Then Simon left with a nervous mood, but also a bit of anticipation and joy in his nervousness.

After all, in Simon's view, giving lectures and imparting knowledge to others is a very honorable thing.

Looking at his back, Raven shook his head slightly with a smile on his face.

Although the war washed away Simon's innocence, it did not make him lose the most genuine kindness and sense of responsibility in his personality, and he remained loyal to Raven, which was exactly what Raven needed.

The "teacher" Simon mentioned and the "instructor" Raven mentioned are both related to the same thing.

In Eagle Town, an orphanage is about to be built.

There are many orphans who come with the refugees, and they need a place to be taken in and taught so that they don't become a destabilizing factor on the streets.

The orphanage was inexpensive to build, and other than firmly naming it the "starting point," Raven had never paid much attention to it.

But seeing the ruins of the Metini family castle this time made Raven feel a lot. Those who do not plan for eternity are not qualified to plan for the moment.

He needs to consider the future of his family. There are many people in the territory, but only a limited number of them are truly trustworthy.

The children in the orphanage have not yet formed their values. They are able to survive purely because of Raven's kindness. With a little teaching, they can become Raven's most loyal subordinates.

So Raven chose Simon, a loyal, kind, and highly principled young man, and put him in charge of gratitude education, instilling, or to be more precise, "teaching" the correct concepts in the children, and sowing the seeds of loyalty to Raven.

Baron Raven’s kindness is not over yet!

It takes ten years to grow a tree and a hundred years to cultivate a person. This is not a project that is destined to produce immediate results, but Raven is willing to wait.

Maybe in five years, maybe in eight years, these children will become the real backbone of the territory, filling vacancies in various positions.

Afterwards, Raven called Fiona again and ordered her to write a literacy textbook specifically for the orphanage. The content, of course, had to revolve around Raven's "great achievements".

When Fiona asked what exactly she should write, Raven threw her a copy of the Holy Words of the Church of Light.

"Just follow this, you won't go wrong."

Fiona's face was full of speechlessness, but she had to agree under Raven's "tyranny".

This was not purely due to Raven's bad taste. After all, looking at the entire Middles Continent, no one was better at flattery than the Church of Light.

After relaxing a little, Raven came to the military camp.

Now the conscription has been basically completed. There are more than 5,500 soldiers officially recruited. Including the logistics personnel, the entire military camp has more than 6,000 people.

Therefore, the military camp itself was heavily expanded, and from the outside, it looked like a small fortress.

When Raven arrived, it was already late and the soldiers began to rest. Eric was sitting in his room with a sad face and didn't even hear Raven's footsteps.

It was not until someone reported it that he came to his senses and stood up with a loud voice: "My Lord Baron!"

"Sit down." Raven sat down, glanced at the documents on the table, and said with a smile: "Why don't you hand it over to the quartermaster?"

Above is the detailed list of logistical expenses of the military camp.

"It has already been processed. I just reviewed it." Eric laughed bitterly. "It turns out that old Gordon is in charge of all this. I don't have to worry about it at all. Now I know how troublesome this thing is!"

"The date is wrong, the numbers are unclear, the sums don't add up, one egg can be recorded as three silver coins!"

"My Lord Baron, if you ask me, I'd rather wrestle with monsters in the mud than deal with this!"

There is no way around it. Now that the business has grown, old Gordon can no longer take care of everything as he did before, which shows the talent shortage dilemma of Raven's men.

Raven thought for a moment and said, "Then let me assign Zhu Nasheng to you in a couple of days. You can see if he works for you. If not, we can change him."

"Junassen?" Eric blinked and it took him a long time to remember who Junassen was.

He didn't know how Zhunasheng obtained Raven's forgiveness, but since the Baron said so, he nodded and accepted it.

A soldier handed over the Angel's Tears. Raven took a sip from the cup and asked, "How many stars are you at level 2 now?"

Eric was stunned for a moment and said, "About six stars, Baron."

The so-called "star" is a detailed unit that divides the specific levels of knights and mages within each level.

The extraordinary people are divided into nine levels, one to nine stars in each level. It is also the common way of dividing strength in the entire Middles continent, including humans and alien races, representing the degree of accumulation of fighting spirit and magic power in the body.

However, for first-, second-, and third-level extraordinary beings in the same price range, even if there are differences in star rating, the difference in strength is not that big, so when they are mentioned, basically only the rank is mentioned.

Only when you reach level 4 or above, the difference between each star will become more obvious.

After reaching the seventh level, it will be like ascending to heaven step by step.

"Well, it seems that fighting is indeed the best way to advance your fighting spirit." Raven nodded slowly: "Next, I will help you collect the raw materials for advancement to the third level, so you should work hard."

Eric's eyes flashed with excitement: "Yes, Lord Baron!"

There is a reason why he is looking forward to it. Whether it is a mage or a knight, every upgrade will produce a qualitative change.

For example, Raven, when he advanced from level one to level two, he opened up his first magic vortex. From then on, not only in meditation, but also in daily life, he could always mobilize the elements in the air and condense them into magic power.

This is also standard equipment for all magicians.

For a Dou Qi user like Eric, at the first level he can only use Dou Qi to strengthen himself and infuse it into weapons and equipment. At the second level, he can use Dou Qi to condense a layer of Dou Qi armor on the surface of his body.

When you reach the third level, even if you don't rely on martial arts, you can launch long-range attacks with your fighting spirit, similar to the sword energy and knife energy in the immortal heroes, and your combat effectiveness will be greatly enhanced!

As for the third level magician, it is even more different. He can summon and contract his own magical pet.

Magic pets can grow together with their masters. Each one has a unique function and can even affect a magician's future development path.

It can be said that only when one reaches the third level can one be truly considered a magician!

Raven himself, in the process of constantly absorbing magic core energy, has become a second-level four-star magician, and is still a short distance away from the third level.

But with the help of the Eye of Truth, especially having just obtained the fifth-level magic core, the process of advancing to the third level should be greatly shortened.

"One more thing." Raven said his real purpose: "Javelin Brigade, start the selection now."

In the previous war, the Iron Legion's collective javelin tactics were very impressive and left a deep impression on Raven, so he had long wanted to form his own javelin unit.

Raven and Eric had discussed this matter before, and the decision at that time was to train the new recruits first and then select the best from the best.

After all, not everyone can throw a javelin weighing seven to eight pounds, or about three to three and a half kilograms, sixty to seventy meters.

Eric said, "I understand, sir. I will start the selection tomorrow."

Raven nodded slowly: "You can get a higher salary, and I will also give priority to the supply of weapons and equipment in the future."

Originally, Raven believed that his territory would not be threatened in the short term, but the fate of the Metini family made Raven alert.

Doesn’t the Medini family also believe that the world is peaceful and prosperous?
No one knows which will come first, tomorrow or war.

Eric frowned, he still didn't understand why Raven suddenly changed his plans.

Seeing him like this, Raven sighed and said, "Let me give you a word, Eric."

"In times of peace, we must be prepared for danger."

……

(End of this chapter)