Imperial Crown.

Chapter 242 Pumping Water
Many thanks to qq reading master [洋洋得意@] for the 100 reward!

……

"The winner is Viston Griffith!"

Ingra's voice echoed in the arena, expressing all the tension and anxiety, as well as an unconcealable sense of pride.

After a brief moment of confusion, the audience began to shout in unison:
"Wesdon, Wesdon, Wesdon—"

Weisdon "won" his first two contests.

But this time only, the audience was chanting his name without any derogatory meaning.

This feels... so good.

I'm glad I could hold on!!!
He let out a breath, the sword fell to the ground with a clang, and then Visdon fell backwards to the ground.

Someone immediately rushed over, lifted Visdon onto a stretcher, removed his armor, and gave him a can of Beacon Ball.

When the cool and sweet fruit entered his mouth, Visdon's strength recovered a little. He opened his eyes and saw Raven smiling.

"Brother!" Weisdong struggled to sit up, but he lay down again with a cry of pain from the wound on his shoulder, grinning and saying, "I didn't disappoint you, did I?"

Raven patted the back of his hand. "Well done."

"Why are you working so hard, kid?" Denise touched Weston's cheek, her eyes still red and swollen: "If something happens to you, I..."

"Mom, I'm fine." Weston shrank his head, trying to avoid Denise's touch, which made him feel a little embarrassed as he thought he had become an adult: "And look, I won!"

Under normal circumstances, Denise would have reprimanded Weston, but this time she simply glanced at him with a slight reproach and then carried him off the field to rest.

Fortunately, he ended it early, otherwise the impression that Visdon left on the outside world would probably be greatly reduced.

Because as he regained consciousness, the ice on Visdon's shoulders melted, and the numbness, itching and swelling from deep frostbite came all at once, along with the severe pain from the wound caused by the spear.

The scream was just like slaughtering a pig!
The shock of Visdon's upset victory was so great that it remained the hottest topic in the entire Eagle Territory until the end of the game that day.

Most people are dissatisfied with this result.

Not many people have prejudices against the Griffith family. What really bothers them is money!
Based on Vesdon's previous performance, many people did not think that Vesdon could win, so the betting before the game was basically that Vesdon would fail and Batum would win. Some radical people even bet that Vesdon would admit defeat on the spot, that Vesdon would give up the game directly, that Vesdon would be beaten and cry, and so on.

The result was a total loss!
Baron Vesasin was one of them. He bet a total of 150 gold coins, and the bet was divided into three parts, which included Vesasdon's failure, Vesasdon's surrender, and Vesasdon being beaten and crying.

What he was thinking at the time was that Weston was beaten by Batum and couldn't take care of himself, and then he cried and admitted defeat.

Even if you can't get them all right, it's still fun!

In the end, Weisdon was fine, but he felt so painful that he wanted to cry.

150 gold coins! In previous years, this was 1/6 of his territory's income.

Two months’ profits were lost in one go!
It would have been fine if he had just lost money, but what made Visassin most uncomfortable was that because so many people failed to bet on Visdon in this match, the arena became the biggest bettor on Visdon's victory.

In other words, most of the money he lost went into Raven's pocket!
When he thought of this, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but droop.

But not everyone is as unhappy as Viscount Vissaxin.

This is not referring to Judra. Although his position this time is inclined towards Raven, he does not think that Visdon will win.

Viscount John, out of moral support, bet a small sum on Visdon when the odds were the highest before the game, reaching 1 to 7.5, and earned 10 gold coins with an initial capital of 55.25 gold coins.

The real winner was Viscount Broca. The smile on his face had never left since Visdon won.

It was not just because he won 276.25 gold coins, he was genuinely happy for Visdon's victory.

Brocka was a nobleman without much ambition. Because of this, he was happy to see that Xuefeng County had a strong leader like Raven, who could unify the voices and make money for everyone.

After all, facts have proven that any noble who is on good terms with Raven will have good development.

At least Viscount Broca's Xiecha Territory can expect its revenue this year to be at least twice that of previous years.

With this round of real victory, the previous rumors about Weiss's winter vacation game, no matter how true they were, are just speculations; and starting from the next round, there will be very few first-level players, so even if Weiss gives up the game, no one can say anything.

A public opinion storm was thus eliminated, and even the reputation of the Griffith family was boosted.

It is generally speculated that the reason why Visdon can have such a brilliant performance on the field is that he once followed Raven to conquer the Bloody Highlands.

It is reasonable for a knight who has fought in a real battlefield to defeat one who has never experienced a real battle.

On the other hand, Visdon had just become a transcendent, but he was able to defeat a senior first-level knight.

So how powerful could Raven, who had already become a third-level magician, be?

However, although many people approve of Visdon in face-to-face communication, there are still many people on the Sky Eagle platform who hold the opposite view after losing a lot of money.

Some people say that Visdon’s equipment is simply too good. If it weren’t for the misty heavy iron armor worth 18000 gold coins, he would have lost long ago!
Some people say that Visdon was able to win because his fighting style was unreasonable, just like a street fight with gangsters, without any technical content at all, so it cannot be considered a victory.

Some people also said that the Batum Knights played this game based on human relationships and lost to Visdon on purpose in order to leave a good impression on Baron Raven.

When it comes to doing business, Viscount Brocka may not be good at it; but when it comes to arguing with others, Viscount Brocka will not admit defeat, so he responded to these remarks one by one... Oh no, he refuted them back.

"The difference between humans and animals is that they can use tools. You said Visdon's armor is good, but Batum didn't play naked, did he? Poor people should go and make more money!"

"Are you praising Vesdon or scolding Batum? If he was defeated by a random beating, wouldn't that make Vesdon look even more powerful? Your family's chef must have taught you rhetoric. You can't even curse."

"Batum is smart enough to play with the ways of the world to such an extent. You can see that, which means you are smarter than Batum! Then why don't you show your goodwill to Baron Raven? Don't you want to? Or are you not qualified to meet Baron Raven?"

After this impassioned speech, Broca felt more refreshed.

This Sky Eagle platform is really great. It allows me to vent my emotions while maintaining the dignity of my viscount status!
Also feeling impressed by the benefits of the Sky Eagle Platform are Mark and Doug who are trapped in the dungeon. Having never seen the sun all year round, they can only learn about the outside world through the Sky Eagle Platform.

These two "brothers in distress" have been living a good life recently. Due to Raven's wedding, their food standards have also been upgraded - after all, there are too many people and the kitchen does not have the time to prepare separate prisoner meals for them.

So they could not only eat meat and soft white bread, but also taste the angel tears left over by the guests.

It simply made these two former nobles feel like they were living in heaven!
However, the magic book certainly could not be sent to them. The reason why they could understand the contents of the Sky Eagle platform was because of their new roommates, the vampire William, and the witch Margaret.

These two people had special identities. There were many people coming and going at this wedding, including priests from the Holy See. If their identities were accidentally exposed, or they were "purified" in front of Archbishop Thomas, it would be so unfair. So Raven stuffed them into the dungeon to avoid the limelight.

Because it was too boring, William would often read some news on the Sky Eagle platform to Mark and Doug, which could be considered as a form of communication.

"Is there any new information?" Doug followed the local customs and rubbed mud balls on his neck skillfully: "For example... the Death Hand Cult or something?"

Mark, who was scratching lice beside him, sneered, "It starts again. Are you still dreaming that someone can rescue you? There are four fifth-level warriors in the Eagle Territory now. Unless your Pope comes in person, no one will be able to escape!"

Doug was choked by this: "But you have to have some thoughts. Am I really going to be locked up here for the rest of my life?"

"What's wrong with being locked up here for the rest of your life?" Margaret swayed and walked out from the curtain beside her. She put her fair arms around William's shoulders, leaned her head against William's face, and hooked her slender fingers on his chin: "Okay, we're tired enough. Let's go and rest for a while."

William certainly would not refuse such a request. He took Margaret's arm and returned to the room next door which was separated by a gauze curtain.

The creaking sound of the bed shaking, along with the low voices of various men and women, began to echo in the room.

Doug has been in prison for a year, and Mark has been in prison for more than two years. Neither of them has touched a woman for a long time, and now when they hear this kind of sound, their mouths become dry.

Inadvertently, their eyes met, and they both turned their heads away with a chill.

……

Raven breathed a sigh of relief that Visdon was able to win.

Although we have prepared a plan and solution for the event of Vesdon's failure, it would be best if we don't have to use it.

He sat in his study, humming a little tune leisurely that only he could understand, flipping through the piles of thick documents on the table, a smile unconsciously appearing on the corners of his mouth.

Today is really a double happiness!
In addition to Weston's victory, Old Gordon finally led a group of clerks to compile statistics on Eagle Town's various incomes from May 5th to June 8th, which was nearly two months after the start of the competition.

The number was quite large, enough to satisfy Raven.

The bulk of the profits came from the commission on the bets in the arena.

There are people betting and gambling on every game in the competition.

The rake of the Colosseum fluctuates between 15% and 40%, depending on the betting method.

Generally speaking, for an ordinary duel, the gold coins in the gambling pool are about 200-600. If there are 15 games a day, the total amount will be around 3000-9000. If there are 20 games, it will be around 4000-1.2.

The two rounds of competition lasted a total of 41 days, so according to Raven's estimation, the profit from this should be around 6 gold coins.

But the statistical data surprised Raven.

The initial revenue from the tournament was similar to what he had expected, but as the tournament progressed, the total amount of the betting pool grew.

Starting from the second round, the stakes in almost every duel will not be less than 500 gold coins.

For some eye-catching matches, such as those involving Gul'dan, Akori, and Conchi, the amount of bets can sometimes soar to more than 3000 gold coins.

Therefore, the total revenue from the betting in the Colosseum alone was as high as 93357 gold coins, which was almost more than half of Raven's estimate.

This alone is enough to cover the cost of entertaining guests at Raven's wedding, and even make back all the money spent on the bet!

Outside the arena, revenues of other shops also increased significantly.

The Crystal Palace and the Paramount were packed, and the Wallace Hotel was always packed as soon as it opened. Without a reservation, it was impossible to get a seat, so they started a takeaway business, and the amount of alcohol, drinks and meals sold through takeaway was even more than that sold in the restaurant!

All in all, in less than two months since the start of the competition, Raven alone earned a total of 135779 gold coins.

Taking into account the revenue from other aspects in the past few months, the gold coins in Raven’s small treasury have now increased to 57.

Moreover, this competition has also brought about many changes that cannot be counted at present, but are visible to the naked eye and can be verified in person.

The most typical example is the tourism industry, which has grown almost out of nothing.

The idle nobles were not content to just have fun in Eagle Town, and they traveled almost all over Raven's territory.

Various industries have emerged to serve them.

The hunter who had lived in the mountains and forests since childhood and made a living by hunting and gathering changed his job to become a guide; the unemployed young man wandering in the town became a broker; the old farmer who could only make one or two special snacks was pushed to the forefront and won the title of "Countryside Food Master".

So much so that during this period of time, the nobles had already mentioned seven or eight kinds of "special foods" and "unique scenery" that Raven himself had never heard of.

There is even a saying about the "Three Eagle Sceneries", which are Eagle Beak Mountain, Gray Mountain Mine and Thousand Needles Jungle.

As a local, Old Gordon expressed his incomprehension. What was so good about those hills, piles of slag and broken forests?

But old Gordon kept these words to himself because the nobles were indeed spending a lot of money.

Since Eagle Town itself is the venue for weddings and competitions, the 445% increase in business tax in the first quarter cannot explain the problem, but Shining Gold Town and Snow Maple Town are typical enough.

According to Fili's report, the commercial tax revenue of Goldshire Town in the first quarter of this year increased by 314% compared with the same period last year, reaching 530.66 gold coins.

From Kuman’s report, we can learn that Xuefeng Town’s commercial tax revenue in the first quarter not only increased by 284% compared with the same period last year, but the number of new floating population was also more than in any previous year!

Looking at these data, Raven said with emotion: "I used to wonder why every country in my past life was scrambling to host the Olympics. Now I understand."

A large number of foreign population, especially those who are rich and have free time, have a significant stimulating effect on the economy.

Of course, once the competition is over and the nobles leave, the above data will decline, but the industry has been formed, and it has both a good reputation and the Sky Eagle platform as a guarantee. Raven believes that this industry chain can be maintained.

But some things did not go so smoothly, such as the construction of the new castle.

According to the plan, the new castle should have been built by now.

However, in order to prepare for the wedding, a considerable portion of the labor force had to be diverted to build houses and halls, which delayed a lot of time. Now it is the rainy season and large-scale construction is not possible, so the completion time has been postponed again. According to the current progress, it may have to wait until the end of the year.

In fact, during the construction of the new castle, Raven had visited it several times. Every time he went there, he felt that the current Eagle Castle was too cramped.

"Tsk, I really want to live in the new castle soon..."

……

(End of this chapter)