Imperial Crown.

Chapter 21 One Week Appointment

"Sir, you are violating the ancestral rules!" Old Gordon, who always obeyed Lei Wen's orders, lost his temper for the first time: "It is a sin to give the silver coins to these lowly people!"

Raven smiled and comforted him: "Okay, Mr. Gordon, calm down. It's not that much money. If it weren't for them, we might not be able to sit in Eagle Castle and have a meeting now."

Old Gordon wanted to argue: "But sir, this is really unprecedented. If we do this, all the nobles will..."

"Just listen to me." Raven interrupted Old Gordon forcefully: "For those who died in the battle, each will be given fifty silver coins; for those who are seriously injured and disabled, each will be given twenty silver coins; for those who survive, each will be given five silver coins!"

"I will follow your orders, sir..." Old Gordon pushed the monocle and reluctantly accepted Raven's request.

Not only the Keynes Empire, but all human kingdoms on the entire Middles Continent would not treat serf soldiers as human beings.

I'm dead, so I die. Pension? What a joke! This is not something that serfs can enjoy.

But Raven also has his own considerations.

His fiefdom was too small and his subjects were too few, so he could only take the elite route and organize an army whose loyalty and combat effectiveness far exceeded those of ordinary noble private soldiers in order to protect himself.

What's more, fifty silver coins were not a lot of money for him, and it was a great deal to use them to win people's hearts.

Money is not for the dead, but for the living.

"The next thing is the cost of rebuilding the castle." Old Gordon flipped through his notes and said, "The damage to the hall isn't serious, but we need to buy a new carpet, which will cost about seven gold coins. In addition, there are the rooms for the maids and servants on the first floor..."

Only Raven and Gordon were talking, but there were three people present. The remaining one, Eric, was sitting at the table, touching his waist and grinning.

The half-sword was no longer in use. He now had two enchanted weapons hanging on his waist, one was Anderson's mace and the other was Bailey's longsword. He was also wearing the enchanted plate armor stripped from Anderson.

This set of clothes alone is worth nearly eight hundred gold coins on the market.

It’s better to follow Lord Raven. It’s only been two months, but he has already made great progress and his combat power has greatly increased!
"Eric—"

Eric was startled by the slightly dissatisfied voice of Old Gordon: "What's going on!?"

"My lord, I'm asking you, how much money would it cost to replenish the equipment of all the current private soldiers?" Gordon repeated helplessly.

Eric scratched his nose awkwardly: "The private soldiers suffered heavy losses in this battle. Eleven were killed, three were seriously injured, and there are still twenty-two left."

"We have seized a total of 16 sets of ordinary chain mail, one set of enchanted chain mail, and one set of enchanted plate mail from those bandits. The enchanted plate mail is on me now, and the enchanted chain mail is for Lord Raven to keep as a backup. The one I took off can be given to Simon. This way, there are still five sets of chain mail missing."

"But Lord Raven killed three blood-eyed war horses before. If we give their horse armor to the blacksmith shop, we only need to pay a few silver coins for the processing fee, and it can be turned into five sets of chain mail for people to wear. We can still be a little rich."

Listening to Eric's description, Raven nodded slowly. Although this retainer was a bit honest and straightforward, he was still very sensitive and insightful about everything related to the military.

"We also captured twelve ordinary war horses this time." Raven asked, "Do you think we can organize a cavalry team?"

"It's difficult, sir." Eric said truthfully, "Unlike infantry, cavalry has much higher quality requirements. Whether it's riding skills or the use of weapons on horseback, it takes a long time to train."

"To be honest, sir, although I can ride a horse, fighting on horseback is not my specialty. Even if I have a mount, I am just a mounted infantryman."

Raven rubbed his nose in embarrassment - because he couldn't even ride a horse.

There is no way around it. In the Middles continent, riding a horse is basically a privilege of the nobility. At least only the knights can have this condition.

Horses can't just eat grass. They need high-nutrition crops like black beans and soybeans. Otherwise, they can't run. They can eat more than twenty copper coins a day. The annual food expenses are at least sixty silver coins. Ordinary people can't afford it. "Talent is hard to come by..." Raven sighed again and included learning to ride a horse in his future plans.

Not to mention fighting, if you really encounter any danger, four legs will always run faster than two legs.

Raven said, "Eric, you are responsible for transporting the vests to Goldshire Town and converting them into chain mail that humans can wear. The meeting is adjourned!"

"We can't leave yet!" Denise pushed open the door and walked in. She was wearing a simple blue dress today. The shoulder-length neckline clearly showed her curvy collarbone, giving her the look of a strong woman.

"Raven, when are you going to get a maid for this place!?"

Although this bandit invasion ended with Raven's victory, Eagle Castle also suffered considerable losses. The original servants in the castle - the three maids recruited before, and the grooms and servants brought by Denise herself, all died at the hands of the bandits.

The captured bandit died anyway. Although he revealed the fact that Weston betrayed Denise, neither Raven nor Denise would admit it.

Perhaps because she didn't want to face the reality, Denise fell into a strange state of excitement and developed a strong resistance to all men.

Even the carpet in her room was pulled out and burned because Simon stepped on it when he was moving the body.

"Oh, don't be so excited, Aunt Denise." Raven said calmly, "The quality of the people in Eagle Town is not that high. If you want to find a suitable maid, I'm afraid you will have to wait a few more days."

Denise sneered, "The maids in Eagle Town are not of high quality. Where do you want them? Do you want me to spend money to hire someone from Mon'en City?"

Raven said, "Of course you don't need to spend money on this. There are servants who can be used in Shimmering Gold."

"Lord Raven, you haven't forgotten what just happened in Eagle Castle, have you?" Denise laughed sarcastically. "More than a dozen servants died. How much money do you want to pay to get someone to come?"

Raven asked back, "They are all my subjects, why should I spend money?"

"Goldenbright is still in the hands of Viscount John." Denise said, "Do you want to take Goldenbright back from him?"

Raven nodded confidently: "Of course!"

Denise laughed. "Ha, this is the funniest joke I've heard this month. How can you take back Goldshire Town with just the twenty or so 'elites' under your command?"

“Baron, think twice.” Eric said from a military perspective: “Viscount John has 300 elite Snow Maple Legion soldiers under his command. He also has 14 canonized knights. These people are at least first-level extraordinary. With the current combat power of the Eagle Territory, they will never be his opponent!”

Gordon also advised: "Lord Raven, according to the imperial law, attacking other lords' territories is a taboo and may lead to the loss of the title..."

Raven looked around the room and said with a smile, "It seems that you all think that I can't take back Shimmering Gold Town, right?"

Gordon and Eric lowered their heads and both accepted this.

Denise even mocked directly: "Judra promised you in public that she would return Eagle's Beak Mountain and Thousand Needles, but what happened? Where is the land?"

"The Wharton family is still just a baron, and now you say you want to take Goldshire from a viscount! Could it be that a small victory over the bandits has made you lose your mind, Baron?"

Raven smiled confidently, "No need to worry about that, Aunt Denise."

He held up a finger:
"In a week, Viscount John will beg me to take back Shining Gold Town!"

……

(End of this chapter)